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What I Learned from Arguing with a Pig Farmer

May 8, 2017 by Christina Krost in Uncategorized

I was recently invited to preach at a church near me about the importance of creation care. I carefully crafted a sermon that I thought was equal parts faithful, educational, and challenging. Though I was terrified of my first preaching experience, I thought it went well. At the very least, I didn’t die of embarrassment or pass out from nerves. I received positive feedback on my appearance (that’s a blog post for another day), my speaking voice, and my message. I was thanked for my work and for teaching the congregation something new. Several people pledged to increase their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. It was an encouraging day.

A few days went by and I received a phone call from one of the pastors. It seems one of the members of the congregation, who happened to be a pig farmer, was enraged by my message and the pastor thought he was in need of a follow-up–so I gave him a call.

What happened next was perhaps the most formative experience I’ve had to date about how to have a difficult or emotionally-charged conversation with someone you disagree with. Here’s what I learned:

Listening to understand and listening to formulate a response are not the same thing.
I like to debate, and I like to win. But when you’re trying to form or maintain relationships with people, you need to suspend this desire. The best thing I could do in this situation was to make sure the person felt heard. So I listened. This can be disarming to the person you’re… [Read more…] about What I Learned from Arguing with a Pig Farmer

Deceived by God's Word

February 27, 2017 by Russell Croft in Uncategorized

‎This guest post is by Russell Croft.

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” — Colossians 2:8

There is a lot of fear in various Christian circles today that people are being deceived by false gospels that are not grounded in God’s word. It is a very heartfelt sentiment, one that is genuinely concerned for the fate of fellow believers and non-believers alike.

From this perspective, the answer is to stand on the word of God, to hold it sacredly, to believe that it is the ultimate God-breathed truth, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. We should not waver from the truth revealed within its pages and should always consider the whole counsel of scripture whenever preaching or debating the gospel. God’s word is God’s word, from beginning to end, the literal, infallible revelation of God to man. Anyone who abandons any part of the holy, inspired scriptures has been deceived and has believed a false gospel that threatens to lead others astray. One cannot argue with any part of the scriptures or consider alternative understandings of what they literally say without falling into heresy.
Revolution of Belief
Perhaps this is why the leaders of ancient Israel wanted to keep Jesus quiet. He would often take the scriptural understanding of the day and turn it on its head. In a culture that… [Read more…] about Deceived by God's Word

Giveaway: N.T. Wright's "Simply Good News"

January 20, 2015 by Dan Wilkinson in Uncategorized

Today I’m happy to announce that I have one brand new hardcover edition of N.T. Wright’s newest book, Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good, available to give away to one of our lucky readers.

I reviewed Simply Good News a couple of weeks ago and Scot McKnight reviewed it last week. If you haven’t yet read Simply Good News, here’s a chance to get your hands on a copy of your very own.

Enter to win below. The giveaway ends at midnight Eastern Time on Sunday, January 25, 2015 and the winner will be announced on this post Monday, January 26. Good luck! The giveaway is over! Thanks to all who participated and congratulations to the winner, Kenneth S.!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Dan WilkinsonDan is a writer, graphic designer and IT specialist. He lives in Montana, is married and has two cats. He blogs at CoolingTwilight.com.… [Read more…] about Giveaway: N.T. Wright's "Simply Good News"

The real tragedy of Ferguson isn't on TV

August 19, 2014 by Dan Wilkinson in Current Events, Uncategorized

#453804768 / gettyimages.com

The ongoing unrest in Ferguson, Missouri is a sobering reminder of the state of racial relations in the United States, and of the out-of-control militarization of our police force. But I fear that the real tragedy of Ferguson is that it’s destined to become nothing more than a momentary blip on the radar of history, one that, despite the historically agonizing cries of “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” will result in no meaningful change. Here’s some of why I fear that:

The social, economic, cultural and racial issues now writ so large in Ferguson are systemic. No single protest can release the nearly 1 million black males currently in prison. No one protest can change the poverty rate for blacks being more than twice that of whites. As media unfriendly as it is, the plain truth is that resolving the problems that caused the situation in Ferguson will take comprehensive and long-term approaches.
The power resides with the status quo. America’s rich, white, male power structure has the time and the resources to withstand any siege such as the Ferguson protests. Just ask the “one percent” how well the Occupy Wall Street protests worked.
The real revolution won’t be televised. Night after night powerful images are coming out of Ferguson, helping to reinforce a narrative that is ultimately as destructive as anything happening there. Images of protestors throwing back tear gas canisters, of police officers dressed in full military garb and clearly ready to… [Read more…] about The real tragedy of Ferguson isn't on TV

The best Christian book of the year

March 11, 2014 by Dan Wilkinson in Uncategorized

Several years ago, I attended a church discussion group on the topic of women in ministry. The pastor leading the group spent the first forty-five minutes forcefully laying out the “biblical” case for why women aren’t allowed to be pastors.

