I have mentioned Mort Fertel before. Mort is a marriage educator who has a pretty unique approach. I came across his website a few months ago and immediately signed up to receive his email updates, since that’s a great way for me to come to understand a person’s approach to helping marriages. Today’s post isContinue reading “Your Marriage: How to Move from Pain to Peace”
Category Archives: MISCELLANY
Remembering 9-11
When speaking of 9-11, people sometimes say “May we never forget.” As if, for any of us who lived it, who saw those buildings fall, who saw people jumping out, or walking dead, covered with ash — as if we ever could. I remember going to the store the next day and noticing that peopleContinue reading “Remembering 9-11”
The Role of Anger in the Spiral of Violence
Right now in politics, as it usually is in relationships (both personal and international), it’s not about seeking truth, and it’s not even so much about being right. It’s about the other guy being wrong. Tempers flare and people go to greater and greater lengths to convince the other guy he’s wrong. It starts withContinue reading “The Role of Anger in the Spiral of Violence”
What’s On Your List?
After church recently I was introduced to a first-time guest who spent about 40 minutes gently (that’s not sarcasm, he was very kind and low-key) informing me how inadequate the church was “for him.” At the end of our conversation, that man got to the point. He said, “Again, all of this is just me and myContinue reading “What’s On Your List?”
Re-post from Peter Enns: Are Christian Fundamentalists Actually Polytheists?
Peter Enns is one of my favorite theologians. He writes in ways that are accessible to non-theologians. As an introduction to him and his work, I have posted his entire most recent blog post below, word for word, putting in red the things that resonated with me most deeply. I encourage you to join theContinue reading “Re-post from Peter Enns: Are Christian Fundamentalists Actually Polytheists?”
Why I Will Be Posting Less Often
It is clutch-time, dear reader. I have completed my book, Living Truthfully. I have spent the last few months building a platform, partly because I need a platform to get the book out, but also because I love the challenge of platform-building and finding “my people,” and the regular writing discipline is good for me. However,Continue reading “Why I Will Be Posting Less Often”
God’s Love, prt. 4
No wonder we suffer from the spiritual schizophrenia we do in the church. No wonder the history of the church is full of outright atrocities, committed in the name of Jesus, prince of peace and Lord of Love. These spring directly from human beings who ultimately don’t know whether they are loved or hated, and from theContinue reading “God’s Love, prt. 4”
God’s Love, prt. 3
Remember, Jesus himself invited the comparison of God’s love to the love of human parents for our children. If you extend your love to your children constantly, every second, for a specified number of years, are you then justified in killing or torturing them for having not responded? Could you even desire to? IfContinue reading “God’s Love, prt. 3”
God’s Love, prt. 2
[Start at the beginning of this series] Jesus invited us to understand God’s love by thinking of our love for our own children. He did this mainly in two places. One is the parable of the prodigal son. The other is when he said, “If you, though you are evil, know how to give good giftsContinue reading “God’s Love, prt. 2”
God’s Love, prt. 1
Today I am beginning a four-part series explaining my theology, which is based on God’s unconditional and never-ending love for us. This is theology, so it uses a lot of scripture passages, and I realize there are many passages I do not use that create questions of interpretation. This is always the case in any theology. MyContinue reading “God’s Love, prt. 1”
Temp Arbor 