Rethinking a Messiah’s Miracle Might I suggest Jesus would favor brewing up a batch of European varieties such as the Floreffe Special Reserve, a rich dark beer seasoned with anise spice and orange peel. At eight percent alcohol content, this Belgium Ale is a joy to drain and represents a choice brew that would easily [...]

Rethinking a Messiah’s Miracle WWJB? It’s a legitimate question. Jesus drank with the best of them.1 He made choice wine from water at a wedding in Cana—and lots of it. About 150 gallons. In case you’re wondering, that’s about 800 bottles. And it was good stuff. “You saved the best for last,” said the master [...]

I Survived the Christian Right: Ten Lessons I Learned on My Journey Home Lesson 9 Embrace Universal Life Before I went to Malawi and early on in my evangelical walk in 1982 I got one major thing right. Faith in Jesus includes emulating his concern for the poor. I packed my bags, joined an evangelical [...]

I Survived the Christian Right: Ten Lessons I Learned on My Journey Home Lesson 8 Science vs. Religion – Go Where the Evidence Leads Us vs. them attitudes are in the science vs. religion and creation vs. evolution debates. Typically, the people debating are the extremists, who only see things in black and white. There can be [...]

I Survived the Christian Right: Ten Lessons I Learned on My Journey Home Lesson 7 Support Gay Rights Not Wrongs Most of my evangelical friends thought I went off the deep end when I changed my view on this issue. I have to admit, for years I had wondered how anyone could defend homosexuality in [...]

I Survived the Christian Right: Ten Lessons I Learned on My Journey Home Lesson 6 Have Sensible Sex By now, I’m sure some have declared me a full-fledged heretic. Brace yourself, there’s more. Now for something totally uncomfortable…the subject of religion and sex. In my experience, with some noble exceptions (there are some excellent evangelical [...]

I Survived the Christian Right: Ten Lessons I Learned on My Journey Home Lesson 5 Don’t Be Seduced by Political Power I learned one of the warped mindsets of heavily financed political activism is an us vs. them mentality. Today, this attitude continues to fuel the Christian Right in their quest to save America from moral [...]

I Survived the Christian Right: Ten Lessons I Learned on My Journey Home Lesson 4 Don’t Be Deluded by the Last Days As a brand-new believer in 1979 I tended to accept the pre-tribulation Rapture view that the Bible predicts Jesus would return a second time before a period of tribulation, to whisk believers up [...]

I Survived the Christian Right: Ten Lessons I Learned on My Journey Home Lesson 3 Leave Churchianity Surprise! Jesus didn’t found an institutional church.14 For that matter, he didn’t found a religion either. He also didn’t expect his followers to set up a Christian version of the synagogue, let alone create a parallel Christian universe [...]

I Survived the Christian Right: Ten Lessons I Learned on My Journey Home Lesson 2 Beware of Bible Abuse With some notable exceptions, most evangelicals I know primarily read the Bible devotionally, meaning they read it in a superficial way without regard to the conditions of history, culture, genre, or its own literary context. They [...]