The Occupying Church and the Dying Church Life is too short for things that don’t work, and that includes your church fellowship and your theology. I tried to identify two broad divisions of the faith yesterday, and why we really shouldn’t have to choose between the two, even though, in practice, our choices are limited. ..
There’s a little known encounter that took place shortly after Hernando Cortés’ band of soldiers gained victory over the Aztecs in 1519. After subduing Tenochtitlan, the native people began preparing for the festival of Toxcatl, in honor of their harvest god, Tezcatlipoca. When Cortés’ lieutenant, Pedro de Alvarado learned that this festival would climax in..
I will confess to being both pleasantly charmed and puzzled by the Sermon on the Mount. As I wrote yesterday, the Savior’s words in Matthew 5:48, (“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect”), should make an honest student of Christ scratch his head. Perfect? Perfect as..
Was Jesus Looking For Pansies? I had a spirited discussion with a pro-life activist yesterday over an incident that took place outside of a clinic recently. A very angry post-abortive father responded to the sidewalk counselors by breaking one of their cameras, hitting one of them in the face, and chasing the remaining counselor..
“not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help..” My ongoing obsession with righteous disobedience to wicked authority isn’t just the product of my own contrarian, cranky nature. I see it so many times in the Bible that I thought I would begin making an inventory..
We tend to see equality of outcome as a sign of fair play, even spiritual holiness, but it’s the devil, not God, who longs for a brutal and boring equality.. Ponder the very foundations for a moment. In the very first chapter of the Bible, God declares a rigid hierarchy. Man is to have dominion..
Epstein’s victims: a metaphor for all of us.. It’s a heart-breaking, cruel and baffling picture: a dewy young woman– anxious to make her mark in the world–is promised the glories of high-society introductions, admission to elite universities, and professional advancement in a club that is chock full of billionaires and luminaries. And, by the way,..
“In whose eyes a vile person is despised..” Psalm 15 describes “the character of those who may dwell with the Lord.” Here’s what such a fellow looks like: he is upright. Check. He treasures truth in his heart. Check. He doesn’t slander his neighbor. Check. He despises vile people. Wait… The LORD hangs out with..
Dominion Over the years, I’ve been very hard on quite a few pastors. I see no reason to stop. My children and grandchildren will have to live in the world they don’t care about, the world they claim—with so much ill considered theology—to have left behind for their citizenship in heaven. To be short, blunt, and..
Agents of Wrath As I’ve tried to explore recently, most of us have not gouged out our eyes and cut off our hands. I know Christians who have sold houses and fields and lands, but it’s usually to buy another set of houses and fields, with a little something extra for that mission trip to..
