To the American Church (that I love), You taught me to be a person of integrity. Then you condoned the man who paid hush money to a porn star. You taught me that the Kingdom of God is bigger than the USA. Then you chanted “American First”. You taught me to be accountable for my actions. Then you turned a blind eye to as the president refused to take responsibility for absolutely anything that happened on his watch. You told… Read more
August 13, 2020
Praying With Our Eyes Wide Open
August 13, 2020 By Jason Elam
362 Comments
Many people struggle with the idea of prayer post deconstruction. As we come to know a God whose love constrains God from controlling the decisions and circumstances of humanity, it can difficult to know what to pray for. Some might even wonder why we bother to pray at all. Prayer as Bypassing For most of my life, my prayers were actually a form of spiritual bypassing. Rather than feeding the hungry homeless person, I would pray for them asking God… Read more
August 10, 2020
The Worship God Wants
August 10, 2020 By Jason Elam
454 Comments
Worship leader (and former Republican congressional candidate) Sean Feucht has been traveling the country leading outdoor worship events in violation of local health orders. Portland One such event recently took place in Portland, Oregon in the shadow of the ongoing protests there. The gathering was seen by some as a politically-charged attempt to overshadow the protestors demonstrating against police brutality. Feucht, however, said his event was really about standing up to tyrannical local government. Sounding very much like a political… Read more
August 7, 2020
Letting Love In, Part 3: Love Keeps Us and Never Leaves
August 7, 2020 By Jason Elam
697 Comments
There is a strong temptation for us to believe that while it’s love that rescues us from the illusion of separation, it’s our rule keeping, church attendance, or personal devotion that maintains our salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth. You are completely and totally loved. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There’s nothing you can do to make God love you less. You are at home in the embrace of God. It’s… Read more
August 5, 2020
Letting Love In: Part 2-Love Heals Us
August 5, 2020 By Jason Elam
300 Comments
This is the second post in a series on Letting Love In. If you missed the first installment, check it out here. Salvation Receiving the love of God heals our wounds and makes us whole. The Greek word that we translate as “salvation” literally means “to be made whole”. To receive the salvation of God is to be made whole. God’s truly unconditional love heals the damage done by hatred and injustice. It breaks the power of insecurity and sets… Read more
August 3, 2020
Letting Love In: Part 1-Love Finds Us
August 3, 2020 By Jason Elam
478 Comments
This week, I’ll be taking a look at how the love of God transforms us and sets us free to finally become in public the image of God that we have always been within. This series will contain three posts, starting with this one. Truly Unconditional Growing up in the church, I heard a lot about the unconditional love of God. I remember thinking how odd it was that this God who supposedly loved us so much would impose so… Read more
July 31, 2020
Progressive Like Jesus
July 31, 2020 By Jason Elam
425 Comments
For most of my life, I assumed that Jesus was a white, middle-class, Republican. I remember hearing former Texas Governor Ann Richards say, “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for Texas.” during a statewide debate about English as the official language. I laughed at the thought of a Jew living 2,000 years ago speaking a language that didn’t yet exist. At the same time, I wondered what myths about Jesus I might be under the influence… Read more
July 29, 2020
Does “Getting Saved” Stunt Our Spiritual Growth?
July 29, 2020 By Jason Elam
341 Comments
It’s a scene that has played out millions of times over hundreds of years. A spiritual seeker hears a religious message that stirs up feelings of guilt and shame. They walk down the aisle of a local church building to kneel and pray. Maybe they shake the preacher’s hand. He or she offers to lead them in some version of the “sinner’s prayer” in which they acknowledge their own default setting toward sinfulness, cry out to God for mercy, and… Read more
July 27, 2020
Throwing Baby Jesus Out With the Bathwater
July 27, 2020 By Jason Elam
194 Comments
“Jesus is the most important human being who has ever existed. I miss Him.”-Chuck Templeton, former evangelist/atheist I’ve been heavily deconstructing for the past couple of years. Mine wasn’t a planned deconstruction. I didn’t decide one day that I’d put myself through an orderly doctrine by doctrine rethinking of my faith. Mine was more spontaneous than that. You can read more about my overall story here, but the gist of it is this: I started walking around the indoor track… Read more
July 24, 2020
Choosing The Way of Peace
July 24, 2020 By Jason Elam
144 Comments
The Jewish people of Jesus’ day were living under the occupation of Rome. There were soldiers with weapons on every street corner of Jerusalem. There were whispers of a violent uprising to come in which Israel would purge their land of their Roman oppressors. Jesus comes into this culture with admonitions for people to love their enemies, turn the other cheek, and to carry their oppressor’s backpack two miles instead of the one mile required by law. In a culture… Read more
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