This morning I wasn’t able to respond to all of the comments.  Hopefully now I can.  Someone suggested that a person who refuses God’s love, preferring hell, would not be free but insane.  In that case, he suggested, a God of love would save the person without his or her consent.  My response is that even an insane person has free will.  As a society we do not force insane people into institutions to be “cured.”  (See C. S. Lewis’... Read more

Dear followers: recently I’ve been having technical difficulties with the blog that stem from the spam filter.  It’s being worked on.  If you don’t see your comment here (and it was a civil comment worthy of being posted to the blog) that’s why.  If you see your comment but no response from me (and your comment called for a response) that’s why.  Hopefully everything will get straightened out soon. Thanks for your patience in the meantime. Read more

I tried to post this on facebook, but it wouldn’t let me because it’s too long.  So, I simply asked the person to see my response here.  His facebook posting was about God’s love and hell.  It created quite a reaction including nasty accusations and flames (one could almost smell the wood crackling and burning around the stake being prepared!).  My dialogue partner (a Pentecostal minister of long standing and strong reputation) stated that God’s love means nobody deserves hell. ... Read more

I think Brandon’s guest post should be read by all people involved on emerging or emergent Christianity and the emergent church movement.  Please spread it around and invite discussion about it here and elsewhere.  I will post Brandon’s responses to comments here. One thing I have been thinking about (in this context) is how hopeful it has been that emergent Christians might find an alternative to conservative evangelicalism and liberal “mainline” Protestantism by exploring postmodern philosophy’s possible contribution to theology... Read more

The following is a guest blog post by Brandon Morgan, one of the organizers and leaders of the Void Collective.  Brandon is a seminary student and participant in an emergent church who has attended various emergent church conferences and meetings. Brandon’s guest post (unedited): I just got back from a tiring drive to North Carolina where a group of my friends and I performed an event at the Wild Goose Festival-a self-proclaimed community combining the various impulses of art, justice... Read more

According to an AP news report dated July 16, 2011 (by Jay Reeves, Birmingham, Ala.) churches in Alabama are taking the lead in opposing the state’s new immigration law. Some here have argued that nobody should or would interpret this law or others like it (e.g., in Oklahoma) as prohibiting giving a ride to a weary illegal immigrant on foot.  Here is what Alabama Baptist Convention president pastor Mike Shaw says in the article: “I am concerned about the language... Read more

A major national news publication has asked me to find and refer to them a charity devoted solely to helping boys (other than Boy Scouts).  There are numerous non-profit, charitable educational and recreational organizations popping up all over the country to help girls make good choices and have strong self-esteem, etc.  What’s missing from public attention are similar organizations devoted to helping adolescent boys (approximately 8 to 18) make good choices, not drop out of school, etc. I assume this... Read more

Today’s USAToday (Monday, July 18, 2011) contains a column on “The Forum” page by religion journalist Mark I. Pinsky entitled “Could this cardinal usher in a new Cuba?”  The article “puffs” (to borrow and term from newspaper mogul Hearst about Billy Graham) Cardinal Jaime Ortega (I think that should really be Jaime Cardinal Ortega), the archbishop of Havana. According to Pinsky, Ortega is the right man to usher Cuba into its future post-Castro new social reality.  Among other things, Pinsky... Read more

One of my biggest pet peeves is people throwing labels around when they don’t understand them.  I teach at a seminary often accused by the ignorant of being “liberal” because it allows women to study for the ministry.  I’ve been asked when I “became liberal” and started believing in women’s ordination and women as lead pastors.  The first denomination to ordain women as pastors was the theologically conservative but socially progressive Free Methodist Church and it did that way back... Read more

Two recent movies have theological implications.  Many people asked me if I saw The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon.  Finally I did.  I guess what they were wondering is what I think of its portrayal of a combination of determinism and free will. The Adjustment Bureau might be seen as attempting to combine Calvinism and Arminianism.  Of course, I doubt the movie makers know anything about those theological categories.  However, in the movie, a mostly invisible group of people (sort... Read more