For far too long, Christians used the Bible as a weapon and not as a mirror. The gospel for oppression instead of liberation. The church as a judgment gavel, not a table of inclusion. And Jesus as their mascot instead of the example. Time to flip the tables.
Be discerning and kind so that your judgment of others doesn’t just become a new, more acceptable form of the self-righteousness that you so despise. For the most part, we are doing the best we know how. Offer grace instead.
I was fifteen years old when I felt called to preach. My home church pastor said that I should get as much experience as possible. Obviously, there was not a great demand for fifteen-year-old novices who were long on enthusiasm but short on skill. So, my pastor sent...
What will be the judgment a century hence concerning the lorded works of our favorite composers today? Inasmuch as nearly everything is subject to the changes of time, and—more’s the pity—the fashions of time, only that which is good and true will endure like a rock...
By the mercies of God, this new covenant community has been released from the darkness and foolishness of illicit worship to serve the living God in spirit and truth. In a very real sense this is the goal of the process of redemption, just as it was in the Old...
I would not want to spend eternity with the self-satisfied souls who think they deserve heaven, while everybody else belongs in hell. Can I damn another fellow being without tasting hell myself? Can I hate other Christians without plunging my own heart into hell? When...
We do not forgive hurricanes and floods; we forgive human beings who could and should have acted differently. We hold them responsible, and we hold them under the judgment of memory, especially so long as the perpetrators do not repent their actions. Even after they...
In my judgment the Christian faith does not lend itself to much preaching or talking. It is best propagated by living it and speaking it. When will you Christians really crown Jesus Christ as the Prince of Peace and proclaim Him through your deeds as the champion of...
For the Christian, Jesus Christ is always our contemporary and the present is always a day of judgment and of opportunity. Our task is not to go back to him but to catch up with him. It is not “back to the Bible.” It is forward until we can grasp the wisdom and...
Jesus tried to change people by loving and healing them. His harshest words of judgment were reserved for those who perpetuated systems of inequality and oppression and who, through religion itself, thought they were sinless and untouchable.