Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Practicing Love Is Far More Important Than Believing Doctrine

by Chuck Queen in Christian Issues

Dr. Albert Schweitzer was an amazing man. He was a renowned theological scholar, a concert pianist, and a medical doctor. The second half of his career was devoted to serving a medical mission in Lambarene, Africa. He could not get missionary support because his theology was suspect, so he performed concerts in order to raise money to support his work.

In the first half of his career as a theological scholar he wrote several books, one of which launched a major theological movement that has now went through several phases. The title of the book describes the movement, The Quest for the Historical Jesus.

The late Fred Craddock, who taught at Candler School of Theology for a number of years, tells about the time he first read the book. He was in his early twenties, just getting started in his theological career. He thought Schweitzer’s Christology was woefully lacking.

Fred was in Knoxville and read in the news that Schweitzer was going to be in Cleveland, Ohio to give a concert at a church dedicating a new organ. The article reported that there would be refreshments afterward and that Schweitzer would be around for conversation. Fred was so passionate about his views of Jesus that he bought a Greyhound bus ticket to Cleveland, hoping to have an opportunity to drill Schweitzer with questions on his doctrine of Christ. He reminds me of myself in my twenties.

After the concert, Fred was one of the first persons to get a seat in the Fellowship Hall. He plopped… [Read more…] about Practicing Love Is Far More Important Than Believing Doctrine

If God Wants to Save Us, Why Isn’t Salvation Simple?

by Randal Rauser in Christian Issues

I know what you’re thinking: salvation is simple! After all, just look at John 3:16: God loved the world so much he sent his Son so that whoever believes in him will be saved. Surely that is simple, right?

It might seem so, but the closer you look, the more that initial veneer of simplicity dissolves into an unsettling complexity.
What do you need to believe to be saved?
Let’s start with this question: what does it mean to believe in Jesus?

At first blush, Paul appears to provide a simple answer to that question in Romans 10:9: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (NIV) So believe Jesus is Lord and God raised him back to life: that’s what you need to believe to be saved.

Simple? Actually, no, it isn’t.

Here’s the problem: there are many groups outside of historic, orthodox Christianity that affirm those two claims. Mormons, for example, profess to believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead. Does that mean that Mormons are saved?

Many Christians believe the answer is no: Mormons aren’t saved. The reason is that while they may accept the claims of Romans 10:9, they also accept many other claims that are incompatible with orthodox Christianity. For example, Mormon theology asserts that God was once a human being who evolved to become God and that human beings can themselves become gods.… [Read more…] about If God Wants to Save Us, Why Isn’t Salvation Simple?

More Guilt? Yes, Please! How Our Church Has Co-Opted Shame and Disguised It as Guilt

by Selina Mullin in Christian Issues

Have you ever heard the phrase “near-enemy” used before? No? Well, a near-enemy is when two things look very similar but are intrinsically different. I first read the phrase in a Louise Penny book, where she wrote about a woman who appeared compassionate and caring, but in fact wanted others to be totally helpless so they would need her. The woman seemed to have good intentions, but she was, in fact, hurting others so that she could receive gratitude from them. A near-enemy appears to be one thing while in reality it is another; it masquerades as a more noble version of itself.

Shame, in my opinion, is the near-enemy of guilt. Shame is a debilitating sense of humiliation or sadness; it immobilizes us and disintegrates our confidence. Guilt, on the other hand, is a pro-social reaction to how our actions affect others. Guilt helps us make our way through the world — it is the internal compass of our decision making.
Our churches have co-opted shame and parade it as guilt.
Here is an example. When I was little, I was told that to have a sexual thought in my mind was just as bad as if I committed the act (see Purity Culture). That’s an idea with a biblical basis (see Matt. 5:28). So, every time I had an even remotely sexual thought, I felt ashamed of myself. I was ashamed of my body, of my mind, and genuinely believed I was a bad person because of it.

Logically, this idea is absolutely ridiculous! Natural responses to stimuli from the world around us… [Read more…] about More Guilt? Yes, Please! How Our Church Has Co-Opted Shame and Disguised It as Guilt

Greeting My Anti-Gay Ghosts

by William Stell in LGBT

I have a secret, which I have not shared with anyone at the church where I serve, until now: I have been baptized twice. Once as an infant, at a Presbyterian church in New Jersey, and once as a 17-year-old, through a “Bible church” in my Texas hometown. Under the influence of that church’s youth group, I came to believe that the baptism of an infant isn’t really a baptism and thus, at age 17, I had not yet obeyed the biblical command to be baptized. My father, a professor of theology, expressed his disagreement with the reasoning behind my decision, but I remained undeterred: I was not going to let this divine command go unheeded.

