“The important thing is to never stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein I believe a lot differently than I did 10 years ago. When I honestly let myself be curious, I found deeper and better answers. Sometimes the answers are very simple, but often they are nuanced and mysterious and complicated. I am so glad I asked those questions. I could have never navigated my stroke recovery with my old understanding. The key to discovering beauty and truth is to remain... Read more
People occasionally scold me for speaking generally. Well, try this on for size. The Southern Baptist Convention is the worst of the worst. The SBC has it all: racism, misogyny, sexual abuse, patriarchy, segregation, cover ups, victim shaming, egoism, toxic theology, homophobia, purity culture…. It is the premier example of elevating the organization over “the least of these.”. I used to be a Baptist pastor, but I can’t imagine now ever when visiting a #SBC church. So many of my... Read more
Many people imagine that those of us in the desert are either participating in some kind of large group think or just wondering aimlessly through the desert without any kind of direction. It’s way more nuanced than that. Each of us that is evolving in the desert are truly on our own individual journeys, but there’s certainly a way that people deconstruct and then begin to evolve towards their true or more authentic selves. I thought I would take... Read more
One of the first things I realized in my deconstruction was how gullible faith-based communities are. I understand there are certain ones that are more susceptible, but it is a common dilemma. When our faith begins with fear of what we cannot explain, then we tend to see a demon around every corner. Currently, this is expressed through vilifying our political opponents, no matter what side we’re on, and the fascination with pedophile rings. The examples from the past are... Read more
Can we deconstruct too much? This is, by far, the is the greatest fear that people have when deconstructing. They wonder whether they will have anything left if they keep asking questions and keep taking down the walls and structures that they have built up over time in their belief system. In general, people interchange words like faith, Christianity, and beliefs and end up confusing themselves on exactly what they are evaluating or removing. In this discussion, I wanted to... Read more
When I went through my deconstruction, the temptation was just to stay away from people and just do my own thing. But eventually, we remembered we are a part of a bigger group people and something in us didn’t let us just keep it to ourself. Since I stepped outside of organized religion, after being a pastor for 20 years, I was able to see more clearly what I left. My experience was with the Evangelical Church in the United... Read more
I know it’s hard waking up one day and realizing that your faith and practices have mostly been off base at least a little bit. For you, the fundamentalist, the wake up call is obviously that Donald Trump was president. I admit that I entertained the idea for a couple of weeks, but then I saw him in action. I still have nightmares every once in a while. As far as transitioning from being a fundamentalist, I can relate. I... Read more
Often when I talk about issues I see within the church or organize religion, I get an immediate response especially from pastors and those heavily invested in the church. They respond to me like they have never heard of that in a church and that must be your unique, individual situation. But, since my deconstruction, I have met hundreds of people that have the same experience that I did within the church and we’re never able to see it until... Read more
Only in the past 100 years have we begun to truly understand how humans work. Up until this point, it was believed that there was a devil out there and demons that couldn’t harm us. It was the best way people could devise to understand the turmoil or trauma that they felt. Religion gladly adopted this theory because it worked well for their mission to save the world. But, now we know that trauma produces shadow in us that must... Read more
People use different words to describe it like inerrant and infallible. The problem is that if the Bible is infallible and inerrant, then it creates some problems for us. I know that we have to take into account context, figures of speech and normal rules of interpretation. But, some passages are very easy to understand, and we can’t just ignore what they say if we are going to assert that it is the Word of God. For example: “Anyone who... Read more
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