A Fresh Perspective

For most evangelical Christians (and not a few mainliners), salvation is about going to heaven or hell. Once upon a time I believed that too. I was wrong. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I believe in an afterlife. I believe there is more to this life than this life. And I am sure it will be good, because God is good – as the song says, “God is good, all the time.” I believe that. If you believe that, then there is no need to worry about heaven or hell in the literal sense. God would not be good if God tortured people. Other people might torture us, and we might torture ourselves, but God won’t. While not literal, hell is still a reality though. And most of usually have to live through some “hells” before we reach “heaven.” Heaven is where love is, now and forever. I love this passage by Wendell Berry in his book, The Lost World : “I imagine the dead waking, dazed, into a shadowless light in which they know themselves altogether for the first time. It is a light that is merci...

I recently wrote two pieces published at Baptist News Global (“ A Scripture Lesson on Fundamentalism ” and “ What does a progressive Christian statement of faith look like ?) that ignited a response I repeatedly hear from conservatives. Their claim is that progressive Christian faith is based on subjective criteria not rooted in any objective reality. Of course, their objective reality is their inerrant Bible. One frequent commenter on my articles said: “The authority for what is written begins and ends with those that wrote it. . . . These so-called progressives don’t use the term infallible but in reality they see what they wrote [the reference here is to  the Phoenix Affirmations ] as correct without any authority except themselves.” Another who is also a frequent contributor of articles on the website said: “I fail to see how on the progressive worldview any of these [ the Phoenix Affirmations ] can really be taken as more than mere expressions of personal pre...

It is unfortunate that the phrase “born again” has come to be associated with a particular kind of Christianity generally known for its belief in biblical inerrancy, its literal interpretation of scripture, its condemnation of our LGBT sisters and brothers, and its entrenchment in right wing politics. The phrase occurs in John 3:3 where Jesus tells Nicodemus,  “No one can see the kingdom of God unless one is born again.” The word translated “again” also means “above” and is so translated in the New Revised Standard Version. The Gospel writer probably intended this double meaning. To be born from above does not mean that God sweeps down from the sky to invade our lives. It is simply another way of talking about being “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8), who like the wind cannot be managed or manipulated. Fundamentalists literalize this image. They turn the “kingdom of God” into heaven and claim that unless one has a new birth experience, which they usually associate with beli...

I grew up with a theology that said all children are children of God—that is, until they reach the age of accountability. I was also indoctrinated into a belief in total depravity, that we are all born sinners and inherit a sin nature, so somehow we had to harmonize these two positions and the way we did it was by postulating an age of accountability. It’s kind of ironic because we prided ourselves in being Bible believers, yet there are no biblical texts that mention an age of accountability. We believed that a child was a child of God until that child reached a kind of semi-adulthood. When the child reached the age of accountability (and nobody really knew when that was which made for a nice loophole), then that child was no longer a child of God and had to believe certain things and do certain things in order to become a child of God. We believed that the child had to be “born again” in order to become a member of God’s family. I have since evolved in my thinking in what it mea...

In the movie, Bridge to Terabithia (based on the book by Katherine Paterson), ten-year-old Jess Aarons has his sense of what is just, fair, and real turned upside down by a free-spirited ten-year-old girl named Leslie Burke. An old dilapidated tree house in the woods adjoining their houses serves as home base into the enchanted kingdom of Terabithia .   One Friday they are rained out and cannot enter their imaginative world. Jess complains about Saturday’s chores and church on Sunday. Leslie asks Jess if she can come to church with him. Jess feels certain Leslie will hate church, but he takes her along anyway. On the ride home in the back of the truck Leslie, who had never been to church before, says, “That whole Jesus thing is really interesting isn’t it? . . . It’s really kind of a beautiful story.” May Belle, Jess’ younger sister, interjects, “It ain’t beautiful. It’s scary! Nailing holes right through somebody’s hand.” Jess retorts, ‘May Belle’s right. It’s bec...

One of the more fascinating stories in the Gospels that many Christians conveniently ignore is Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman in Matthew 19:21-28 (par. Mark 7:24-30). Here is how it reads in the NRSV: Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon . Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel .” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed ...

I know what it is like to be afraid on the water. I was nine or ten years old and my dad took me with him on a fishing trip with a work buddy. At the time we had a small boat with a 50 horse power motor. We were at Lake Cumberland catching crappie. It had been a good evening. We were in a school of crappie when dark clouds began to gather. Of course, we didn’t want to leave and stayed on the lake too long. The storm came on us quick and we were taking in some water trying to get back across the lake. Then the motor died. I had never seen my father afraid. The look of fear on his face terrified me. I can still remember those feelings of fright. Fortunately, they were able to get it started back without too much delay. But I will never forget the fear I felt at that moment even though it was so very long ago.  The disciples are caught in a storm. The waves and wind are against them, beating up against their small vessel. And then they see something or someone coming toward...

Over at Dr. James Dobson’s family talk, Ryan Dobson, son of James Dobson, recently wrote a piece seeking to answer the question: Why doesn’t God do a better job protecting us? Why have so many Christians around the world been killed? On the basis of a text in Revelation 6, he argues that “God’s plan for this world calls for a certain number of Christians to be put to death for the sake of Jesus.” Of course, he doesn’t attempt to explain why God would want to have so many of God’s beloved daughters and sons killed.             He writes:  “That’s God’s amazing, mysterious plan. And it’s all part of the good and perfect story He’s written for us, a story that will make Him more famous than ever when we finally see how it all plays out.”             How the brutal and violent deaths of God’s children at the hands of the powers that be can somehow be proclaime...

There is a growing number of Christians today who are interpreting texts like John 14:6 (“I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me”) inclusively, rather than exclusively. Some interpreters apply this to the risen, cosmic Christ who they see working anonymously through many different mediums and mediators. The Gospels, they point out, were written from a post-Easter point of view. What others call by a different name they believe is actually the living Christ. Others interpret Jesus’ statement “except through me” to be a reference to the values and virtues Jesus incarnated. In other words, anyone who embraces the values and virtues of Jesus can know God regardless of their particular beliefs. Acts 10:34 supports this reading: “In every nation anyone who fears (reverences) God and does what is right is acceptable to God.” Still others, like me, emphasize that John was writing to his particular community. When John wrote “no one” he ...

This is a kind of reverse reversal story. Much of Luke’s Gospel is about Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem , but these two disciples, possibly a husband and wife, are leaving Jerusalem . They are on the road to Emmaus, but it’s not like they were going anywhere in particular, they are simply leaving Jerusalem , because for them the story of Jesus had ended, and it ended badly, it ended in tragedy. The one in whom they had placed their hope for the redemption of Israel was rejected and crucified. But then something happens. They meet a stranger along the way. And as a result of this encounter, hope is reborn, a new faith is ignited that reverses the reversal – that turns them around and sets them on a new direction. How many times has the direction of your life changed because of an encounter with God, because you met the living Christ? Hopefully, at least once. Possibly, many times. This appearance story, I believe, sketches out the contexts where such encounters can occur, whe...