“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” [Read more...]
‘Can the Evangelical Left Rise Again?’ No. But thanks for asking.
September 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment
I appreciate the recent wave of attention being paid to my former tribe, but there’s a reason that articles like this all sound like the presenter giving out a Lifetime Achievement Award to some emeritus trustee at some local nonprofit’s annual dinner, or like someone dedicating the historical marker to honor some worthy, but largely forgotten, event from the past. That tone — fond, but past-tense, a bit like an obituary — is entirely appropriate. [Read more...]
Left Behind Classic Fridays, No. 49: ‘Explicit content’
September 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The conversion scenes in Left Behind, like all pornography, require the reader to overcome an instinctive reaction to look away when stumbling across such intimate scenes, choosing instead the trespassive thrill of voyeurism. These scenes have something else in common with pornography: They take an event that is — or ought to be — primarily about love and portray it as something from which love is absent or irrelevant. [Read more...]
‘Purity culture’ isn’t just a sex thing. It’s a do-nothing thing.
September 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
What then, is a good Christian to do in such a world? As little as possible. Faith is a blank page that must be kept blank. It is a spotless, pure and undefiled white sheet that must be hidden away from anything and everything that might stain its pure whiteness. [Read more...]
Everyone says love is a labor
September 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Former Southern Baptist “ethics” spokesman Richard Land is still talking. Land is still utterly baffled by the concept of consent, and he can’t understand Kids These Days, with their unbiblical notions that sexual ethics should have anything to do with honesty and fidelity. Plus: A Republican governor attacks the police; another fun biblical-studies detective story; and a reminder of Sarah Palin’s old Secret Service nickname (it was not “McKinley”). [Read more...]
Smart people saying smart things (9.3)
September 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Jon Corvino on why renegade Kentucky clerk is not a conscientious objector. Julie Ingersoll on David Barton and Reconstructionism/dominionism. Elias Isquith on Trump and white male anxiety. Derek Penwell on fundamentalism. And T. Christian Miller’s long, depressing investigation on why nobody’s using ViCAP. [Read more...]
The uncanny sex fiends of Christianity Today (No. 3)
September 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Ed Stetzer’s hasty guesstimate that 400 church leaders might possibly be resigning quickly morphed into a fact that metastasized and spread. Now lots of people “know” that “400 pastors resigned after Ashley Madison hack,” even though nothing like that actually happened. [Read more...]
It’s a wondrous world of ridiculous things
September 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
“I went to a Christian college. You would be expelled if you were caught in a movie theater. It was ridiculous.” Farewell to the Wheaton grad who gave us Freddy Krueger. Also: Creationists lying about Jesus; a possible McKinley/Denali compromise; the end of August Blues; and the coolest tattoo story. [Read more...]
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