I am so discouraged—but hardly surprised–by this response to a post of mine from Friday about the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. I was reminded that Jesus told his disciples to get swords (Luke 22:36) and that Jesus did not come to “bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). Sadly—or infuriatingly—this response perfectly reflects the […]
People deconstructing faith have questions about the Bible. They are often deconstructing a fundamentalist view of the Bible And I used to say things like pastor Timothy Keller that just don’t help. “Contemporary people tend to examine the Bible, looking for things they can’t accept; but Christians should allow the Bible to examine us, looking […]
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On Biblicism, Arianism, and Abuse
Authority. And Submission. That is what we are talking about. Authority and Submission… Within God. Between the sexes. And among the people. And a tendency toward abuse. They are all connected. Fundamentalist theologian, Owen Strachen, clinging to his biblicism, has again defended his version of the Arian heresy. While denying it, Strachan is saying that […]
What prompts deconstruction? An article from The Gospel Coalition, by pastor Joshua Ryan Butler, caused quite a stir on my Facebook stream yesterday. In it Bulter diagnoses the 4 Causes of Deconstruction. He uses a diagnosis / cure structure, claiming that deconstruction doesn’t really cure people the way they hope. I think many believe Butler […]
I’m not talking about jokes memes, or cat memes, or memes about ordinary life. Because those are hilarious. I’m talking about biting political memes. And polemical theological memes. The gotcha meme, the hasty dismissal, the absurdity of it all kind of memes. These memes… have no context invite no conversation and create no community A […]
Why do children want to show you everything? And what’s it got to do with ancient Israel confession of faith—the Shema? Like I said yesterday, the prophets of distraction (paying to make you pay attention to what they are selling) are trying to gain, and hold, and direct your attention. But how do you […]
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Pay Attention to God
PAY ATTENTION! Our entire culture is trying to capture your attention, to make you look at this shiny object, to make you love or fear whatever it is selling at the moment. The prophets of attention are just selling your attention for profits—they are paying to make you pay attention. Amid the prophets of disaster…Amid […]
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How is Jesus a Ransom for Many?
We don’t need to focus so much on balancing faith and doubt. We need to GET OUT OF OUR BRAINS and back into OUR BODIES. Or better, we need to realize that every brain is essentially embodied, flowing with emotions and embedded in relationships. Isn’t Enough Saying that we need a little more doubt […]