Inerrantists insist that we needn't worry about the many examples of scribal errors, transcription mistakes, mistranslations in or out of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German or English. God has been intervening, they say, providentially ensuring that our copies of copies of copies and our translations of translations of translations still allow us access to the original perfection of the long-lost inerrant biblical autographs. Read more
A mysterious stranger suddenly appears out of nowhere in the middle of Times Square. She has no memory of who she is or where she's from, and her naked body is covered in tattoos revealing specific information about the future. How can this not be a time-travel story? Read more
A nice university professor has studied "Why some religious Americans see same-sex marriage as a threat." And I'm sure his findings accurately describe SOME religious Americans. But I think his study misses at least two of the major reasons that many white American Christians oppose same-sex marriage. For many, I think, such opposition is mostly an abstract proxy for a separate debate about the meaning of the Bible. And for others it's just a scary story that makes for a lucrative fundraising pitch. Read more
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains." Read more
You shall put all its males to the sword. You may, however, take as your booty the women, the children, livestock, and everything else in the town, all its spoil. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. Read more
Mark's Gospel seems like a rough first draft, like the work of someone racing to get everything down on paper as quickly as possible. That's reflected in the book's abrupt ending, where it just sort of stops, mid-story. That ending was so frustrating for some later Christians that they felt compelled to give the book a proper conclusion, and now it has more endings that Peter Jackson's "Return of the King." Read more
This is part of what frightens and angers me about the phenomenal popularity of the Worst Books Ever Written. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are spreading their political agenda and worldview -- their triumphalist, Jonah-like delight in the damnation of their enemies, their sociopathic lack of empathy -- and the popularity of this agenda in turn lends it a kind of spiritual authority. Read more
When hardship comes good neighbors often reach out to help. And often that means bringing over a casserole. That's a tangible, practical gesture. And it's a way of saying and showing that we're here for you, and we want to help. But not everybody gets a casserole. Some people, it seems, are not perceived as being casserole-worthy. Read more
This morning I saw a kid in an Eagle costume get caught up in the gorgeous performance of gospel worship chorus, simultaneously encountering something sublime while standing there in a ridiculous oversize foam mascot head. I hope that when I spoke in that same chapel service, the students were able to similarly forget about my own ridiculous costume long enough to encounter something meaningful. Read more
When I was a gung-ho member of my church youth group, I was all prepared for someone to walk up and ask me "What is the gospel?" I'd have answered with something like the Navigators' "Bridge to Life" illustration explaining the Good News that you were damned to Hell because God hates your sin, but that you could still be saved because God poured out all of God's infinite hate onto Jesus instead of you, making possible the impossibility of divine mercy and allowing you to go to Heaven instead of Hell. That's not how I'd answer that question now. Read more
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