Today’s guest post comes from my friend Ed Cyzewski. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of his brand new book A Christian Survival Guide which is free today on Amazon. Some days I sit around imagining what it would be like if the writers of the Bible had the resources (and culture) of today’s Christian publishing industry at their disposal. What if they started publishing books that essentially turned their letters into “how-to” guides for church practice... Read more

Being sick sucks. I’ve been fortunate enough to not be sick with anything more than a cold in a long time, but that changed pretty quickly last week. A couple of weeks ago – and completely out of nowhere – I had some really, really terrible abdominal pain. I woke up one morning, ate breakfast, and then all of a sudden it felt like someone reached into my gut and squeezed my insides as hard as they could. It was... Read more

(H/T) Have you ever seen The Mission? If you haven’t, you really should. It’s a fantastic film starring two of the greatest actors of their generation – Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons – as a priest and conquistador trying to navigate the turbulent waters of the New World. In one of the most iconic scenes of the film, De Niro – the conquistador – is following Irons and his fellow priests through the jungle while lugging his obscenely heavy... Read more

(H/T) When I was a kid, a favorite pastime of my friends and mine was to skip the Sunday morning service and raid the church kitchen while we hid out from our parents. Usually there wasn’t much to be had, but if it was the day after a baby shower or even better – an ice cream social – we could hit the jackpot. And by “jackpot” I mean a handful of those awesome buttercream mints and maybe a cookie... Read more

I’m terrible at responding to emails. It doesn’t matter who you are or how far we go back, chances are good it’s going to take me forever to get back to you. I know that’s terrible of me, but please know it’s not personal. I just have this weird habit of responding to an email in my head, getting distracted by something else, and then I forget to actually respond to the email in real life. I’m even worse when... Read more

Predicting the exact date of Jesus’ return is tough stuff. Just ask Harold Camping. Some might even say it’s impossible. (Jesus. He was the one that said that.) But that’s not stopping Mark Blitz from trying his darndest to be a prognosticator of the parousia….while making a little scratch on the side for his efforts. Normally, his prophetic DVD, The Feasts of the Lord, would run you $39.95, a more than fair price to pay to learn the exact date... Read more

In the seemingly never ending battle over homosexuality in the church, a common chorus I often here repeated from those opposed to marriage equality is that their opposition, no matter how intense, is in fact an act of love. Unfortunately, that “love” often looks a whole lot like hate. For example, I’m not sure how telling gay folks that they are demon possessed and so foul smelling that even pigs don’t want to be around them is in any way... Read more