Doubt within the Christian faith can be a time of great anguish. It can also be very lonely. Oftentimes, due to fear, we are left to deal with the struggle on our own because we don’t want people to think that we are weak. However, doubt is not an attribute of the weak, but rather it demonstrates the mental fortitude of the strong. Doubt demonstrates a person’s ability to critically think. That within their critical thinking, they may discover something... Read more
Last Wednesday, I watched the certification of the Electoral College votes. I didn’t know such a thing even existed until this year. However, I decided to watch to see if there would be any crazy protests and to watch our government continue to waste time on an unimportant certification. I saw what I expected to see. There were excited Democrats and a group of resigned Republicans ready to certify Joe Biden as the next President. Then there were other Republicans... Read more
UNenlightenment is the undoing of our Enlightenment presuppositions, which in my opinion, prevent us from understanding the Gospel and thus living properly in the world. Nearly everything within our Christian experience has been influenced by the Enlightenment – from the way we do church, to the theology we teach our pastors and the behaviors of Christians in the culture at large. UNenlightenment is the process of undoing our bad habits, re-understanding scripture and faith, and using that information to live... Read more
“The Bible is not the Word of God and if we believe this to be true then we have made the Bible into an idol.” That’s all it took for the internet to become hysterical! A number of years ago I wrote a controversial article titled, “THE BIBLE IS NOT THE WORD OF GOD: A POLEMIC AGAINST CHRISTENDOM”. The article was a polemic on the idol-like status that many within Christianity attribute to the Bible. I wrote two follow-up articles... Read more
Before I had children I often thought how selfish it would be to bring children up in this world. This world is a horrible place full of hate and disillusionment. And, had I been privy to the knowledge about the world I have now, my feelings about this world would be multiplied negatively. But, many of us want children because we desire this sense that we will carry on through a legacy established by their existence. It wasn’t until after... Read more
Oftentimes when Christians tell the story of Jesus they begin with the Incarnation. But neither the story of Christianity nor the story of the Incarnation begins in the Gospels. Instead, it begins in Genesis. And when we read it as such, the real beauty of the Incarnation reveals itself. *** In the beginning, humankind was whole – existing in perfect harmony with self and other. They were ruled by a kind and generous Creator who lavished His kingdom with the... Read more
I think most people would agree that life is precious and, oftentimes, precarious. So fragile is this balance, that we are given 70 years (if we are lucky) to leave our prints upon the records of history. Without life, the universe and everything contained therein is devoid of meaning. Therefore, life and its persistence is not just important, but also necessary. And not just a particular kind of life, but ALL human life is of special importance. Ever since Roe... Read more
It might come as a shock at first. It’s offensive. But, you’re really not sure why it’s offensive. You might even feel a sense of sadness upon experiencing such an accusation. You may have never really cared what people thought of you, so why this, why now? After a while, you become used to hearing the word, but rarely do you fully get over it. It still bites, just a little bit. Although being called a “heretic” in today’s day... Read more
Around this time every year, we begin hearing a resonance in the political/religious aether of conservative talk radio, pulpits, and other echo chambers where the cry can be heard “There is a war on Christmas.” This proclamation is oftentimes paired with the idea that the liberal propaganda machines are hard at work trying to make the U.S. a secular nation and that religion – specifically, Christianity – has no place in this type of society. This is none the more... Read more
Sex. Sex. Sex. There, I said it. I’m not ashamed of it. I’m not afraid of it. And neither should you be. God has created humans as both sexual and creative beings. Put those two together and you have a myriad of sexual expressions that can be glorifying to God. How many times can you recall hearing the word “sex” from the pulpit? Probably very few if any, but of those times, how many times was it a positive message?... Read more
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