Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

The Paradox of Fundamentalism

by in Fundamentalism

Earlier this week on the Unfundamentalist Christians Facebook Page we linked to John Shore’s post “Is hell real?” What are we, six-year-olds?

In response, several of our readers offered their thoughts on the fundamentalist understanding of hell and salvation:

Ryan J.: They say if I don’t believe in it [hell] or don’t believe it’s eternal, that apparently I’m going to go there.

Stacey N.: That is something I honestly don’t get. It’s like, you can tell someone what you believe — that you’ve done the Sinner’s Prayer thing, you’ve been down the Roman Road, but somehow, if you’ve poured over scripture and don’t think your friends who haven’t are going to BURN FOREVER — I guess that means you’ve “lost your salvation” or never had it and jumping through the right hoops means nothing?

And then our Social Media Manager, Christy Caine, added her own brilliant breakdown of the fundamentalist mindset:

It doesn’t make sense, this paradox that you point out. But they refuse to acknowledge the paradox and as other intelligent people have made the point: you cannot remove by logic ideas that were not placed there by it.

Fundamentalists and many (most?) conservative religious people hold a binary worldview: black and white thinking, this or that (but never both), all or nothing, there is no gray.

So, even though they can say with confidence “in order to become a Christian you need to do X, and you’ve done X,” another part of their belief is… [Read more…] about The Paradox of Fundamentalism

Clobbering the Confusion About 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

by in Christian Issues

I recently received this question from a reader:

I’m curious about the verse 1 Corinthians 6:9. My friend and I were studying and noticed that our different versions use different words. He has a KJV and I have a NIV. I have a Strong’s Concordance as well to help.

In the KJV of 1 Corinthians 6:9 it states that abusers of themselves will not inherit the kingdom. I looked up abusers and it said that abusers are sodomites/homosexuals, however the defination of a sodomite is a male cult member or prostitute. Can you please give me some insight on this confusion?

The debate about 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 is confusing, and there simply isn’t one decisive answer that resolves all the difficulties in this passage. Let’s take a closer look at some of the issues in these verses.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 in the KJV (we’ll get to the NIV momentarily) reads:

9Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate [μαλακοὶς], nor abusers of themselves with mankind [ἀρσενοκοῖται], 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

When it comes to homosexuality and the Bible, the two key words in this passage are the Greek words μαλακός (malakós) and ἀρσενοκοίτης (arsenokoítēs), which I’ve bolded in the text above.

μαλακός literally means “soft.” The KJV translates it as “effeminate.” This… [Read more…] about Clobbering the Confusion About 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

What About My Religious Liberties?

by Christian Chiakulas in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Christian Chiakulas.

It’s hard being a straight, white man in America these days. All these social justice movements and not a one we can call our own. Being left out is hard, and everyone knows hurting a white guy’s feelings is the real racism.

So when I heard the likes of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity (among many, many others) complaining about the “War on Christians,” I had my own little Road to Damascus moment and realized this is it — this is my persecution complex right here.

The folks championing their ridiculous war to save Christianity are closer to the mark than even they know. There is a war on Christianity in America, and hundreds of thousands of faithful Christians are being forced to live in a society that actively opposes their sincerely-held religious beliefs.

I’m talking, of course, about progressive and liberal Christians. See, we worship God by fighting for the vision of distributive social justice put forth by Jesus almost two thousand years ago.

Our God commands us to welcome the stranger into our lands, while many of our Republican politicians vow to deport these strangers with reckless abandon, even going so far as to shred the constitutional right to birthright citizenship for all people born on US soil.

Our God also cries out time and again for economic justice. Jesus himself arose from a class of disenfranchised people who were victims of a system by which the wealthy used usury and… [Read more…] about What About My Religious Liberties?

What the Bible Is

by Chuck Queen in Christian History, Christian Issues

The written documents that constitute our Bible are snapshots of an evolving, developing, dynamic faith frozen in time.

The faith exhibited in these written sources thrived in an oral culture that did not depend on written materials. Writing materials were expensive and few could actually read and write. So the stuff of faith – stories, poetry, wisdom sayings, etc. – were passed down orally. This oral tradition was flexible, fluid, and easily adaptable to different situations and historical contexts.

