Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Our Fire Is Ruining Facebook

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Sheri Faye Rosendahl.

I have been told that I can come off too harsh in my outspoken opposition to the American white Jesus and my vocal advocacy for Loving others first. On the one hand, I haven’t been dropping f-bombs, so I think I’m doing pretty okay with my temperament. On the other hand, yeah, I can get a bit fiery.

I know you miss seeing pictures of puppies flooding your newsfeed, but maybe those “political” posts advocating for basic human rights and Loving others could take precedence over the desire to “feel good” again in the bubble of the West. More than ever in Facebook history, people are speaking up against oppression and taking bolder action to Love. This is deeply needed in our hurting world.

Many of us are fed up with hate and are finding unity under a deep desire to see Love win. I’m sorry (not really) if that feels uncomfortable, but unless it doesn’t align with the ways of Jesus, what is the real issue?

Jesus was controversial; he had a tendency to make people uncomfortable. He called his followers to a counter-cultural way of life that threatened the comforts of the religious too. He told people to give all their money to the poor, leave their jobs on the spot to follow him, Love their enemy, let go of their pride, and stop being so fearful. Jesus doesn’t care about our shallow comforts; he cares about our willingness to give it all up for self-sacrificial Love.

So, what is the motive for speaking out… [Read more…] about Our Fire Is Ruining Facebook

Why Boycotting Disney over a Gay Character Is Childish and Hypocritical

by Matthew Distefano in Movie Reviews

I recently saw Disney’s Beauty and the Beast with my six year old daughter. We loved it. Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Josh Gad, all of them—fantastique! The story is fantastic too. In fact, you can read my review of the 1991 version here. But some Christians aren’t too happy about this film. And all because one of the characters may be gay . . . Oh, the humanity! Franklin Graham is one of these, and has even gone so far as to advocate for an outright boycott of Disney:

“They’re trying to push the LGBT agenda into the hearts and minds of your children—watch out! Disney has the right to make their cartoons, it’s a free country. But as Christians we also have the right not to support their company. I hope Christians everywhere will say no to Disney.”

In the most literal sense, Graham is correct: Christians do have the right to not support Disney. I would never argue otherwise. But I also have the right to say how idiotic and childish it is to boycott an entire company over their acknowledging gay people exist. Because that is all this is, regardless of what Graham says. Pardon the innuendo, but it is not as if Disney is ramming some supposed gay agenda down our throats. They aren’t including a hot and steamy gay shower scene or anything to that effect. They simply made it more obvious that Gaston’s sidekick LeFou may be, as most of us already suspected, gay. And they did it awfully subtly too!

Nothing explicit or “sexual” at all!

But I guess… [Read more…] about Why Boycotting Disney over a Gay Character Is Childish and Hypocritical

Dear American Conservative Church

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Sheri Faye Rosendahl.

Dear American Conservative Church,

I know I can be pretty hard on you and you deserve an explanation.

I am trying to follow the ways of Jesus, I’m sure you are too. My struggle is with the contradictions I see between your speech and actions, and the ways of your savior. The red letters are not aligning.

Our world is a mess right now, I bet you would agree. But I don’t quite understand your response to the chaos–the self-protection approach doesn’t make sense when it overrides Love.

I’m sure you know this, but do you really understand that Jesus is not American, nor is he campaigning for American greatness? He does not value white children more than any other hue, nor does he value any nationality over another. I promise you, I checked all of his teachings, it’s not there.

Bear with me if you can–I am going to be blunt because I don’t know if you understand what the world sees and experiences through your actions.

To the world, the outward purpose of American Christianity looks like a numbers game. The goal being to “save” (convert) as many souls as possible, then maybe you win or something, I am honestly not quite sure what, maybe points in heaven?

It looks like a weird competition and its players are often aggressive and uncomfortable to be around. The message sounds something like, “Convert to save your soul! And to save your soul from eternal hellfire where there is gnashing of teeth,… [Read more…] about Dear American Conservative Church

The Greatest of These

by Rachel Hooker in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Rachel Hooker.

