Uncategorized
-
Fearful People are Easier to Control
I’ve been pretty quiet for the last few weeks as I watched the COVID-19 pandemic grow. I didn’t want to jump in with just another pat Christianese answer about having faith and not giving into fear. But as the public hysteria grows, I’m done being quiet because there are some things that need said. Yesterday I was working at Meijer as a Shipt shopper. Shipting has been my job for the past three years. If you aren’t familiar with Shipt, I’m basically a personal shopper. I use an app to accept orders which I then shop and deliver. Over and over again every hour while my kids are in school.…
-
Healing from Spiritual Abuse
The last few episodes of my podcast have been dealing with spiritual abuse and false teachers. It’s not the most traditional Christmas topic I know. However, if you cut through the decorations, manger scenes, and fuzzy feelings, I think this is exactly what Christmas is about. Knowing our broken human tendency towards religion, power, and control, the Almighty God became a human being. He came in humility and gentleness, without demanding anything from us or exerting any power or control over us. Jesus lived among humankind for three decades, as the exact image of God, showing us the heart of the Father before making the ultimate sacrifice. Rather than demanding…
-
Finding a New Name for My Christianity
About eighteen months ago I wrote a passionate blog post called I Don’t Want to be an Evangelical Anymore. My post was inspired by a quote I came across from Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee. Angry with Evangelical leaders who were once again defending President Trump, Mr. Steele said, “I have a very simple admonition at this point. Just shut the hell up and don’t ever preach to me about anything ever again. I don’t want to hear it.” Yikes! As I processed this quote, I came to an important conclusion. I don’t think I want to call myself an Evangelical anymore. It didn’t take long to discover that…
-
The Christianese Religion and the Real Jesus
The scariest thing about the Christianese Religion is that you don’t even notice you are following it until it stops working for you. The formulas, phrases, and culture seem good and real while you are in the bubble. The things you do and believe appear to be genuine. You are part of a community that is like-minded. What do I mean by the Christianese Religion? In his book Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World, Mike Cosper says this, “Religion is the business of appeasing gods.” For the past year, I have not been able to get that sentence out of my mind. It finally connected the dots between the ten…
-
The God We Long For…and the Real Jesus
A couple of days ago I threw a few scattered thoughts out on Facebook. “What if God cares more about your heart than your outward actions? What if He wants to heal your deepest wounds and messes more than He wants your behaviors to change? What if He wants you to understand yourself…your deep needs and longings and the things that trigger you? What if He cares about ALL of you, the visible and invisible parts? What if, instead of expecting you to get your act cleaned up, Jesus wants to sit with you in your mess? Sift through it? Sort it out? What if He is totally okay with…
