(Credit: news.com.au) A little while back I wrote a post about ISIS and the Good Samaritan. It was about how we should think about the Samaritan’s identity in a contemporary context. Not surprisingly, not everyone was thrilled with the idea of imagining a member of ISIS as the Good Samaritan. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that this ISIS/Jesus connection may stir the pot just a bit more. Apparently as part of an evangelism campaign, several churches in... Read more

(Credit: Mosa’ab Elshamy, Flickr Creative Commons) Terrible news is coming out of Pakistan today where a Christian couple was tortured to death by an angry mob before having their bodies burned in a brick kiln. Tragically, it is but the latest heartbreaking moment in a seemingly never-ending stream of news reports coming out of the Middle East and beyond involving the persecution of Christians; the most infamous, of course, being the wholesale slaughter of Christians (and other religious minorities) at the... Read more

No deep thoughts today. Just a t-shirt you’re gonna wanna buy. Yeah, $20 may seem a little steep for a t-shirt. But when it’s a t-shirt this epic, it’s money well spent.   You can click here to buy this bad boy for yourself or copy & paste it to your Christmas wish list.   Read more

(H/T International Business Times) A couple of weeks a fire tore through an apartment complex in California. Fortunately, “not a single soul was injured in the fire.” But not for the reasons the liberal lame stream media wants you to think. The real reason nobody died was because Jesus was there to save the day. As the fire continued to rage, local residents looked up and saw you know who in the billowing pillar of smoke. Of course, it could be argued... Read more

Gearing up for a night of trick or treating with your kids? Maybe you’ve got a trip to the local haunted house planned with your friends? Well, you better think again. Unless, of course, you want to go hell. Before the moon rises tonight and it’s too late to save your soul, do your eternal fate a favor and heed this tracty warning from the one and only Jack Chick. If you feel your soul is in jeopardy today because... Read more

(H/T Reeknees, Flickr Creative Commons) This week in Nashville, folks from the Southern Baptist Convention have been gathering for the 2014 Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission National Conference. To be honest, I didn’t know a thing about it and probably would have gone on living in blissful ignorance if #ERLC2014 wasn’t popping up all over Twitter. So, I had to do a bit of googling to figure out exactly what was going on. Turns out that the ERLC folks in Nashville... Read more

This is admittedly a break from the typical sort of stuff I write about. It’s not necessarily Christian. There’s no mention of Jesus or the Church anywhere to be seen. But it’s a story full of the sort of hope and heartbreak, love and grace that are at the core of the gospel. This is the story of Ethan Van Leuven, a 4 year old boy in Utah who is battling leukemia. Sadly, his doctors recently told his parents that it’s a battle... Read more

(H/T Wikipedia) You’re a heretic. I’m a heretic. She’s a heretic. He’s a heretic. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like you can’t venture into the world of the Christian Internet without avoiding accusations of heresy being lobbed from one theological camp to another. Branding folks like Brian McLaren or Rob Bell or Rachel Held Evans as heretics as become something of a sad recreational sport with entire websites and “ministries” devoted to seeking out and “exposing false teachers.”... Read more

(H/T Wikipedia) I originally intended to share this post last week, but writing about getting angry with God took a little longer than I expected. So, this post is kind of hanging out by itself this week. But for me, it’s an important wrap up to everything I had to say about the problem of evil and how it’s such a great challenge to Christianity. It’s not that I think I’ve found a way resolve the problem of evil. Far from... Read more

(H/T Michal Kasprzak, Flickr Creative Commons) I get angry with God sometimes. Actually, that’s not true. If I’m being really honest, I get angry with God a lot. When I hear about the atrocities committed by ISIS or the needless starving of millions or priests abusing children or babies being born only to die from some genetic defect I get angry at God. I get angry because I believe in a God who is worthy of being called God. I believe in... Read more