Guest post on EthicsDaily....

EthicsDaily.com posted my article on clergy sexual abuse today. To read it, go...

SBC Men Trying to Keep Bet...

Here we go again. The Southern Baptist Convention is after women again. Not all women, just women who think they are called to preach. Specifically, they are after Beth Moore (again), who is not only their most successful woman preacher, but based on her popularity she is their most successful preacher period, male or female. She doesn’t call herself a preacher; that’s long been taboo in the SBC. She’s a...

Why We Shouldn’t Lab...

In an over-polarized era, labels abound. Liberal, RINO, socialist, neo-con, Nazi, Marxist, racist—all these and more aren’t meant to be descriptive but dismissive. Especially when we assign the additional labels of good or evil to people. Labels shut down discussion. We use them to put people—who at that moment we are treating like opponents—on the defensive. Labels keep us from having to listen to what...

If Jesus was Non-Violent, ...

There are a few—and just a few—New Testament passages that people like to use to buttress their argument that Jesus was not really non-violent but in fact at the very least accepted violence in certain circumstances. I don’t know why people feel the need to do so, but they do, so let’s have a look at one of them. All four of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ arrest have one of the disciples drawing a sword...

If An Evil Person Does a G...

“Whoever is not with me is against me.” “Whoever is not against us is for us.” Jesus made both of these statements, and they aren’t different ways of saying the same thing. The first, from Matthew 12:20, restricts the number of people who are for Jesus to those who are with him. If you aren’t specifically for Jesus, you’re against him—even if you are unaware of it. The second, from Mark 9:24, enlarges up...

Plowshares Into Swords, Or...

What do you do when two verses are in obvious conflict with each other? I’m not talking about apparent conflict or even factual inconsistencies but when one verse uses the exact same words to as another to say the completely opposite thing? As if one is saying, “No, that’s wrong, here’s what is really going to happen.” At the beginning of Isaiah the prophet gives a beautiful image of a hopeful future, not...

A Mature Faith is Childlik...

Mixed messages can be frustrating, especially when they come from the Bible. Take, for instance, when Jesus tells his disciples in Mark 10:15 that they must receive the kingdom of God as a little child. With childlike faith, we say: open, trusting, even innocent. Then Hebrews turns around and upbraids its listeners for not having a mature faith. He calls them babies, and not in a good way. (Hebrews...
recent from Blog
recent from Blog