Just like governments can gather personal information about you, the police can invade your privacy, and CEOs can treat you like a number, so religious leaders can use fear, shame and guilt to manipulate you. For many leaders in any field, they think their position provides them the permission, comes with the privilege and gives them the licence to maltreat others. This kid is learning early. Let’s hope he does something about it. For his own sake. Read more
This is why I think Rob Bell’s one minute affirmation of homosexuality makes sense, and why I think you can use this to answer similar questions regarding similar issues: He doesn’t theorize in a vacuum: In this video at least, he is answering this difficult question in the “epicenter of gay culture”, among gays, answering a gay man face to face. Plus the fact that he mentions his gay friend lends weight to it. He doesn’t invoke scripture: I believe... Read more
Many Christians live sheltered lives. Like most people in any religion. It’s called ghettoization. They develop their own belief, culture, tradition, ritual, language. It’s when they meet someone else, especially someone else who is a good person, from another religion, another ghetto, that their neat categories get messed up. Hopefully. Read more
One of the members of The Lasting Supper linked to this post, “Christians Are Not Called To Have Amazing Sex”, wondering about its assumption that bad sex can be good. It started quite a discussion. Is it healthy to see bad sex as a cross to bear, something we need to endure and suffer, and that God might have consigned us to bad sex as a means to learn patience, etcetera? I think we too easily fall into the pattern... Read more
This is a little fun thing I did for the members of The Lasting Supper, but I thought I’d share it with you too. I had fun doing it. I hope you have fun watching it! Happy Spiritual Independence Day! If you are interested in The Lasting Supper, I personally invite you to join. Read more
Do you think you have the authority or privilege to jerk Jesus around? Some do. The way some people talk about going around healing people and even raising people from the dead on command gives me the impression that they are God and Jesus is their servant. This arrogant gets tiring. So I thought I’d draw a cartoon that depicts Jesus as our pet who’s been to obedience school. We wish. Read more
As you can imagine I’m online quite a bit running nakedpastor and The Lasting Supper as well as selling my art and keeping up with correspondence and all my social media. Sometimes I read the newsfeed in my personal Facebook just to rekindle my resolve to work against idiocy and injustice. But I must say that some days I get discouraged by both the overt and latent misogyny in the church. It seems to be laced with it. And the... Read more
Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. Televangelist Benny Hinn — Heckled at Airport … ‘World’s Greatest Scammer’ – Watch More Celebrity Videos or Subscribe This is Benny Hinn being heckled at the airport. You can read a full account HERE. The heckler said, “World’s greatest scammer, Benny Hinn.” I personally know people who have worked for Hinn. I was also in on a couple of meetings involved with organizing a Benny Hinn crusade. So I suspect the heckler is... Read more
Everyone with any sense knows that we accept the acceptable words of Jesus and appropriate his unacceptable words in altered forms. That is, we use his sayings if they are agreeable, and we reject or theologically undermine the ones that aren’t. Even philosophers such as Slavoj Žižek are aware of this trick. He tells the story of a conference he was at where he asked a Catholic priest what Jesus meant by “unless you hate your mother and father you... Read more
I’m not only sympathetic to congregants within the church system who have to hide parts of their lives. The same happens to the leaders. I know both sides because I’ve been there. In order for the system to continue, everyone has to agree to collaborate. There is a silent code of conduct that you don’t reveal the disagreeable parts of yourself that could threaten the security of the system or its ideology. Members and pastors can be victims of this... Read more
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