Above All, Love
I got this letter in:
Hi, John.
I became acquainted with your writing a couple of months ago and love it. I so wish I could travel back in time and hear your voice in my head while I was growing up, instead of the hard-core fundy “you’re going to hell” soundtrack of my early life.… [Read more…] about Pastor: "He should have killed you. At least you'd have died a virgin."
The meme above crossed my Internet path today. I was going to print it out and hang it on my refrigerator next to my plumber’s name and number—except then I realized that while my plumber can actually help me, this list of Bible verses is more likely to hurt rather than to help me or anyone else.
Let’s take a look at the actual Biblical text behind these “hotlines”:
Worry Hotline ….. 1 Peter 5:7
1 Peter 5:7 reads:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
This is fine for what it is. But it does nothing to address any real issue in anyone’s life. “Stressed about your job, your spouse, your money, your kids, your health? No worries: God cares for you!” Comfort fail.
Fear Hotline ….. Isaiah 41:10
Isaiah 41:10 reads:
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
This Old Testament verse certainly sounds good. And I do think that God can provide such encouragement to us. But that’s not the message being delivered here. This is written to the nation of Israel, not to individual Christians. Appropriating God’s words to Israel as a personal antidote against fear is Biblically dishonest. It’s either disingenuous or ignorant to pull a Bible verse entirely out of its context and then use it to convey your own thoughts and feelings.
Temptation Hotline ….. 1 Corinthians 10:13,… [Read more…] about A Bible-based "hotline" that's no help at all.
Bobby Prince and Joe Openshaw (above), of Birmingham, Alabama, are getting married on Saturday, October 26. They are members of the United Methodist Church, the second largest Protestant denomination in the United States after the Southern Baptist Convention. Naturally enough, Bobby and Joe wanted to get married before their friends, family, and church family in their church home, Discovery United Methodist Church of Hoover, AL.… [Read more…] about In landmark move, Methodist bishop defies church law and colleagues to marry gay couple
Since I’m a Christian, I’m not exactly thrilled about writing this. But it wouldn’t be honest not to admit that we Christians too often blow it in these seven ways:… [Read more…] about Seven ways Christians fail to be Christian
As proof that God condemns homosexuality, anti-gay Christians commonly point to the laws prohibiting homosexuality found in Leviticus.
“But,” comes the counter-argument, “Christians today blithely ignore all the other Levitical laws, such as ‘Don’t eat shellfish,’ ‘Don’t wear mixed fabrics,’ ‘Kill adulterers,’ and so on. And the whole point of Jesus was to establish a new order; that’s why it’s called The New Testament. Paul himself was very clear about saying that following Jesus meant no longer following the Laws of Moses. Therefore it is specious to use Leviticus to condemn gay people.”
“Jesus was willing to let go of things like eating shellfish and wearing mixed fabrics,” rejoin the anti-gay Christians, “because those are ceremonial laws. But Old Testament laws such as the Ten Commandments are moral laws, which Jesus insisted on upholding. And since the Old Testament prohibitions against homosexuality fall into the category of moral law, they are fully supported by Jesus.” To buttress this point, Matthew 5:17-19 is typically utilized:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
So let’s think about this.
The first thing to note is that nowhere in the Bible are moral laws distinguished from ceremonial laws. Those are man-made designations. It is up to Christians, in other words, to decide which Biblical injunctions are moral rules that need to be upheld, and… [Read more…] about Are not the Bible's "laws" on homosexuality unbiblical?
The American Family Association (AFA) is in a tizzy because the U.S. Army listed them as a hate group in a training presentation. The Army identified the AFA as a hate group based on information from the Southern Poverty Law Center.… [Read more…] about The American Family Association and the KKK
When congressional stenographer Dianne Reidy got pulled from the House floor for screaming “prophetic pronouncements” at voting representatives, most of us simply viewed her as someone worthy of pity.
