Well the Gospel Coalition is in trouble again. They wanted to participate in the race conversation so they published an article entitled “When God Sends Your White Daughter a Black Husband.” A lot of my progressive friends are upset about it. And my conservative friends are saying, “You tell us to be vulnerable about our racism, but this is what happens when we are.” On reading the article, I saw some things I would affirm if I were having a pastoral conversation... Read more
Every night after dinner, my sons and I read the Bible together. Tonight our scripture was Matthew 5:21-26 where Jesus offers an expansive definition of the sixth commandment not to murder. He says that harboring anger against someone or insulting them constitutes a violation of that commandment. Donald Trump’s dangerously reckless remark at a recent rally about “second amendment people” doing “something” about Hillary Clinton was definitely a violation of the sixth commandment. But he’s not the first person to... Read more
Today is the two year anniversary of the murder of Michael Brown on Canfield Street in Ferguson, Missouri. Last week, I took my sons to the spot he was killed to teach them that evil often happens when people are too frightened to see the light of God in others who look different. My friends Rod Thomas and Pierre Keys along with some other folks composed The Ferguson Declaration: A Black Lives Matter Creed. It’s a very important theological document which... Read more
This June, I had one of the most epic conversations of my life in a Wall Street coffee shop with Liz Edman, the author of Queer Virtue: What LGBTQ People Know About Life and Love and How It Can Revitalize Christianity (YOU NEED TO OWN THIS BOOK!). After we talked, Liz said we need to do this as an event so other people can be part of it, so that’s what we’re going to do this Saturday from noon to 4 (lunch... Read more
Donald Trump received a significant endorsement recently from Wayne Grudem, the man who wrote the 1200 page definitive systematic theology textbook of American evangelicalism. Grudem has received a lot of criticism for doing this. What I found most interesting was the way that Grudem’s endorsement perfectly exhibited a double-standard inherent to the structure of evangelical discourse about sin. Total depravity is the phrase that’s used for the evangelical doctrine of sin. Technically, it means that no aspect of human existence... Read more
Our political discourse has become entirely satanic. I mean that in a very specific way. The word Satan in Hebrew means “the accuser.” Whereas even eight years ago in our political culture, there was some semblance of pragmatic debate over concrete policy proposals, it’s all gone now. We have plunged ourselves entirely into a postmodern nightmare where deconstruction is the only rhetorical move. Ideas don’t matter anymore, because I can prove that your side is held hostage by a lying... Read more
I recently read an article that I can’t find anymore which provided a very interesting analysis of the source of Donald Trump’s narcissism and why it resonates with so many white men across the country. How is it that a spoiled rotten billionaire can position himself as an anti-elitist outsider? The author of the article traces Donald’s narcissism to decades of social rejection by the aristocratic socialites and snobbish media of Manhattan. He theorized that Trump’s egomania is fueled by... Read more
Emily Joy was my final Wild Goose interview. She grew up in a homeschooling fundamentalist Christian family and went to college at Moody Bible Institute. Like many fundamentalists, Emily was taught that the intuitions of her heart were evil. Part of her journey into becoming a poet was learning to love and trust her heart. Emily’s poetry is sharp and prophetic. It skewers the ugliness of fundamentalist thinking. At the end of our interview, Emily shared her poem “How to... Read more
I’m continuing to play catch up on my Wild Goose interviews for Crackers and Grape Juice. The fourth interview was with one of my best friends Bec Cranford. Bec really embodies the spirit of Wild Goose, which is to say she’s a wild, heavily tattooed Pentecostal wonder-woman. Bec has been through a lot of heavy stuff in life and it’s made her into an incredibly empathetic and authentic person. She is the volunteer director at the Gateway Center for homeless... Read more
“I alone can fix it.” Donald Trump has said a lot of things that he’s gotten away with, but this might be the line that finally brings him down. If it does, then maybe it will help usher in the death of the white messiah as a cultural figure. Donald Trump isn’t the only one who thinks that he alone can fix it. Many twenty year old starry-eyed white kids who go on mission trips to Africa have the same... Read more
Mercy Not Sacrifice
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