Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Unfundamentalist Charities?

by in Christian Issues

I recently received this email from a reader:
I’m a college student who has become an unfundamentalist just this last week. You guys were everything I was looking for, and I’m so glad I found you. I had a question, though, that I was hoping you could answer. Now that I’m aware that many of the Christian organizations I supported push through values that I cannot condone, I’m looking for some unfundamentalist approved charities I can send my 10% to. I was hoping that maybe you could post an article with a list of approved charities or simply send me a list of your favorites. Thanks in advance! 🙂
Since it’s the time of year that many of us make charitable contributions, I thought it might be helpful to respond publicly with my thoughts, as well as solicit charity recommendations from our readers.

First, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the requirement to give 10% of our money to charity is decidedly fundamentalist. It’s a notion borne out of legalism and control, and there’s certainly no Christian mandate to do so. Rather, we should seek to be generous and loving with our money (and other resources), giving freely and not trying to meet a specific number. For some people, 10% is likely too much to be reasonably affordable; for others, it’s probably far too little.

Second, it’s a good idea to vet any charity you’re not familiar with using one (or all) of these sites: Charity Navigator, CharityWatch, GreatNonprofits, and GuideStar. Keep in mind that… [Read more…] about Unfundamentalist Charities?

Evangelicals: Belief and Politics Today

by Marcia Pally and David Gushee in Christian Issues

A conversation with David Gushee and Marcia Pally

Professor Marcia Pally and Christian ethicist David Gushee discuss the meaning of “evangelical” and how that identification intersects with other social, political, and religious ideologies.

MP: During the early rounds of my field research for The New Evangelicals, we spoke about the range of evangelical belief and activism, from right to centrist to progressive. In 2007, Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said, “I have cautioned our denomination to be very careful not to be seen as in lock step with any political party.”

Yet today, roughly 80% of evangelicals declare themselves on the right of Christian belief and the right of the Republican party. On key issues, the breakdown looks like this:

61% of white evangelicals say there is not substantial discrimination against African-Americas; there is no other religious group (except Mormons) where that is the majority view.
61% of white evangelical Protestants oppose same-sex marriage; while 63% of white mainline Protestants, 62% of Catholics, 59% of Orthodox Christians, and 73% of Jews support same-sex marriage.
50% of white evangelicals support religiously-based service refusal to gays and lesbians; there is no other religious group where that is the majority view.
28% of white evangelicals say the earth is warming because of human activity; among all other religious groups and the religiously… [Read more…] about Evangelicals: Belief and Politics Today

God’s Will for My Family

by Bette Moore in Christian Issues

In March, 1971, I had a second trimester saline solution injection abortion. I was a Christian, married, and 24 years old.

Four months earlier, on Thanksgiving Day, my husband and I had celebrated my pregnancy with friends and, although it was a bit of a surprise, we were delighted to be expecting a child.

I was teaching fifth grade at the time and will never forget the moment when a student walked up to my desk and said he didn’t feel very well. When I saw the rash on his face, I flashed back to a terrible photograph I had seen in a magazine in my obstetrician’s office the week before. It was of a “Rubella baby,” and the caption said, “Bobby’s mother recovered from German measles in 3 days. Bobby wasn’t so lucky.”

I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I later found out. I learned that the reason they finally connected Rubella with birth defects was that delivery room personnel were coming down with German measles two to three weeks after the birth of a baby with severe birth defects. Although the mother recovers in three days, sadly, the baby stays sick throughout the remaining time of gestation and is still contagious at birth.

I had almost forgotten about that student and the magazine picture, when, a couple of weeks later, I saw a very slight rash on my own face. I covered it up with make-up as best I could and drove thirty miles to school, feeling worse and worse the whole way. Halfway through the morning, I couldn’t deny what was happening to me and I… [Read more…] about God’s Will for My Family

Being A Daughter of Zion

by Jordan Blaylock in Christian Spirituality

That moment you begin living as though you are a daughter of Zion, that you stand tall, and proudly proclaim that you are following God’s will by taking your pain and your sorrow, using it for His good and to glorify God, oh! does your enemy, the devil, attack.

First, it will be with trauma, and old wounds that had scarred being ripped open. Then, well-meaning people, who truly want the best for you, and who are aiding in your healing as best they can, will rip your innards out, unintentionally and without malice.