This process meant that faith was constantly on the move – changing, growing, branching out into new forms, and always finding fresh expressions in different settings.

Consider one example: The various ways the Jesus saying, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first,” is interpreted and employed with other Jesus sayings in the Gospels.

In Mark it occurs in a context where Jesus assures Peter that those who have left much to be his followers will gain much,
Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age – houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Mark 10:28-31).
In the… [Read more…] about What the Bible Is

What I Wish Everyone Knew About Sex Addiction

by April Kelsey in Christian Issues, Current Events

Once again, Josh Duggar is in the news. And, once again, my heart is heavy.

Last week it was revealed that Josh had a paid account on Ashley Madison, a website for people seeking affairs. Josh subsequently released a statement in which he admitted being “unfaithful” to his wife Anna and having a “secret addiction” to pornography—implying that he is, perhaps, a sex addict.

I wouldn’t doubt it at all. I see the patterns clearly.

Josh’s story is very personal for me. In many ways, I have lived this story and continue to live it. I was raised in a fundamentalist household. I was a victim of sexual abuse. My family fell apart after my father’s indiscretions became too much to bear. I know too well what is happening in Anna Duggar’s world right now.

In light of this, here are 10 things I wish everyone understood about sex addiction:

Sex addition is real. The term “addiction” in this case is controversial; some people prefer “compulsion.” No matter what people choose to call it, it is a real physiological and psychological condition. Just like compulsive eating or alcoholism can be used to cope with stress, so can sex. The dopamine feedback cycles and resulting insensitivity a sex addict experiences through their behavior are the same as those experienced by other kinds of addicts.

Sex addiction is a coping strategy. Whether it is to assuage low self-esteem, relieve feelings of neglect or abandonment, or avoid the stress and boredom of… [Read more…] about What I Wish Everyone Knew About Sex Addiction

Is God in Control?

by Chuck Queen in Christian Issues

How does God interact with the world? Does God directly manage and determine the course of global and human events? Many Christians think so.

Several years ago a parishioner who was dying of cancer and had only days left said to me, “I know there must be a reason for this.” She was not asking me what I thought. She was telling me how she made sense of her suffering and impending death. It was not the time to engage her theology. I simply tried to be a pastoral presence in her final days.

Not long ago I inquired about another friend fighting cancer. She informed me it was in remission, which she attributed to the power of prayer. She spoke of a song that meant a lot to her, which she had been listening to and “affirming in her heart.” The song is by Twila Paris and proclaims,

God is in control
We believe that his children will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember and never be shaken
There is no power above or beside him, we know
Oh, God is in control, oh God is in control

I beg to differ.

I can affirm that God’s children (which includes all of us) will never be forsaken, but I cannot affirm that God is in control. God is clearly not controlling much of anything. Terrible, tragic things happen every few seconds in our world and God does nothing about them.

Theologians debate the question of theodicy: if God is all-powerful and God is good, then why is there is so much horrible evil and tragedy in the world?

Process theologians question God’s… [Read more…] about Is God in Control?

"This is why I don't believe in God"

by in Christian Issues

“Gina” is a 3-minute documentary film made by Loading Docs about a woman with a connective tissue disorder that has left her unable to talk, deteriorated her muscles, and causes light and sound to further damage her body. She is bed-bound and endures ongoing and excruciating pain.

The film makes the case for voluntary euthanasia. Gina, by means of touch-alphabet communication, says “I think a compassionate god would want people to have the option of a humane death.”

I find it difficult to argue against that idea. We readily put animals out of their misery when we understand that prolonging their life will merely prolong their suffering. Why should we have a less humane standard for humans? Is a human life that is entirely consumed by pain really of more value than no life at all?

Though I recognize that the ethical lines can be challenging to clearing define, I can’t see any good reason for an absolute ban on voluntary euthanasia. If Gina wants to end her suffering, shouldn’t she be allowed to?

Along with euthanasia, the film raises another troubling issue. In the film, Gina claims she is an agnostic. But I happened to watch the film with a friend, who, after seeing it, declared, “This is why I don’t believe in God.”