My River Jordan was the town’s local pool. Hands I trusted as much as any dipped my body under the water and then lifted me up, to the cheers of a large crowd that included family and some of my closest friends. Through their spirit of celebration, I felt the Spirit descend on me, and through the hands of my youth pastor, I felt the voice from Heaven say, “This is my son, with whom I am well pleased.”

A few years later, removed from the religious influence of that youth group, I changed my mind: every tradition of baptism is true and beautiful in its own way, and so my second baptism was unnecessary — and the exclusionary theology behind it problematic. Even so, I do not regret going down to the River Jordan a second time. Now, ten years later, a new gift has surfaced in that holy pool water. Almost every day, it floats toward me. On my better… [Read more…] about Greeting My Anti-Gay Ghosts

The Invisible Listeners

by Tony Cutty in Christian Spirituality

This piece is written to those of you who write on the Internet about Grace. People who write about the Love of God. People who write to encourage others; to build them up, not tear them down.

I am a member of several online groups where people of the Spirit voice things from God, things new and old. Old widsom, and new wisdom. (Matt 13:52) Things for the building up of the Saints (Eph 4:12). Jesus Himself said that there was so much more He wanted to tell us (Jn 16:12), and this kind of publishing is part of that.

Much of this stuff is the prophetic Word of God for today, and you can tell by the fruits manifested in their readers that these words are bringing life to those that read them.

But there is also huge discouragement, and often even despair, for those who write. If you are one of these writers, you will know exactly what I’m talking about.

On your public posts, whether blog posts or simple forum comments, you are often torn to shreds by (sometimes well-meaning) religious people who don’t like what they read. The Scripture says that people would be offended by the message of Jesus, and this can happen for several reasons.

Mostly, though, the offense is found in the simplicity of the Gospel message; St. Paul simply preached Christ crucified. However it works, Jesus has accomplished all that is necessary for the way to be open to God, and He invites us into His Presence and to live our lives in the simple joy of walking with Him.

And… [Read more…] about The Invisible Listeners

Doubts Are a Serious Problem

by Jacob Turnquist in Christian Issues

Being raised in a religious community, I was given a particular understanding of what faith was. Primarily, faith was the amount of certainty one placed in the supernatural. From my Protestant tradition, the most important form the supernatural took was the Bible. So, faith was often equated with how much certainty one placed on the inerrancy of the Bible. Faith was also defined by one’s certainty of “things unseen” — not simply stating that there were things unseen, but that they took a particular form derived from a particular reading of the Bible.

The consequence of measuring faith by one’s certainty is that it defines its opposite as doubt. The more someone doubts the Bible’s claims about the supernatural, the less faith they have — the fewer the doubts, the “stronger” the faith. This so-called strong faith was valued in my communities growing up. Those with strong faiths led in my churches, Christian schools, missionary trips, and social groups. They were role models to be praised and emulated.

An expression of doubt indicated that someone had a weaker faith, that they were “struggling.” And, because the Christian faith was the source of morality, a weak faith would lead to “backsliding” into immoral behavior. Doubts lead to sin, and so they were condemned as a sin. And, as such, doubts were seen as the work of Satan.

A person who expressed doubt was treated with the appearance of love and… [Read more…] about Doubts Are a Serious Problem

Fundamentalism Tells You Food Is Good While Taking Away Your Ability to Taste

by in Fundamentalism

Fundamentalists claim that unless we submit to the Bible as the Word of God, we cannot have objective morality. Our sense of right and wrong would be subject to personal taste or popular opinion.

I think this essentially becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those who grow up in fundamentalism rely on the external authority of other people’s interpretation of the Bible and morality. We are taught to DISREGARD our personal ideas, and we lose the ability to discern which opinions are worth our attention.

It is an insidious vicious cycle to keep people from functioning out of their own moral agency and stay under the control of religious gatekeepers. This is the reason for the arrested development of many fundamentalist adults, that they continue to rely on external authorities to dictate their everyday choices.

Breaking free from it takes time and incremental steps for a lot of us. It took me years to reclaim a strong sense of agency over my own spirit, mind, and body–to trust, once again, that I can discern for myself which ideas are compelling, what activities are worth engaging in, and who gets to be an influence in my life.