Resentment comes. Anger. Sorrow. And loss. Heartbreaking, soul-shattering loss.

Your teeth will be kicked in, your ribs and limbs broken over and over, before they can even set, never mind putting the cast on. This is all done because, as it has been so eloquently said, “The devil is after you, girl!” And he is, when you claim your status and you embrace that sanctification and justification that follows that embrace.

God has not left you. Jesus is still there. The Holy Spirit is within you. Even when you cry out for no more, when you beg for it to stop.

It was said that resiliency is more heavily within my genetic make up than that of a normal person. Resiliency is a gift from God, a fruit of the Spirit. And I am not normal. You never are, once you embrace this status and become sanctified and justified. We are not normal.

We are strong and courageous, answering as Mary did, as Isaiah. We stand and fight, then we sing. We kneel and submit, we fast… [Read more…] about Being A Daughter of Zion

It’s Time for Women to Stop Protecting Wicked Men

by Geneva Gurrusquieta in Current Events

Trigger Warning: this article describes sexual assault and may be triggering to survivors.

The story about the accusations against Roy Moore that he sexually assaulted a young teenage girl has really hit me. I’ve been melancholy, nauseated, stressed, unable to sleep. I even bought a pack of cigarettes after having kicked the habit long ago. Even with all the high profile sexual assault stories in the news, this one really pushed my buttons. Now, her story is the first thing I think about every morning, and the last thing I think about at night. Her story is always in the back of my mind. Tears flow and I have no control over when or where, because I am so grieved for her. It’s not her story, but the response to her story that compels me to speak out.

In my life, I’ve listened to dozens of stories of sexual abuse and assault from women (and men) from all walks of life; no one is immune. I’ve gotten pretty good at seeing the truth of a story and filtering out falsehoods and exaggerations. Leigh Corfman’s story rings true. I believe her.

“Why did she wait forty years to say something? Why is she telling this now?” Many women confide in no one until they are much older. Other than one friend and my therapist, I’ve never named my abuser either. But people knew. I tried to tell, but I was shamed and shunned. I don’t know where he is, or even if he’s alive or dead, but you can be sure of one thing: if that man ever decided to run for US Senate, yes, you bet your… [Read more…] about It’s Time for Women to Stop Protecting Wicked Men

For Every Season

by Marguerite Sheehan  in Christian Spirituality

Many people my age, on hearing the passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes that says “to everything there is a season,” break out singing Turn Turn Turn Turn! The Byrds, who put that text to music for my generation, were singing about how we all try to make sense of the issues of our time and make peace with being mortal. There is a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up. A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. We sing and pray and live these truths and we have to keep repeating them because it is still very hard to swallow that there is a season for everything and nothing lasts forever.

The phrases from that song/text that are haunting me these days are these: “A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate.”

There is so much talking going on and so much hate. So much silence and yes, thank goodness, so much love as well. If anyone ever thought that politics and religion should not mix or that some things are best left well enough alone, they are certainly put to the test now, in our mixed up and very vocal culture. Social media, including lovely blogs like this one, never mind FaceBook, Twitter, Snapchat etc., have us all chatting up a storm and sometimes forgetting the age old wisdom of “a time to keep silence.” We seem compelled to broadcast live who and what we love and hate as though saying it out loud gives our emotions validity. If I say it, it must be true. So… [Read more…] about For Every Season

Why I Bought Hotel California Four Times (So Far)

by Yvonne Shao in Christian Spirituality

My mother bought me the Eagles’ Hotel California as a Christmas present when I was in junior high. I loved the gritty, glamorous songs even though I didn’t have enough experience to understand most of them. Playing the record before school in the mornings helped me steel myself for running the gauntlet of junior high in a small town.

The songs met me where I was. New Kid in Town radiated within me and seemed realer than real most days.

Great expectations, everybody’s watching you

You’re walking away, and they’re talking behind you.

Hotel California, the ultimate road trip, let me see a future where I could love, lose, and learn. I would be stronger, no matter what love and life threw at me. If the Eagles could do it, I could do it.

However, when a visiting preacher came to our church, he told us about the evils of rock and roll. He played some song snippets backwards, which sounded quite clear after he told us what the garbled words were. I loved the Eagles, but I was more scared of hell. If the Eagles were against God, they had to go. My mother and I smashed Hotel California in the kitchen after we got home that night.

