A few weeks ago, I wrote a post explaining why I don’t talk to girls at church about their clothing. One loyal reader (okay, my dad) took the time to write a thoughtful critique of my argument, making a well-reasoned case for why we should acknowledge the prettiness of frilly dresses and the handsomeness of... Continue Reading

About half way to the ditch Carla felt the wind pick up and said she realized they wouldn’t make it. She lay down and covered Hannah as the tornado swept over. Carla tries to describe what happened during the next few seconds but says she doesn’t entirely know. What she does know is that she... Continue Reading

“The key debate here concerns the historicity of Adam, created—according to Chapter 2 of Genesis—by God’s special formative act. Bryan’s situation is not unique: Professors at many Christian colleges, often influenced by the BioLogos Foundation, contend that God worked through evolution to produce Adam. Some say there were many Adams, others suggest that God made... Continue Reading

“The words crucial and crux both have their root in the Latin word for “cross,” crux, and they have come into the English language with their current meanings because the concept of the cross is at the very center and core of biblical Christianity. In a very real sense, the cross crystallizes the essence of... Continue Reading

“Returning to the subject later, he said: “What was said was that ‘If we leave a Christian community in this area’ – I am quoting them – ‘we will all be made to become homosexual; so we are going to kill the Christians.’ The mass grave had 369 bodies in it, and I was standing... Continue Reading

“Local Rwandan radios would use propaganda to incite Hutus to violence. Broadcasts included such statements as, “You have to kill the Tutsis, they’re cockroaches. We must all fight the Tutsis. We must finish with them, exterminate them, sweep them from the whole country. There must be no refuge for them.”   This week marks the... Continue Reading

“But Canon Pemberton, 58, now faces disciplinary action from the Church and could be expelled from his work as a priest because the House of Bishops has barred clergy from entering such unions, saying they undermine its traditional teaching that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.”   A senior Church of... Continue Reading

“In 1985 Robert Funk founded the Jesus Seminar, a group of 150 critical scholars who were tasked with re-examining the traditions surrounding the historicity of Jesus, and in particular, his deeds and his sayings. Among these scholars was Marcus Borg. The scholars employed social anthropology, history and textual analysis to attempt to reconstruct Jesus’ life... Continue Reading

I’ve just finished re-reading Trillia Newbell’s book, United: Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity (only $2.99 on Kindle today!). It’s an excellent introduction to the duty and delight of building more diversity into our lives and churches. I want to recommend it to you by highlighting ten major lessons I carried away from the book. 1. Biblical diversity... Continue Reading

Protections for religious freedom, like the one passed in Mississippi, provide a commonsense way to balance the fundamental right to religious liberty with compelling government interests. There will be times when a state or federal government can show it has a compelling reason for burdening religious expression—to ensure public safety, for instance. But RFRAs set... Continue Reading