By way of researching my book I’m OK – You’re Not: The Message We’re Sending Nonbelievers and Why We Should Stop, I posted a notice on Craigslist sites all over the country asking non-Christians to send me any short, personal statement they would like Christians to read.… [Read more…] about What Non-Christians Want Christians To Hear
Christian Issues
An Open Letter to Pro-Lifers
I could tell you I was raped. (I wasn’t.) I could tell you I am a victim of incest. (I’m not.) I could tell you my life would be in danger if I got pregnant. (Partly true, but for this discussion, let’s say not.) I could tell you I’m mentally challenged or ill. (I don’t think so, but let’s please not open that up to debate… .) These are some of the scenarios even the most ardent advocates in the Pro-Life movement might allow themselves and those they love flexibility where safe and legal abortion is concerned. Might.… [Read more…] about An Open Letter to Pro-Lifers
“Is hell real?” What are we, six-year-olds?
Asking whether or not hell is real is like asking your teammates in a football huddle whether or not they think it’s possible, from your team’s current position on the field, to sink a three-point basket.
Wrong question.
Wrong game.
Missing the point.
Here’s something I hate: conversations that ostensibly are about answering a question to which, in fact, there is no knowable answer. Getting stuck in a conversation like that transmogrifies my poor little brain into a crack-snorting hamster on a wheel.
So, to state something so obvious I should be embarrassed to type it: No one has any idea — none, zero, zilch, nada, void, total blank — what happens to anyone after they die.
It could be that heaven is awaiting some of us. Or all of us. It could be that hell is waiting for some or all of us. Could be a Dairy Queen awaitin’. Could be a dentist’s office. Could be a six-room igloo. Could be interplanetary pinochle tournament.
No. One. Knows. It’s. Not. Knowable.
And if at this moment you’re inclined to grab your Bible, stop yourself. It’s not in there. You can pretend the Bible tells you what happens to people after they die, but you wouldn’t be fooling even yourself. Paul enjoins us to give up childish things, and you can’t get more childish than pretending the Bible is a magical window that lets you see beyond life.
Trying to use the Bible as proof of what happens after we die is like trying to use a telescope to row a canoe. Wrong… [Read more…] about “Is hell real?” What are we, six-year-olds?
Unfundamentalist Christians: That’s we in the corner
We ended up launching this Unfundamentalist Christians group blog before we had ready our Official Introductory post. Lame, we know. But once we were all dressed up and everything, we figured that we’d crash the party first, and then make with the greetings. It’s been our experience that that’s really the best way for us to reduce our chances of getting summarily booted from wherever we’ve shown up.
Hi! We’re the Unfundamentalist Christians! Nice to meet you! Thanks for having us, Patheos! We’ll totally try not to break anything.
What’s that? How did we come about? Why, how ravishingly kind of you to ask. Well, UC was founded by super-famous author and blogger John Shore. As John wrote in this post on his blog:
To my mind, the Christianity on the left was too tenuous, while the one on the right was too … rabid. I didn’t want a Christ who was essentially an inspired social worker who got jumped by the authorities, and I sure didn’t want the one who had been twisted into serving the craven needs of bigoted, power-crazed, fear-mongering misogynist homophobes.
He was, as he put it, a Christian without a Christianity.
So then John wrote the UC tenets below. Then UC became a Facebook Page, which you should go like right now. Then that page was liked by over 14,000 people (as of July 2, 2016, it’s now 66,379 people). Then John and the folks who admin that page decided to start a group blog. Then Patheos was kind enough to offer to host that blog. And, well, now… [Read more…] about Unfundamentalist Christians: That’s we in the corner
The Jesus Clown Car
(This guest post by David Paul Kirkpatrick, the former President of Paramount Pictures and the former Production President of both Walt Disney Pictures and Touchstone Pictures.)
Someone said that civilization began to end when the media circus entered everyone’s living room in the form of 24/7 cable news. That non-stop phenomenon required more information than ever before: more news, more stories, more sirens, alarms, bells and horns. And today we not only watch that flashy extravaganza, we’re in it: we’re daily Tweeting, texting, and blogging our commentaries on the very stories we help to create.
Years ago, conservative President Ronald Reagan and liberal Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill met every week for a whiskey and a talk. Though possessing very different points of view, they met in private as men who needed to get things done. And hey, whaddaya know: they got things done.
Can you imagine that happening in our three-ring circus culture of today, with all the video screens we have everywhere around us—in our homes, in our cars, at the gas pump, on the subway, above our urinals, in the palms of our hands—constantly bombarding us with nothing so much as strife, angst, and all drama all the time?
Two men cooperating together for the common good?
Pfft. How is that going to entertain us while we’re pumping gas?
Gay at the circus
In Hollywood, it was easy to be gay; lots of people there were, and nobody… [Read more…] about The Jesus Clown Car
I Do Not Permit A Woman
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In 1 Timothy 2:12, Paul says “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” (NIV2011)
What’s up with that? Is Paul really issuing a definitive command regarding women’s roles that’s binding upon all Christians today? Is this a clear directive that severely limits women’s ministry in the Church? That’s certainly how most complementarians understand this verse. But is that where the discussion ends? Paul said it, I believe it, that settles it?
But wait a second. Do all Christian women avoid gold and pearls? (1 Tim. 2:9) Do they cover their heads when praying? (1 Cor. 11) Should we always greet each other with a holy kiss? (Rom. 16:16) If we’re visiting the island of Crete should we assume that the people we encounter are all “liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons”? (Tit. 1:12) Should we always carry a cloak, scrolls and parchments with us on our journeys? (2 Tim. 4:13)
In short, how do we understand the words of Paul? What ones do we choose to apply to our modern Christian practice and what ones do we disregard — and more importantly, why?
1 Timothy 2:8-15 is a notoriously difficult passage. Part of the problem is that we’re only hearing one side of the conversation — we’re listening in on one end of a two thousand year old discussion that wasn’t directly intended for us. We aren’t familiar with the culture and context, we don’t truly know what it was like to be a Christian in first century Ephesus and… [Read more…] about I Do Not Permit A Woman