I am not a very good Christian any more.

I used to think that under it all, I was doing the things right and that counted for something. That it counted for a lot.

I wanted God’s blessing and God’s protection, and to get those one must do all the things just so, or try to. God forgives those who are trying to do the things just so, but fail, so he still protects and blesses the trying.

Now I don’t do all the things just so. Now I don’t try. I got exhausted somewhere in my soul, doing right and finding no harvest. No protection. No blessing. All this doing the things right got me exactly nowhere and I feel betrayed.

Doing the things just so made me feel better than those who didn’t. I tried not to let it, but it did.

Doing the things just so made me feel ashamed when I failed, which was all the time.

I can’t do the things that make God love me; can’t show my love by obeying. Someone tells me he does anyway, that he always did.

These theologians. Spiritual pundits. These writers and speakers and church-leading-noise-makers teach me how best to manage the shame of failing to be like them–that is to say, like they say they are. I do the things they tell me God hates, and I wonder if he loves anyway. They predict doom for me. They do. I do. It’s easy to believe in doom. All the things they say are so intertwined with lies and shame that I am too weak to separate and pull out.

The shame makers taught me that faith is a thing… [Read more…] about The Greatest of These

It's Time to Rethink Judgment

by Russ Shumaker in Christian Issues

In Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis points out that westerners have been largely spared an age-old experience regarding our legal system:

​In most places and times it has been very difficult for the “small man” to get his case heard. The judge (and doubtless, one or two of his underlings) has to be bribed. If you can’t afford to “oil his palm” your case will never reach court. Our judges do not receive bribes. (We probably take this blessing too much for granted; it will not remain with us automatically). We need not therefore be surprised if the Psalms, and the Prophets, are full of the longing for judgment, and regard the announcement that “judgment” is coming as good news. Hundreds and thousands of people who have been stripped of all they possess and who have the right entirely on their side will at last be heard. They know their case is unanswerable–if only it could be heard. When God comes to judge, at last it will.
Evangelical Christians (and I’m sure others as well) often focus on the idea of God’s judgment as a terribly frightening event that will bring about the end of the world or condemn people to hell for their misdeeds. But Lewis notes that when Jesus talked about judgment He tended to paint a very different picture, of the type that is reflected in the Psalms. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, judgment comes not on those who have committed wrong acts or believed the wrong thing but on those who failed to act with compassion toward the… [Read more…] about It's Time to Rethink Judgment

The Rapture, Hell and Salvation: How Our Doctrines Can Breed Fear, Suspicion and Judgment

by Belinda Croft in Christian Issues

The Clean Out
Apprehension overwhelmed me this morning as I entered into a personal clothes clean-out flurry. What if, all of a sudden, I want to wear the top or jeans I had just ejected from my cupboard? Had I made an immense fashion mistake getting rid of them?

I managed to productively remove two bags of clothing from my life. However, it’s a little scary now as I analyze what I have left.

The clothes in my wardrobe bring a mysterious segue …

Lately I have been considering the practicality of fervently holding to doctrines and beliefs.

Locked up within many of our doctrines are misinformation and misunderstandings that have been passed on through generations of religion and denominations, and in some cases mistranslation of the original text.
What Doctrines Do You Adhere To?
Our beliefs regarding “Hell” can affect how we deal with people and how we view God. For example: “I’m right, and they are going to Hell” or  “I’m going to Hell, so who cares how I live” or “You need to confess otherwise you are going to Hell” or even “A God who condemns people to Hell–what kind of God is that?”

Beliefs about the “End Times” and “The Rapture” can dictate steps that Christians must take to prepare themselves for those events.

Strong procedural beliefs about baptism can create judgements and impose requirements on the journeys of others.

