When you live in Culture War Mode there is always a battle to fight, a side to take, and people to fear. When you live in God's Kingdom there's always a stranger to welcome, a neighbor to befriend, and an enemy to love. --from Love Over Fear
One of the biggest things that made me doubt the Evangelical Christianity of my past was actually meeting all the people I was told to fear, distrust, and treat as my “enemy,” only to find that they were incredible, kind, thoughtful, complex and beautiful people loved...
It reveals how little we Christians actually believe that Christ conquered sin and death on the cross when we treat our religion like a war that hasn't been won rather than a work of compassion and treat the world as an enemy to be conquered rather than a neighbor to...
Doubt is not the enemy of faith. It's the ground out of which faith often emerges. Faith requires us to venture into mystery. There's no certitude in mystery. Doubt and faith are companions on the journey.
Whenever Christians say, "But is it biblical?" I get uneasy. Smashing an enemy's infant against a rock is "biblical." I'm much more interested in if it is like Christ.
And God said, "Love your enemy," and I obeyed Him and loved myself.-----------------------------------------Gender-neutral version: And God said, "Love your enemy," and I obeyed God and loved myself.
And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls “the image of God,” you begin to love him in spite of. No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There is an element of goodness that he can...
We must be careful not to let the perfect become the enemy of the good.
Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. It is all we ever have so we might as well work with it rather than struggling against it. We might as well make it our friend and teacher rather than our enemy.
Genocide is biblical.Loving your enemy is biblical.But only one is Christlike.Slavery is biblical.Chain-breaking is biblical.But only one is Christlike. Patriarchy is biblical.Counter-cultural elevation of women is biblical.But only one is Christlike. Retributive...