In college, I took the first few steps on my road to prodigal-ness. I missed the songs that had soothed my soul in junior high, and I no longer felt compelled to follow all the religious teachings I had learned, so I got Hotel California on cassette. I played it in my Honda Civic, driving… [Read more…] about Why I Bought Hotel California Four Times (So Far)

Christian: Is Your Bible an Idol?

by Darrell Lackey in Christian Issues

The Bible is not God, nor do symbols on a page contain God. God is not hiding in the ink or paper molecules/atoms of the Bible. God existed before the Bible. Every time we read or quote a passage of Scripture in an authoritative way, it doesn’t mean God is speaking either to us or through us. It simply means we are reading symbols on a page that represent meanings, which we then interpret. Whether or not we truly understand the meaning or purpose of those symbols is something else entirely. It’s possible I am idolizing my understanding of those symbols, rather than worshipping (or even interpreting correctly) what they may be pointing toward.

A person could memorize the entire Bible. They could quote a Scripture verse for every problem, argument, or issue at hand. One could study the Bible deeply every day, for a lifetime. One could do all this and never know the God of whom it speaks. One could do this and be a mean, angry, and selfish person. One could do this and never lift a finger for another human being. One could do this and be nothing more than a judgment machine, handing out judgments, opinions, and confident assertions about the world and everyone else.

How do I know this? Because I’ve experienced it. I know some of these people. I stopped being impressed by people who’ve memorized a lot of Scripture a long time ago. Why? Because I knew too many of them who were awful people.

Bible knowledge will never substitute for a relationship with the subject of that… [Read more…] about Christian: Is Your Bible an Idol?

Lebanon and the Balance of Love

by Rich Rosendahl in Current Events

My wife and I just spent a week in Lebanon. What follows are our first impressions of this remarkable place. Although we would have loved to spend months exploring the beautiful country, we split our short time between the urban sprawl of Beirut and the agriculturally pristine Bekaa Valley. It was in the Valley where we met with Syrian refugees, the main purpose for our trip.

We first arrived in Beirut and were immediately met with a long lost friend called—traffic. Our loosely planned 25-minute cab ride to our hotel turned into an hour and a half of stop and go exploring. Our driver was friendly, helpful, and spoke excellent English, which we needed, considering our broken, less-than-kindergarten level Arabic.

Our drive was long and it gave us a chance to see much of the city. We were surprised to see so many signs in English and so little writing in Arabic. We were more surprised to see how a beautiful, newly constructed building can sit on one corner of a street, contrasted by a bombed and bullet ridden building, the remnant of the war, sitting kitty-corner.

This was our first insight into what is our first impression of this beautiful country and culture—Lebanon seems to hang in the delicate but powerful balance of Love.

While in Beirut we explored the famous Hamra district, which has great food and great shopping. If you can find it, there is a restaurant (sans sign) tucked behind a Starbucks called Ta Maburta—I highly recommend the Kibbe.

Hamra is… [Read more…] about Lebanon and the Balance of Love

If God wants us to be saved, why is grace so confusing?

by Randal Rauser in Christian Issues

It’s a daunting question. If God wants all human beings to be saved — and surely he does — then why aren’t the requirements of that salvation clearer? This is a central theme woven through my book What’s So Confusing About Grace? (reviewed on this blog here), a theological memoir spanning a forty year journey trying to understand the nature of God’s grace.

I started off that journey assuming that salvation was simply a matter of right belief. But over time I began to face a growing list of nagging questions that challenged that paradigm. In this article I briefly consider three of them.
What must you believe if you are to be saved?
In my conservative upbringing, conversion and faith were first of all about belief. You needed to believe particular doctrines about God and his Son, Jesus. But which statements of doctrine do you need to believe in order to be saved? The disturbing fact, as I soon discovered, is that Christians don’t agree on how to answer this question.

It is hard to convey just how disturbing this fact of disagreement was, but consider this analogy. Imagine that a deadly plague is spreading across the landscape. Fortunately, medical personnel have identified a vaccine to protect people from this terrible plague. Great news, right?

So you think. But then you discover that there is extensive disagreement among those health professionals on how the vaccine should be administered in order to make it effective. Some say… [Read more…] about If God wants us to be saved, why is grace so confusing?