aaARCH-1

aaARCH-1So lately we’ve been discussing God and human suffering, God and evil, God and “natural” evil, and the best Christianity.

One thing that I never seem to get around to making clear in such conversations is that I have zero interest in converting anyone to Christianity, be it “my” version of the faith or otherwise. Why would I? As long as your beliefs don’t in any way contribute to the oppression of others (such as, oh, gosh, I dunno—gay people or women), then what you believe is nobody’s business but yours. Continue reading →

{ 61 comments }

Subscribe to John's Email Newsletters

I'd like to receive:
      
Email Format:
            

A Christianity for the rest of us

Unfundamentalist Bug

A while back I became frustrated because I couldn’t find a Christianity that I could really get on board with. To my mind, the Christianity on the left was too tenuous, while the one on the right was too … rabid. I didn’t want a Christ who was essentially an inspired social worker who got [...]

Read More →

How can I believe in God, when so many innocent people suffer?

light-end-tunnel

The question people most often ask me is, “How can I believe in God, when so many innocent people suffer?” Those who ask it typically want to believe in God, but feel that the fact of innocents suffering leaves them no choice but to remain in their skepticism.

Read More →

Mother’s Day: Raised Too Alone

maternity

If your mother was caustic, toxic, abusive, vindictive, twisted, dangerous:

Read More →

A Methodist to Their Madness

Boring-Blogging

I’ll never forget October 15, 2011. That’s the day I received in my email this press release:

Read More →

WWJD if invited to a gay wedding?

jtux

I’ve recently been invited to a couple of gay weddings. So—what with being Christian and all—I asked myself the famous question, “What would Jesus do?” (Which I don’t too often ask myself, actually, since Jesus could, for instance, raise people from the dead and turn water into wine, whereas I can barely drag myself out [...]

Read More →

Posts by Theme

Dear John

How bad is living together before marriage?

living-together-before-marriage

I grew up in a very conservative Christian environment and as I have grown into adulthood I have gravitated away from that view of Christianity in favor of, for lack of a better word, liberal Christianity. Recently I brought up to my parents that my girlfriend and I plan on getting an apartment together (my [...]

Read More →

Christian Issues

The fundamentally toxic Christianity

And-Jesus-Wept

Everything that’s wrong with Christianity in one nutshell.

Read More →

Relationships

What does a woman mean when she says “I need space”?

backoff

Dear John, A good friend of mine suggested I contact you. I am now at the end of a five-year relationship and I am feeling lost as to what happened. We have had no fights, no disagreements, no infidelity. Just all of a sudden, it is over. I came home yesterday to a “Dear John” [...]

Read More →

Christian Spirituality

Joseph and Pregnant Mary at the Inn

trough

Joseph: How do you feel, Mary? Mary: Pregnant. Very pregnant. Joseph: Are you comfortable? Do you have enough hay? Mary: I do, thank you. And thanks for doing such a thorough job cleaning that feeding trough. I can’t believe our baby’s first crib will be a feeding trough. Joseph: No, no: it’s not a feeding [...]

Read More →

Humor

Top 10 Things I WON’T Say To Rob Bell During Our Lunch Today

Rob-Bell

Later today I’ll be having lunch with former mega-church founder and leader, best-selling author and soon-to-be huge television star Rob Bell. While of course security concerns prohibit me from revealing the location of what Rob has called our “epic lunch,” two words should be enough for you to grasp the magnitude of this groundbreaking summit: [...]

Read More →

Personal

“Your laughter is interfering with my degrading shame”

dadmeblog1

If I had a thousand years and spoke as many languages I couldn’t begin to express my gratefulness for the messages of condolences so many of you sent me after learning that my father died. I feel my father read and was moved by them all. Each and every one of those messages also somehow [...]

Read More →