After his diatribe, I asked him, “if women can’t be pastors, does that mean God withholds gifts of preaching and teaching from them? Or does he bless them with such gifts and then denies them their full use?” He equivocated and rehashed his talking points.

To me, the answers are clear: God doesn’t withhold these gifts from women. There are many women who have been blessed with gifts of preaching and teaching and leadership and who have been called by God to use these gifts to their fullest potential serving the Church. Any church that refuses to acknowledge, accept and celebrate the blessings that God is offering through these women is refusing God himself. Sadly, this rejection and exclusion continues to stymie the Kingdom of God in many churches.

But even within churches and denominations that accept women in leadership roles, challenges of gender, race and age don’t magically fade into irrelevancy. It’s challenging to be a pastor. It’s even more challenging to be a female pastor. The challenges faced by young, non-white, female pastors are Sisyphean. It’s easy to say we fully accept women in church leadership roles, but the realities of explicit and implicit biases are still all too pervasive within modern… [Read more…] about The best Christian book of the year

All we rogues together

February 28, 2014 by John Shore in Uncategorized

I’m not generally keen on acquiescing to authority. As a kid I couldn’t even manage to join the Cub Scouts. When I was just considering joining them, at some school function or something, the Grown Man Scout Leader—Sergeant Dad, or whatever he was called—barked, “Okay, new recruits! Line up! Let’s go! Single file!”… [Read more…] about All we rogues together

The State Marriage Defense Act. Really, Ted and Mike?

February 17, 2014 by John Shore in Uncategorized

On February 13, The Washington Post reported the following:… [Read more…] about The State Marriage Defense Act. Really, Ted and Mike?

Don’t Cry for Me Argentina Pants

February 4, 2014 by Sylvie King Parris in Uncategorized

One of the comment moderators here and an admin on the Unfundamentalist Christians Facebook page is Sylvie King Parris, shown above with her husband Gary. Sylvie blogs at It’s a Mis-fit, where I found the piece of hers below. I thought it so touching I asked her if I could share it here, and she graciously said yes.… [Read more…] about Don’t Cry for Me Argentina Pants

Burned out (by God?)

January 27, 2014 by Dan Wilkinson in Uncategorized

While walking with my wife Wendy the other night, our conversation took an interesting turn. She has been reading Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, and told me about how, in the early 70s, Smith and artist Robert Mapplethorpe would spend long evenings at Max’s Kansas City hoping to connect with Andy Warhol. For some reason, Smith thought it worth mentioning that they waited under the red glow of a light sculpture commemorating the bloodshed of the Vietnam war.

My wife is a good storyteller and the mention of a light artist jogged my memory — I was pleased to remember a New York Times piece about Dan Flavin, who turned out to be the creator of that sculpture in the back room of Max’s. The article detailed the challenges of preserving and presenting Flavin’s work: after his death and with the increasing value of his sculptures, Flavin’s off-the-shelf practicality often gave way to meticulous attempts to preserve his ephemeral creations.

What happens when a Flavin bulb burns out? Can you replace it with a bulb from the corner hardware store? Leave it dark? Or must you only purchase hand-crafted copies of the original bulbs that are officially licensed by the Flavin estate?

As the conversation wandered, my wife raised questions about the nature of certain religious experiences. Delusional? Bullshit? Philosopher Harry Frankfurt would say intentionally ignoring the truth of a claim and instead focusing solely on the desired affects of that claim is the very… [Read more…] about Burned out (by God?)

You know how sometimes

January 23, 2014 by Eric Booth in Uncategorized

You know how
sometimes people
in our lives
with whom we’re not terribly close,
(which includes nearly everyone)
like work colleagues for instance,
will, quite inadvertently, say or do something
that must obviously be a personal trigger
instantly teleporting you back across time and space
into that room you’ve been running from
and trapped in your whole life
and your anxiety level skyrockets
but unfortunately and thankfully,
you’ve developed
the keen survivalist talent of hiding your fears
so well the trigger-happy,
soon-to-be ex-colleague/friend,
blissfully and unknowingly continues
dancing with stilettos on your heart,
believing you to be interested
because you are, actually, looking right at them
while looking right past them
while the psychologically bound Pavlovian dog
part of your psyche forever unfairly associates
the person’s face, voice, and scent
with that room
and everything in it you want
to keep getting away from
but the meeting isn’t nearly over,
the problem isn’t nearly solved,
the delivery to the client is looming,
and you catch not nearly enough words
to further any of these noble petty
causes, delaying escape
and lengthening exposure
radiating from otherwise good, rational people
who have their own damn shit and
with whom you have no desire to share any of this
so these people become rather impatient with you
for not hearing them,
causing the inevitable second wave
comprising the winning package of
guilt and shame and self-flagellation
because you fear it’s… [Read more…] about You know how sometimes

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