A Progressive Christian's Blog on Faith, Culture, Doubt, and Secularism
A few weeks ago, an older acquaintance shared a post on Facebook that read, "God is not going to rewrite the Bible for your generation. His Word remains the same forever and always!" I understand the sentiment. I was raised in a "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it" culture of evangelical…
Continue reading ➞ Life in Technicolor: Gay Christians and the Bible
Born in East Texas and raised as a Southern Baptist, I'd only heard one side of the story. If you had come out to me as gay, I would've told you that while God loves and accepts you, He doesn't want you to be in a same-sex relationship. Love the sinner, hate the sin, you…
Continue reading ➞ Life in Technicolor: Gay Christians and the Church
"Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin" is one of those phrases that feels so baked into modern Christianity is almost shocking to discover it never appears anywhere in the Bible. At a fundamental level, there's nothing wrong about "Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin." It seeks to be a more gracious counterpoint to the accusation…
Continue reading ➞ Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin? Why We Should Retire Our Favorite Christian Phrase
Tens of thousands of college students from around the country sat on the edges of their seats. From a circular stage centered in the massive arena, the speaker spoke into a wireless microphone, an atmospheric instrumental track underscoring his somber delivery. "Would you leave behind your families, jobs, friends, colleges, and familiar surroundings if God…
Continue reading ➞ Making Your Life Count For God (and Other Christian Anxieties)
On July 26, 2019, Joshua Harris, former megachurch pastor and author of the infamous purity culture bestseller I Kissed Dating Goodbye, announced to his Instagram followers that he was no longer a Christian. "By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian," Harris wrote. "I don't view this moment…
Continue reading ➞ Prone To Wander: The Allure of Deconversion Testimonies
Here we go again. And again. After I heard about Saturday’s shooting in El Paso, I turned to the Internet to wrap my head around the horror of yet another mass shooting in my home state. Such as it is in the immediate aftermath of a shooting, reports from the scene were chaotic and contradictory.…
Continue reading ➞ A Christian’s Response to the El Paso and Dayton Shootings
A few weeks into the new year, I found out I was being let go from my job. This wasn't the way I thought the year was supposed to go. Our third year of marriage was primed to be "The One Where They Buy a House." In fact, Shannon and I were set to meet…
Here it goes again. You're at home, or work, or out with friends. And then someone, a family member, co-worker, an acquaintance, makes a comment about a current event or a particular social issue. Maybe it's intolerant, ill-informed, hopelessly biased, or downright degrading, but nonetheless, you can't let it go. So, you open your mouth…
Continue reading ➞ How To Have Hard Conversations (and Maybe Save the World)
In November of 2018, a video titled "Fighting Manspreading...with Bleach!" was uploaded onto the Internet. In the video, a "radical feminist" walks through various subway cars with a bottle of bleach. When she sees a man "manspreading" (sitting with his legs spread open), she pours the bleach onto the man's crotch and runs away. Shot…
Continue reading ➞ Why We Should Stop Watching the News (and Leave Social Media, Too)
"What's your number?" People, for the most part, like to talk about themselves and what they're learning. If you've been to a party, corporate retreat, Bible study, or group hangout over the past year or so, odds are pretty good you've heard someone talking about the Enneagram, even if you didn't know what they were…
