A few days ago I received an email from a friend of mine. He was sharing with me his frustration over the apparent blindness that many Christians seem to have when it comes to following Jesus. His experience was that every time he attempted to talk about doing what Jesus commanded us to do – like loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, caring for the poor, etc. – the responses he kept receiving were comments like, “But the... Read more
Let's look at the role of Republicans in the history of abortion, shall we? Planned Parenthood started receiving funding in 1970 when Republican POTUS Richard M. Nixon signed into law the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act, which had the support of both Democrats and Republicans. In 1973 was the landmark case Roe v. Wade. There were 9 Supreme Court justices who ruled on that case: 5 Democrats and 4 Republicans. It was passed by a 7-2 ruling. One Republican and one Democrat opposed. Read more
Professor Lee Ross has done a lot of work in conflict resolution, promoting dialog between various groups in places like Northern Ireland and in the Middle East where he worked with both Palestinians and Israelis. Here’s what he noticed about those who stand on either side of an argument: “People on both sides are always interested in meeting with those from the other side,” he says. “But why do they want to meet? Because they want to explain to... Read more
One of the things I love most about the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast [which I co-host with two other authors] is that every episode we get to model what it looks like for Christians who disagree to actually listen to, respect and genuinely love one another – even when we disagree on some very fundamental doctrines and ideas. For example, one of my co-hosts, Jamal Jivanjee, believes that Christ is in everyone, that Jesus never talked about himself, and... Read more
“And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28) “Now let the fear of the Lord be on you.” (2 Chronicles 19:7) All throughout the Old Testament scriptures, we see this idea of the Fear of the Lord invoked as a metaphor for observing the Lord’s commands, or observing the Law. It’s important for us to understand that the idea was not so much about literally having a sense of terror concerning the idea of... Read more
The Christian idea of the Atonement is quite often a collection of mixed metaphors. We sometimes talk about being redeemed from our sins, or say that Christ paid our debt on the cross. But sometimes we also say that God has forgiven our sins and erased our debts. So, which is it? As my friend Chuck McKnight points out, forgiving a debt is not the same thing as paying ransom. Either you pay someone what you owe them, or they... Read more
There’s an old joke that goes like this: One fish says to another fish, “How’s the water?” and the other fish says, “What the hell is water?” The point is that, to the fish, “water” isn’t a thing. It’s just the world it was born into. So, it doesn’t know what being wet is, or understand the difference between air and water either. Here’s another analogy: We are all in God. God is inescapable. God is... Read more
According to Barna Research, over half of American Christians have never heard of the Great Commission, and over 37% of those polled couldn’t identify the Great Commission out of a list of various Bible verses. Just in case you’re in that lower 50%, the Great Commission is found in Matthew 28:18-20 and it’s where Jesus says: “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations…and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.” So, why... Read more
I’ve discovered something that surprised me recently. It turns out that, for most Christians, the hardest thing isn’t loving their enemies or serving the poor, it’s obeying Jesus’ command to love their own brothers and sisters in Christ. * Over the last few weeks I’ve witnessed this phenomenon first hand, and it really disappoints me. What I mean is that when another Christian hurts our feelings, or even just disagrees with us about something, most find it easier to just... Read more
I was talking with a friend the other day, over Skype, about all the different beliefs I’ve since shed over the years. He remarked to me that his transformation and deconstruction out of religion and into an actual relationship with Christ had created an incredible feeling of freedom, like a giant weight or burden had been lifted from his chest. I had to agree. But, then I started to wonder about why this is the case. Why do we... Read more
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