(H/T Catholic News Agency) Before we go begin, let me be clear. Neither Pope Francis nor the Vatican has announced that they will be officiating gay weddings any time soon. The Vatican has been careful to point out that they are not rewriting their official doctrine on marriage. However…. Some incredibly interesting things have come out of Rome in the past few days. The first (though not in chronological order) is an interesting homily given by Pope Francis. According to Independent Catholic News... Read more

(H/T Jason St. Peter, Flickr Creative Commons) Christianity seems to be in a state of crisis these days. Countless news articles bemoan declining attendance while boldly proclaiming the imminent death of the Church. From the fleeing of millennials to debates over same-sex marriage to Pat Robertson, the Christian faith is not without its challenges. But what is the single greatest challenge to Christianity today? Despite the ravings of folks like Ken Ham and Richard Dawkins, it’s not science. Nor is it fundamentalism... Read more

(H/T Diogo Martins, Flickr Creative Commons)   I remember watching the first plane hit those Towers not so long ago. “It had to be an accident,” I thought to myself. But then another plane hit another Tower and I knew it had to be something worse, something far more nefarious. As I watched the towers burn and worried about the people trapped inside, I couldn’t keep my mind from wandering and wondering about how they would one day go about repairing the... Read more

(H/T reskaros, Flickr Creative Commons) It’s been about a week since I wrote about the rapture and the release of the epically awful Left Behind movie. In that time I’ve had the chance to reflect on the responses I’ve received. Well, not just the responses to my post, but to all the posts that had the unholy nerve to criticize the movie. As I did, an interesting phenomenon began to emerge. Not a new one, mind you. Just an interesting one.... Read more

(H/T) According to Discovery News, one of the earliest known images of Jesus has been recently discovered on a glass plate. Though you have to zoom it to really see his face and even then the image quality isn’t spectacular, what is obvious is this isn’t the sort of image of Jesus we’ve become accustomed to seeing. As Discovery News notes, Engraved on a glass plate (called a paten) which dates back to the 4th century A.D., Jesus is depicted... Read more

(H/T cobs, Flickr Creative Commons)   On the sixth day God created man. On the seventh day God rested. And on the eighth day man created fundamentalism Ok, technically there were no Christians in the Garden that day and Christian fundamentalism as we know it today didn’t appear in all its glory until the 19th century. But the seeds were sown that day – or on a day thereabouts  – when a man and a woman ate from a tree... Read more

I’m sorry Left Behind fans. But, there is no such thing as the rapture. Of course, you couldn’t tell me this when I was in high school because I was head over heels in love with biblical prophecy. Nothing else mattered. I was utterly convinced that the book of Revelation was a road map to the future and Jack Van Impe was the prophet who could unlock the apocalyptic map for me. I even had the Jack Van Impe Prophecy Bible,... Read more

(H/T Christianity Today) I knew very little about Rich Mullins and his music when I was growing up. He died right as music for me was becoming something more than just whatever my mom had playing on the radio in the car. I knew who he was and, of course, I knew all the words to “Awesome God.” Who didn’t back then? But, honestly, I always thought it was a pretty cheesy song, at least the verses. There were a... Read more

Nicolas Cage’s ironically epic remake of Left Behind hits theaters this weekend. From the moment I first caught wind of its production, I have made plans to see the traveshamockery on opening night and live tweet the entire thing. Unfortunately, unless miraculous unforeseen childcare comes through at the last moment, I will be the one left behind this weekend. I’m genuinely sad about this because I’ve been fascinated with the “end times” since I was a kid. Although, the reason for that... Read more

(H/T (cup)cake_eater, Flickr) My last year at Yale I was able to take Systematic Theology with Miroslav Volf. It goes without saying that there are many things I will always remember from that class, but one that especially stuck out to me was the time Prof. Volf shared his least favorite verse in the Bible. To be honest, the cynic in me was excepting to witness the cynic in Prof. Volf. I figured he would rattle off a string of... Read more