Faith Challenges: It Ain't All Comfort

A long, long time ago, in a land far away, there was a teacher who told stories. He told many kinds of stories, often to answer issues or questions that arose before him. Some of those stories became really well known. Others were lost to the ravages of time, the cost of writing material, and times of trial and persecution that made keeping all the stories alive difficult. Many of them stories are still remembered, but often not well understood. One such tale concerned a man assaulted, robbed, and left to die on the side of a dangerous road out of town. A stranger passed by and assumed responsibility to tend the man’s wounds, clothe him, wrestle him into his own saddle, and take him to an inn along his way. There the stranger paid for the wounded man’s lodging and care, before resuming his journey. Before departing, however, he promised the innkeeper to return and take care of any other expenses incurred in caring for the man. The stranger went on his way, planning that secon...

Reviewing the gospels and the first chapter of Acts, I was looking for every instance Jesus was recorded as condemning people, including telling people they were sinners destined for eternal condemnation. What I found flies in the face of so many emphases on sin I encountered in the evangelical arena and popular Christianity at large. Part of that is likely due to some of the emphases from evangelists striving to “get people saved.” Their stress on salvation following a certain set of scripts like “Four Spiritual Laws” or “The Romans Road of Salvation” would have us think Jesus went around telling people to repent of their sins and ask him into their hearts to be saved. The gospels paint a startlingly different picture of Jesus’ ministry and message. John the Baptist indeed comes on the scene preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. As Jesus begins baptizing and preaching, however, that is not his message. Jesus speaks of repenting, or changing course, i...

There are lots of problems with fundamentalism, but perhaps the biggest in my perspective has to do with the way it builds its portrait of reality. It’s good to remember that fundamentalism comes in a host of flavors. There is fundamentalism in Muslim garb, Jewish robes, and Christian attire. There is even fundamentalism attached to Hinduism, which should seem a complete impossibility for a religion with myriad expressions of the divine. I have also encountered fundamentalism among a few who call themselves atheists. One thing we often fail to grasp, however, is that fundamentalism is not so much a religious perspective. It is rather a way of building a model of reality that requires strict adherence to a set of unyielding beliefs. Fundamentalism builds a structure of reality that is akin to a house of cards. If I pull out one card, the whole structure may come crashing down. When we add to that the fact that no two fundamentalists actually agree on everything, we have an ...

Growing up adjacent to a lot of Evangelical fundamentalist missionaries, I am used to having many disagreements with people over how we interpret the Bible, understand salvation, perceive grace, and what we see as the focus of Christianity. What I am still not used to is how many professed Christians seem to have let go of Jesus by such a wide margin. Sure, folks I grew up with had a difficult time processing a place for social ministries within a missions and outreach framework. Sure, I grew up with folks who failed to see the connection between working for justice and following Jesus. Sure, I knew folks who relegated the things of Christ to a spiritual realm divorced from most of lived reality on earth. They also called on people to live by a higher moral code, however. They understood that love was much more important than yelling at people. They considered rapture theology and end times preaching as important, but they were not trying to bring about the end of the world i...

Forgiveness keeps cropping up of late. Forgiveness is also a difficult concept for us. The adage, "forgive and forget" is generally not helpful, and often clouds the issue for us. Memory and forgiveness often go hand-in-hand, whether we want them to or not. The deeper and more important the issue forgiven, the more it becomes impossible to be forgotten. I might be able to lay aside an issue I have forgiven, but forgetting and trusting remain as difficult hurdles. I need to forgive others, but does that mean I must blindly trust them henceforth? In many cases, I’m not sure that is even possible, much less wise or beneficial. Setting aside that morality and economics are closely tied together, it's probably helpful to remember that forgiveness is first of all an economic question and secondarily a moral question. The forgiveness of debts is primary to understanding what forgiveness is all about. In fact, that is why some versions of The Lord's Prayer express fo...

I’m constantly running across people who run up against the interpretation they have been given of a few Bible verses that supposedly condemn homosexuality. The concern is that we would have to twist Scripture to interpret in any other way than this received condemnation. This is not the first time and the first issue that church and society struggled with changing a received traditional stance on one thing or another. We had virtually the same argument over slavery, over racism, over baptism, over which version of the Bible to use, over music styles and their place in worship, and appropriate dress for participation in church services. I would present the following questions for reflection for those having difficulty accepting that maybe traditional interpretations and attitudes about people in the LGBTQ+ community. I’d never expect that everyone agree with me on everything. If we can’t at least entertain questions, however, we would have to be very sure about our positions ...

John Wesley famously preached a sermon entitled, “The Almost Christian.” Kevin Watson summarized that sermon as follows: “While an almost Christian lives an outwardly Christian life in every way, an altogether Christian adds to this love for God and neighbor, and genuine faith (trust and confidence) in God’s love for them through the merits of Jesus Christ.” ( “John Wesley’s Sermon “The Almost Christian” A Brief Summary” ) It is that second point that jumps out at me as key to understanding the first of that sentence. To be a Christian requires we evidence love for God and for neighbor as our highest priority. Wesley was well familiar with people who went through the motions of expressing the Christian faith. He saw people going to church. He saw people preaching and listening to preaching. He saw and heard people praying and reading the Bible. He watched people participating in the sacraments of the church, in worship, and wearing the sign of the cross or other religious symbo...