Many of my friends are Christians because they believe Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecy. In their system, Jesus matches up to all the old predictions in scripture about the messiah. It proves Christianity is true. I’m not here to criticize. I’m a Christian because I believe I’ve had direct experiences of the living Christ,… Continue reading Did Jesus Fulfill Prophecy?
Category: Theology
Faith is a Long Walk, Not a Checklist
If you listened to a lot of the loudest Christians in the world today, you might think that Christianity is a program with an exacting checklist to follow. Perform these rules and rituals in exactly the right way and you can be part of the chosen. This is historically and even ethically wrong. I’m not… Continue reading Faith is a Long Walk, Not a Checklist
Christianity Should be Easier Than This
One of the most important challenges to Christianity is the complex story so many people tell about it. It usually goes something like this. God created humans in God’s image. Those humans disobeyed and that caused every other human to inherit original sin. This makes God mad — after all how dare we allow ourselves… Continue reading Christianity Should be Easier Than This
What Would You, O God, Have Me Believe And Do?
Although I am the president of council for a local Lutheran church, I consider myself a Congregationalist first and foremost. Yet, marrying into a Norwegian family and helping lead an ELCA congregation has lured me toward the study of some prominent Lutheran thinkers. I recently stumbled on a profound essay by John P. Milton, “How… Continue reading What Would You, O God, Have Me Believe And Do?
Encountering the Divine Through God’s Self-disclosure
I sometimes have a hard time balancing the two sides of my experience of God. On the one hand, I primarily consider myself a mystic, meaning I believe I have a real and personal experience of Christ. On the other hand, I write this blog where several thousand readers throughout the year have come to… Continue reading Encountering the Divine Through God’s Self-disclosure
A Dance of Head and Heart
It you’ve known me for any length of time, you know there are a handful of topics that are difficult to shut me up about once you get me going: music theory, tennis, coffee, Vincent van Gogh, and of course, theology. Christian theology has such a rich library to plumb, spanning over 20 centuries of… Continue reading A Dance of Head and Heart
Did Jesus Exist?
I’ve been on Instagram all of six months and that is long enough to help me understand why people feel frustrated with social media. I don’t plan on quitting because in any given month I get almost 80% of my web traffic now from organic social clicks. That means most of my readers are now… Continue reading Did Jesus Exist?
Original Sin
Recently, The Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines, Senior Minister of University Christian Church in San Diego, posted a sermon snippet on original sin. If you’re not yet following Caleb and you like pastors who are dynamic, persuasive and progressive, then you should start following him on the socials. He made an interesting point that I… Continue reading Original Sin
God’s Gender
Why would Christians assign a male gender to the God of all creation? First, many of us including myself don’t, at least not intentionally. More on that later. However many Christians inherited referring to God as a male directly from scripture. In ancient Israel, it would have been natural to think of the highest ruler… Continue reading God’s Gender
Progressive Christianity
Progressive Christianity. Some people I’ve met would consider that an oxymoron. If you listen to the news and many political candidates, it would seem that there is only one right way to be a Christian in America and it requires conservative ideals and biblical inerrancy. If you start from the point of view that the… Continue reading Progressive Christianity