Our understanding of “sin” plays out in our observation and treatment of non-Christians and Christians (including… [Read more…] about The Rapture, Hell and Salvation: How Our Doctrines Can Breed Fear, Suspicion and Judgment

The Incompetent God

by Russell Croft in Christian Issues

‎This guest post is by Russell Croft.

Much is made of our free will, our ability to choose good or evil, to accept God or reject him. The adage, “If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?” is still said frequently at youth rallies, revival meetings, and on street corners, with the implication that the hearer needs to make a decision for Jesus in order to lock in the assurance of salvation.

On the surface it seems very orthodox, yet this “decision for Christ” takes the onus for salvation out of God’s hands and puts it into ours. He may want to save us, but what He has accomplished to this end through Jesus can only go so far. It is ultimately up to the actions we have taken or the decisions we have made. Salvation is completely dependent on our own abilities and efforts.

Is this right? Are we more able to effect our own salvation than God is? Is salvation that dependent on us? As much as God wants to bring us into salvation, is He completely powerless without our say so? Or worse, does He really only love a few of us?

Following the Script

A lot of Church culture these days certainly seems to hinge on our ability to procure salvation. Unless we have spoken specific words, or believed a set of doctrines particular to our chosen denomination, it seems we cannot hope to have the “fullness of the Spirit” or the acceptance of our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is up to us to make the right choices, to follow the script.

This has carried over into… [Read more…] about The Incompetent God

Remember: A Lenten Call to Embodied Justice-Making

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

This guest post is by Jill Crainshaw.

Ash Wednesday liturgies mark the beginning of Christianity’s yearly Lenten journey by emphasizing penitence, introspection, and human mortality. Last week, many people in Christian communities observed Ash Wednesday by receiving ashes on their foreheads. I participated in three Ash Wednesday liturgies this year. By the end of the day, I found myself focusing on how important it is that the ashy sign of the cross we carry out into the world on our faces after an Ash Wednesday liturgy serves as more than a symbolic and too-soon forgotten reminder of our personal mortality or of our individual spiritual disciplines or relationships to God. Even as we are called in the Ash Wednesday liturgy to remember that we are dust, we are also called to remember that the ashes of human mortality and fasting are imposed on too many people by systemic forces that overwhelm and oppress.

Three remembrances were stirred up for me this week and will trouble my feet as I travel this year’s Lenten road. Trayvon Martin died five years ago, on February 26, 2012. How can I receive a cross-shaped symbol of mortality as a liturgical action without repenting in dust and ashes for my part in constructing a world where too many people still do not count all black lives as beloved? And what about the ashes from those ceremonial flames that have burned at the Standing Rock encampment? How am I, as one who lays my head down to sleep in Winston-Salem, North… [Read more…] about Remember: A Lenten Call to Embodied Justice-Making

Not Your White Jesus

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Sheri Faye Rosendahl.

Jesus is not a white guy. I hate to break it to you, but all those pictures you grew up seeing on the walls of your church or in your grandma’s dining room showcasing the fair skinned, blue eyed, handsome white Jesus, are fabrications. They lied to you. Jesus isn’t American; he’s not even campaigning for America’s greatness!

He actually doesn’t care more about Americans than any other humans in the entire world (including Muslims and Communists). I’m serious–I checked the entire Bible and couldn’t find one sentence pertaining to America being the most amazing nation ever in existence. I know, I was shocked too.

Blatant sarcasm aside, if you are like me, raised in a “typical” American Christian home and going to church every Sunday as a child, you know what I am talking about. If you didn’t grow up in this cookie-cutter context, but you grew up virtually anywhere in the United States, chances are you know what I’m talking about. If you grew up in a completely different culture and country, but you have seen Americans on TV, chances are you know what I’m talking about.

Growing up in “the Christian Nation,” it took me a quarter of a century to figure out who Jesus actually was. Western Christianity really screwed this one up. We have become a self-serving, money-driven, achievement-based, all-too-fearful nation, and the American church as a whole has followed right along, loud and proud. It almost seems as… [Read more…] about Not Your White Jesus

Deceived by God's Word

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