I love history. I’ve always enjoyed learning history. One truth of history, something you’d learn in any introduction to religion class, can be boiled down as follows: *Jesus of Nazareth died a violent death on the cross at the hands of his enemies and never led armies into battle. *Muhammad of Mecca led armies into […]
Tag Archives: violence
Crucifixion of the Warrior God (ch. 4)
I haven’t written about this book since December 1! When I went back to see what I had written, I was struck by how so many of the same things are on my mind. Who is God? What is God like? Is God like Jesus? If we believe Jesus is the second person of the […]
What God is Like (Crucifixion of the Warrior God chs. 1-2)
We all have notions of what God is like. These ideas and images are built from all sorts of sources – stories, pop culture, holy scriptures, teachers, friends. I imagine even atheists have some picture in their minds of what the God they do not believe in is like. In many cases, it is just […]
Crucifixion of the Warrior God – Intro
I’ve gone to church my whole life. I remember learning all those old Bible stories as a kid in Sunday school. David killing the giant Goliath with a stone flung from his slingshot. Elijah slaughtering the hundreds of prophets of Baal. Joshua marching around Jericho till the walls fell and the residents were massacred. They […]
Should Christians Watch Game of Thrones? (Weekly Word)
This summer I am going to dedicate each Friday to questions that students have asked me about God, faith and such. Some of these questions come were forwarded to me from Christian students or their skeptical friends. Others are questions that I have been asked in some way, shape or form many times. I do […]
A Day Late…Christians Ought to Support #IDAHOT
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God – Jesus Yesterday was the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. I did not know such a day existed until I saw a well-written article by Adrian Warnock on Twitter arguing for why Christians should support such a day: I know of no […]
We All Want to Fit In Somewhere – Thoughts on Popularity, Fear and Double Standards
Certainly in light of the recent decision of the PCUSA church to endorse gay marriage, a pastor whom I follow offered a blog post warning against seeking friends with the culture. This post made me think for, though I’ve heard the same thing before, it seemed to make some questionable, even contradictory, points. If you […]
Five Thoughts on Obama’s Prayer Breakfast Speech
Last week at the National Prayer Breakfast President Obama condemned ISIS, Obama and went on to say: “Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible […]
Djesus Uncrossed: To Be Offended or Challenged?
This is over a week old, but the SNL’s fake movie trailer Djesus Uncrossed has caused quite a hubbub. Many were offended by this, but should they be? After all, this is basically what many American evangelical Christians think really is going to happen. Whether it is the Left Behind series or popular end-times belief, […]
Guns: Inconsistent Logic and False Dichotomies
I wrote this post last week, prior to yesterday’s shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Such violence tears my heart and my prayers are with the families of all the victims of this tragedy, and the other all-to-common tragedies in our world. Before you read this post, check out Nicholas Kristof’s great article: Safe […]