But to others she was the victim of “religious persecution,” because, they believe, she spoke what the Spirit led her to say—that being, of course, that the government is run amok (since, as everyone knows, the Holy Spirit is a fiscal conservative). To these folks, slavery, Civil War, two world wars, and decades on the brink of possible nuclear annihilation were not enough to bring about the End Times. For that, it took a debate about health insurance.
But this is not really about Obamacare; it’s not about whether the government should provide health care at all; it’s not about the proper role of government in people’s lives. Legitimate philosophical debates about the role of government have been around since (before) the founding of the republic.
But one subgroup on one side of that debate has now decided that such discussions must always be about something much larger than that. And in retrospect this turn of events was inevitable. Fiscal conservatives have been courting religious conservatives for decades, and now, finally, they have now successfully wedded the two. So we can’t be too surprised that, for some, whether the government sets up private insurance exchanges or outlaws policy rejections based on pre-existing conditions—whether the government does anything at… [Read more…] about Christian "politicians" and the end of time
A friend of mine is a gay artist who, up until a few days ago, was a tireless and fairly high-profile opponent of Christianity. His world recently changed when he realized that, despite his “hard-won atheism,” he was rapidly becoming a Christian.
“I’m sitting here listening to Jars of [bleeping] Clay and weeping,” he wrote me. “Mother[bleep]er! Where is this [bleep] coming from? And why am I okay with it? God[bleep] it.”
Knowing my history (see I, A Rabid Anti-Christian, Very Suddenly Covert), my friend asked for some advice about the phenomenon he was experiencing. That advice (which he was kind enough to encourage me to here share) was/is:
Hey, buddy.
Up until my freakish conversion experience I, like, you, basically loathed Christianity; I considered it at best appallingly stupid. Same as you thought!
That God. S/he sure is … seriously intrusive.
Anyway, yeah: I have some idea of where you’re coming from, and perhaps a bit of what you’re experiencing.
I’m certainly aware of your concern that becoming a Christian will mean having to give up aspects of yourself that you hold dear. Please put that fear to rest. Of all the things that becoming a Christian means—or issupposed to mean, anyway—one of them is not getting absorbed into the giant Borg of Christian Conformity.
Exactly the opposite is true, in fact. God desires you to be more of who you are, not less. God made you exactly the way you are. And God is… [Read more…] about To a Gay Anti-Christian Activist Who Suddenly Converted
She’d been asking for years. My firstborn, with the red hair and creamy skin, wanted a tattoo. For years she’s been asking.
The child who, if she could, would paint her room a different color every other month. The child who, if her parents could, would ask them to rearrange the furniture in her room every other week. The child who, as a pre-teen, declared matter-of-factly, “I require constant change.” The undeniable implication was, “Is that so wrong? Is that so difficult? Why is nobody accommodating me???”
A tattoo. The most permanent of permanent body alterations.
When she was fourteen and fifteen, it was easy to laugh – “Pffffft! Over my dead body!” “You? The girl who gets tired of a haircut after three hours?” And my go-to favorite, “If you still want one when you’re older, we’ll talk.” Well, she was coming up on seventeen, and wanted to talk.
I knew better than to offer a henna tattoo – you know – the kind that isn’t permanent and the design can be different every time! No, I knew better. And each time she brought it up, tentatively and unusually respectfully, I pushed her off. I couldn’t help but admire her persistence, though, with this request. Normally that sort of thing annoys me – you know, the kid asking over and over for something I’d already said “no” to.
This topic, however? There was something in the way she asked that told us this was different.
To be clear, she knew Dave (hubs to me/dad to her) and I had… [Read more…] about My Tattooed Teenager
Here’s a snapshot of the speakers at yesterday’s NALT Christians press conference, held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., as a “prebuttal” to the shameful (and for some reason illiterately named) Values Voter Summit, which starts today. From left to right are:… [Read more…] about Christians opposing the shameful "Values Voter Summit"
