Atonement Lessons From Losing My Dog And Cat
Last Sunday, I preached on Gospel Righteousness. My text, Rom 3:21-26, is regarded as “the center and heart of Romans,” “possibly the most important single paragraph ever written,” and “the chief point, and the very central place of the Epistle, and of the whole Bible.” Among the many very important themes of the Bible densely packed in these six verses is the atonement (Rom 3:25), which has been explained (and passionately argued about) in many different ways over the last two centuries of the church. In my attempt to not confuse my congregation of about five dozen people, I decided not to explain the different views of the atonement, but to share two very personal stories about my two pets, a dog and a cat, in my introduction and conclusion of my sermon. Continue reading →
What is your song?
If there is a song that expresses your faith, your gospel, everything you believe and love right now, what is it? Here’s mine.
A Gentler and Kinder UBFriends
Gentle and kind. This follows my earlier comment to state again my simple (and perhaps naive) contention that the greatest likelihood of effecting positive change in the church is not by relentlessly blasting away and pummeling others (even if they deserve it), but ultimately through gentleness and kindness as exemplified by Christ (even if they don’t deserve it).
Boring and predictable. Many have stated that UBF tends to be boring and predictable in the way the Bible is taught and presented over the decades. I hope that UBFriends does not similarly become boring and predictable by unrelentingly blasting away against UBF. Continue reading →
Why Christianity Needs Gay People
Now that I’ve processed a large portion of my recovery from ubf, I am free to rebuild and rework my theology. Two years ago, in October 2012, I was inspired by the bible story of Esther to come out as a Christian gay rights pacifist. Since then I’ve been consumed by addressing the elephant in the room in all Christian circles: gay people. I began a meticulous search through Scripture to find out what made Christians so anti-gay or at best merely tolerant of the LGBTQA people. That study has now lead me to write my fourth book, a book that has no mention of ubf or my recovery; a book with the working subtitle: “Why Christianity Needs Gay People”.
Sola Scriptura and Mr. Cs Lewis
Recently I was studying Galatians 1 with a friend. When I read the verse “if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be eternally condemned!” I openly wondered “Have I ever heard a gospel preached other than the biblical gospel.” I thought this to be certainly true. But moreover I though “Have I ever heard of a very holy, authoritative person- perhaps a saint, preach something that I felt was not in accordance with scripture?”
Lessons from Travis: The Marriage game
Who wants to play a game? The group of students paused in anticipation.
“What’s the game?” a student asked excitedly.
“Well it’s simple” Travis went on “You are going to flip a coin. If you get a heads you get a candy bar.” Travis revealed a selection of candy bars like Vanna White showing a prize. The boy with glasses eyes the Snickers ready to fend off a resolution rarely see outside of fights to the death and Black Friday shoppers (although to be fair that might be redundant).“Ok I will play.” The boy said as he reached to his pocket for a quarter.
Misunderstanding Faith
“If you have faith, you can marry.” “If you have faith in God, you can raise 12 disciples.”
Did I miscommunicate biblical faith? I used to make such statements 100s of times to countless Bible students for over a quarter of a century….especially to those who are single and in (restrained desire and) need of a spouse! I am so sorry for all those I did this too… I realize that inherent in such seemingly “innocent” and “cute” statements is that it could be provocative and possibly misleading and miscommunicating biblical faith. Continue reading →
This is your Church
So for anyone at UBF, here is what your leaders think. This is your church in a nutshell. Why do you put up with such things?
How do other people react to you?
Ok so today’s article comes right from Brian’s beer church. For about two years now, I have not attended a church service, apart from visiting my friends at WestLoop Church and worshiping with Ben and their wonderful community a couple times. Instead I’ve been participating in a plethora of online discussions and writing books on Sunday (and no not every Sunday is beer Sunday, today is coffee day!) One of the online groups I’ve come to love is called the Progressive Christian Alliance. I feel compelled to share an experience I had this week with the alliance.
Lessons from Travis: The good Christian
It was a day late in late summer. The light streamed through the window into a room with several high school students. Two Chinese girls sat on a couch and next to then two African American students, next two them two girls who looked to be sisters and near the door a boy with glasses. The Roots played quietly in the background. A man in his early 20’s asked everyone the topic of the night.
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