Not Taking Scripture Seriously

Thesis: Evangelical fixation on hell allows us to not take scripture seriously, particularly the words of Jesus. If nothing else, the dust up over Bell’s upcoming book has unmasked the evangelical fixation with the afterlife and the fact that it has become a disproportionate focus in our understanding of the gospel. The point of this…

Haunted

I’ve been thinking about a couple of conversations I had this week about demons, oppression, and deliverance.  I think that demonic influence in peoples’ lives is way more common and ordinary than occurrences of some Gollumesque creature that hovers over one’s bed at night.  While head-spinning, vomit-spitting deliverance may be needed in extreme cases, I…

Calling

Yesterday, I read two posts that came from opposite ends of the spectrum regarding this topic. The posts and comments reflect a wide variety of views regarding the professionalization of ministry. First Scot McKnight had a post about the informality demonstrated on the pastor pages of some websites. He said: What annoyed me about these…

Review: Recover Your Good Heart

Recover Your Good Heart ~by Jim Robbins Living free from religious guilt and the shame of not good-enough About fully understanding the new heart and its new nature with the desire and ability to do God’s will, and discipleship and spiritual growth as a process of internal transformation rather than external behavior modification. At times…

A Lesson in Synonyms

Postmodern does not equal relativist. Modern does not equal christian. Truth does not equal certainty. Mystery does not equal doubt. Inerrant does not equal exact. Narrative does not equal fable. Missional does not equal social gospel. Inclusion does not equal pluralism. Justice does not equal democrat. Christian does not equal republican. Your thoughts?