Where I agree with Mark Driscoll: Judgment As Solidarity

August 3, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

I was originally thinking about going after Mark Driscoll’s complementarianism by comparing him with Juan Gines de Sepulveda, the 16th century Spanish theologian who argued that the massacre of the Indies was justified because of the divine ordenamiento de mandar y obedecer (ordination of command and obedience) by which humans are divided by God into masters and slaves. I still plan to write at some point about the “divinely ordained” racial complementarianism of the colonial New World and how 16th... Read more

Fe temporal vs. fe salvador: Spanish Bible study adventures #1

August 3, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

I have started leading a Wednesday morning Bible study in Spanish at the Lamb Center, a homeless drop-in center in Fairfax, VA. We have been going through the book of Ephesians since it’s fairly short and super-rich theologically. It’s very interesting to lead a Bible study in a different language where I understand about half of what is being said by the other participants. They’ve been very talkative, which is awesome, but they’ll sometimes share long personal stories that I... Read more

It was good for me to be afflicted: Monster-Psalm Meditation #9

August 2, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

Psalm 119:65-72 65 Do good to your servant according to your word, LORD. 66 Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. (more…) Read more

Why God-reliance and self-reliance are utterly incompatible

August 1, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

I know that I got under some people’s skin for beefing with Dave Ramsey on Red Letter Christians. I’ve never been in debt. If I had and some guy’s videos helped me out of it, I would be hurt if some random cocky young blogger was hating on my hero. So I wanted to try to explain where I’m coming from and why I felt compelled to speak out. (more…) Read more

The Morning After: Leah’s Rejection and Our Heritage

July 31, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

Sermon preached at Burke UMC, 7/30-31/2011 Text: Genesis 29:15-31 It was the morning after her wedding night, and Leah had never felt so alone. She remembered the day seven years ago when her sister told her about the new cousin Jacob who had come into town. She remembered her father’s whisper to her, “This is your chance.” Leah was the eldest. She was the one who was supposed to get married first. But the clock had been ticking and no... Read more

I am a friend to all who fear you: Monster-Psalm Meditation #8

July 30, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

Psalm 119:57-64 You are my portion, LORD; I have promised to obey your words. I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. (more…) Read more

Is Democracy Dying?

July 28, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

I’ve often been cynical about American exceptionalism. Especially on days when I walk into Barnes and Nobles and see the political bestsellers on display in the front of the store. Americans are exceptional? Really? Exceptionally tacky? Exceptionally self-righteous? Exceptionally deaf to opinions outside of our own echo chamber? Exceptionally good at building an industry off of paranoid hate and conspiracy theories? One of the most exceptional Americans I know about, Mark Twain, famously said that “patriotism is the refuge of... Read more

Your promise gives me life: Monster-Psalm Meditation #7

July 26, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

Psalm 119:49-56 Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. This is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives me life. (more…) Read more

We can do better than "mainline"

July 26, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

I often tell people that fundamentalists and liberals frustrate me about equally. I just read an article by a United Methodist pastor named Martin Thielen in Christian Century on his church’s successful “mainline” marketing plan. Basically he did a sermon series that turned into a book called What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian? A good friend in our church is reading it, and my wife told me I shouldn’t judge a book by its title,... Read more

Dave Ramsey: great debt advice, not so great theology

July 25, 2011 By Morgan Guyton

Today I watched Dave Ramsey’s Great Recovery video. I think I feel something akin to what the Calvinist bloggers felt when they saw the trailer for Rob Bell’s Love Wins. I’m physically sick at my stomach. Whenever I’ve ranted about the self-worship of American middle-class evangelicalism in the past, I always thought in the back of my head that I was attacking a straw man. Well I met the straw man today; and he’s a real person and very much... Read more