Contrary to popular fundamentalist opinion, gaining self-agency doesn’t mean we become free-for-all selfish beings who float around in hedonistic airs without purpose or moral grounding. It means putting back together a robust integrity of personhood that was broken by abusive religious teachings. And it means we can participate in the… [Read more…] about Fundamentalism Tells You Food Is Good While Taking Away Your Ability to Taste

Laughing Out Loud

by Marguerite Sheehan in Christian Spirituality

A friend of mine said recently that the Christ seed that was planted in my heart a long long time ago has taken root and is pushing its way upward.

Here is one example of that “pushy Jesus.” In our “Listening to the Gospel” group this week I had an almost, but not quite, out-of-body experience. I heard Jesus knocking on the door of my study where five of us were sitting in a circle. He was not content to knock. He walked right in and I started laughing.

I laughed because all that I could imagine was the five of us saying what other people say to Jesus when he shows up unexpectedly. “Not in our neighborhood. Not in our circle. Not in our church. You are not what we expected and besides, you are messing up our meditation. Your knocking is way too loud.”

Who wants to see Jesus with scarred-up hands and feet and a hungry belly? Who wants to hear that he is not interested in talking about the pearly gates and how the people we love are waiting for us in heaven? He is still stuck on “welcome the stranger” and “repent and forgive.” No wonder the disciples, then and now, find ourselves more comfortable in our own circles, with the door closed, grieving the past. The present manifestation of Jesus in the world has always been shocking and more than inconvenient.

Easter came this year on April Fool’s Day and each week of Eastertide the resurrection story gets funnier and funnier. This week it is something like this: “Knock knock. Who’s there? It is I Jesus. Jesus who? Jesus… [Read more…] about Laughing Out Loud

Fox News Christians

by Darrell Lackey in Christian Issues

It has long perplexed me. How is this possible? What manner of cognitive dissonance is capable of such amazing mental gymnastics? What devilry, what witchcraft is afoot here? Here there be demons for sure, but where? It was like listening to one’s kind and sweet Grandmother talking about kittens and rainbows who suddenly shouts out an expletive. Then it finally dawned on me: this used to be me!

Not only was I a rabid 1980s Moral Majority Republican who actively campaigned for local Republican candidates, I was a 1990s consumer of right-wing talk radio. When, in the late 90s, Fox News debuted, I became a several-hours-per-day viewing addict. Other than occasional movies and sports, it was what I primarily watched in the evenings.

I lived in an echo chamber, a bubble of noisy, white, male, patriotic anger. Who was I angry with? Liberals. Feminists. Democrats. Hillary. Muslims. Obama. Immigrants. Environmentalists. Hillary. College professors. Atheists. Anyone who dared disrespect the flag or America. Hillary. Anyone I didn’t think supported law enforcement or the military. Hillary. Anyone I didn’t think supported the Second Amendment and gun rights. Did I say “Hillary”?

While this echo chamber was a combination of fundamentalist/evangelical books/ministries, conservative talk radio, and right-wing websites, the largest of these funnels was Fox News. Fox News had the biggest soap box and the loudest megaphone. And I loved it. At last, some media out there who… [Read more…] about Fox News Christians

Real Christians Forgive

by Chuck Queen in Christian Issues

For a good number of years my dominant image of God was that of a Judge who presided in a heavenly courtroom and demanded payment from his human creation for breaking his law. The God I imagined was bound to the law and intolerant toward sin. God demanded punishment—by death. So God sent Jesus, God’s unique Son, to die, so that God’s justice would be satisfied, and God would be free to release the rest of humankind from the penalty and punishment they deserve for having transgressed God’s law and offended God’s justice.

But then, at some point on my journey when I gave myself permission to question and even doubt, I began to wonder why God’s unique Son would have to die such a cruel death by execution in order to satisfy some broken law, particularly since God is the one who makes the law in the first place. God can change a law anytime God wants to, I reasoned. So why would God require this sort of tit-for-tat, quid pro quo justice that would demand the sacrifice of a human life? I began to wonder how this arrangement was that much different than what primitive peoples did when they offered up human lives and, later, animals to appease the anger of their gods?

These questions led to more questions. So I started down that “slippery slope.” In one sense it was and continues to be a liberating ride, sort of like the kid who finally gets up enough nerve to ride the roller coaster and afterward wants to ride it over and over again. But in other ways it was and… [Read more…] about Real Christians Forgive