Posts

Spiritual Abuse/Religious Trauma

  Spiritual abuse and religious trauma are epidemic. The church has lost credibility; indeed, the whole of Christianity and virtually every other expression of organized religion are suspect. For those who have somehow escaped the epidemic, this blog will attempt to offer two ways (there are more than two ways) to understand the origins and causes of the mental and emotional pain. Hopefully, some empathy can be found and exercised. For those whose lives are tormented by the epidemic, I hope to offer a word of encouragement without making it worse by seeming to pressure you to respond in any specific way. I write in the spirit of the 1927 poem by Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata,” with which I will close. There is a perceived lack of integrity on the part of some of the most vocal and most prominent leaders of Christianity. When television became widespread in the 1950s and 60s, the cat was out of the bag. They preach a Jesus who, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Our Testimony Attracting people to Christ? or Pushing Them Away?

       Not long ago our church had a booth at the local Pride Festival. We acknowledged that most of those in attendance had been hurt by some manifestation of Christianity, and we wanted to be a healing presence.      During that afternoon, a couple of guys approached us, one with an open Bible in his left hand, his right forefinger jabbing at a single verse, claiming they wanted to “have a conversation” with us.      They were lying, of course. They wanted to use the Bible to condemn us for reaching out in love to people guilty of the heinous abomination of homosexuality. Theirs was a daunting task, since there is no clear biblical injunction either condemning or confirming homosexuality.      In the first place, the biblical word that is translated “abomination” means “liturgically improper” and includes certain food prohibitions, like shrimp and other shellfish, wearing wool and linen fabrics in the same garment, and a...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Collision of Values

           The border crisis is no longer about the border crisis. It hasn’t been for a long time. The border crisis is now about the Republicans vs. Democrats—liberals vs. conservatives. The time has long passed since either was concerned about reaching a just settlement of the issue. Both sides just want to win the fight. In my limited observation, the crisis (liberal/conservative winner/loser notwithstanding) has two primary conflicting values. The first value is the disruption of established “domestic tranquility.” The mass influx of human bodies is overwhelming the existing system’s ability to assimilate them with justice and compassion. That flood of humanity creates a threat to the stability and, to a significant degree, the security of those who are in the path of the flood and/or who deal directly with the challenge. The border states obviously bear the brunt of that challenge, and many believe the Democrats/liberals have not demonstrated satisfa...
Post a Comment
Read more

NCAA Transfer Portal

This is a change-of-pace from my usual blog focus. On the other hand, it’s all about values, which keeps it in the same ball park (sic). My two cents' worth (and, yes, some of you will want change back): in college football, the transfer portal is ruining the integrity of the sport and may prove irreparably damaging unless it is restructured. Marshal University's "Thundering Herd" had earned the right to meet nationally ranked Army in the Independence Bowl, but contract talks with the head coach stalled, and the coach resigned, leaving the team high and dry. In response, 36 players, including all the team's quarterbacks, entered the transfer portal, depleting the team's roster so that the team had to withdraw from the bowl game. The University lost millions of dollars, and dozens of college athletes lost their chance to participate in the fruits of a great season and a Sun Belt Conference championship. Two points in response that are flip sides of the sa...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Wolf and the Lamb: Isaiah 11:1-9

  I confess that this is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. The picture it paints leaves no question regarding God’s wishes for God’s children: 1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a lit...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Elephant in the Room

  I had a defining moment in the shower this morning. A lot of my defining moments come when I’m in the shower, probably because that’s one of the few places I’m not engaged in some project or on my way to the next one, and my mind has a chance to catch up with my body. Last week I finished the first draft of a book, and I’m in the process of submitting a proposal to a publisher. In filling out the publisher’s form, I’m asked for an annotated Table of Contents—basically, summarizing the book in a few sentences, chapter by chapter. With hot water relaxing my neck and shoulders, and with shampoo stinging my left eye, I pondered how to compose that annotated Table of Contents, and it came to me that, in developing the argument of the book, I had found in the Judeo/Christian Scriptures, and particularly in the Hebrew Scriptures, what amounts to two distinct G(g)od images, each incompatible with the other; indeed, diametrically opposite. If I’m totally honest with myself and with my...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tools

               I have a lot of hand tools in my garage: hammers, saws, screwdrivers, pliers, etc. And I have a lot of power tools: table saw, saber saw, drills, sanders, router, and even a power paint sprayer. My computer is a tool in my vocation. In our home we have a dish washer, and washing machine and dryer, vacuum cleaner, brooms and mops… But here’s the thing: none of those tools does anything—until I pick one up and use it. There is no inherent value in any of my tools. They are no better or worse than my skill level. Marketing is a tool. It has no inherent value except in theory. In practice, it is no better or worse than the one who applies it. Sadly, an increasing number apply it in ways that are “worse.” In his 1957 classic, Hidden Persuaders , [1] Vance Packard exposed the manipulative and exploitive ways marketing was being used. Today, marketing has become intrusive and even invasive. But that’s not the tool’s fault! Stat...
Post a Comment
Read more