And after encountering Gina’s story, I also find myself confronted with the ultimate challenge to faith: how can one believe in a loving God in the face of such meaningless suffering?

What possible reason could God have for allowing Gina to suffer?

What… [Read more…] about "This is why I don't believe in God"

Encountering Christ on Death Row

by Darryl Ward in Christian Issues

 

View image | gettyimages.com

 

One of my most memorable experiences of being in church as a child was hearing “The Judgement of the Nations” (Matthew 25:31-46) read aloud, which includes Jesus saying:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
No other text from the Bible has ever resonated with me so much. It helped me understand that through loving those who are the most unloved and the most outcast we can demonstrate our love for God. Few in society are more unloved and more outcast than those who are in prison — especially those who are on death row.

The row is not a pleasant place. “We all die a little bit on the row each day,” wrote Richard Michael Rossi, who spent more than 20 years on death row in Arizona before dying of natural causes. Depending on which state they are incarcerated in, death row inmates could be locked up for 23 hours a day in tiny cells with no natural light and fed only inadequate servings of inedible food which is shoved through slots, all while waiting in anguish to be killed.

No matter what they may have done, nobody deserves this. For some inmates, it becomes too much, and they willingly give up all their appeals to hasten their executions. These prisoners, who have abandoned hope, are euphemistically called… [Read more…] about Encountering Christ on Death Row

It's Time to Give the Gospel of Thomas Its Due

by Chuck Queen in Christian History

The spiritual wisdom to be found in the Gospel of Thomas just may be the kind of spiritual wisdom contemporary Christians most need.

The Gospel of Thomas is part of the collection of fifty-two texts (thirteen papyrus books – “codices”) discovered in December of 1945 by an Egyptian peasant digging for fertilizer near the modern city of Nag Hammadi. The Gospel of Thomas is a compilation of wisdom sayings attributed to Jesus, some of which parallel sayings in the Synoptic Gospels. It represents the kind of Christianity that flourished in Syria by at least the last part of the first century. It may have even been written as early as the Synoptic Gospels.[1]

In this Gospel Jesus performs no miracles or healings, there is no link to or claim that Jesus fulfills prophesy, and there is no passion or resurrection narrative. Jesus does not die for sins in the Gospel of Thomas. Salvation is found in the struggle to understand and appropriate the wisdom Jesus taught and embodied.

I find it particularly significant that in Thomas there is no announcement of an apocalyptic kingdom that will disrupt the present world order. In Thomas the kingdom of God is here and now.

Thomas, like the Synoptic Gospels, affirms that the kingdom of God was a central focus of Jesus’ teaching, but in the Synoptics the kingdom is referenced in both present and future tenses. Some of the references are simply ambiguous. In Mark 1:15 (also Matt. 4:17) Jesus announces that the kingdom is “at hand” (RSV) or… [Read more…] about It's Time to Give the Gospel of Thomas Its Due

Making Room for the Celibate and Gay

by in LGBT

When it comes to facing down the shrill imprecations of televangelists and street protesters, or the assignment of blame for earthquakes and other disasters, there’s hardly a more longsuffering group of people in America than gays and lesbians. But even some of the staunchest opponents of same-sex relationships have begun to acknowledge that their churches may have room for celibate gays and lesbians. It’s a unique historical development and one that presents the gay community with an important choice—but maybe not the most obvious one.

There’s a popular idea that all major world religions universally condemn homosexuality. It isn’t true, and it’s time to put an end to this destructive myth. On the other hand, there’s an equally popular wholesale rejection of religion by many gays and lesbians. It’s just as shortsighted and unfair. I know because I used to share the view. I left Christianity when I was eighteen. My reasons had nothing to do with its stance on homosexuality, but early on I couldn’t appreciate how meaningful religion could be to so many intelligent, kind people.

But there’s a recent transformation taking place that signals positive change: not only are religious communities opening up to the LGBT community, but individual gays and lesbians are insisting on their place in the pew. It’s a natural and important development for gay and lesbian history. Despite such an encouraging development, the gay community is still largely holding on to one final, related but… [Read more…] about Making Room for the Celibate and Gay