Literalism is Disrespect

“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?” These words by Janis Joplin in her 1970 song are a terrific critique of materialism, culture and the white protestant focus on privilege and prosperity. It’s ironic, it’s tongue-in-cheek and it does a better job at calling out hypocrisy than many sermons. So when Mercedes-Benz licensed the… Continue reading Literalism is Disrespect

More Than Words

I received a question from a reader on the post Your Church is Not Biblical: “how do you follow the Christian faith when you are so critical of the Bible?” First, I’m not (that) critical of the Bible, at least not in the way I think this question intends. Anyone who is serious about Christianity… Continue reading More Than Words

Why I Don’t Often Read the New International Version (NIV)

The NIV isn’t the worst translation you could read. It has accessible, modern language. It tries to eliminate at least some gendered language in places where gendered language has changed with the culture, makes no sense or becomes a stumbling block while reading. Myself, I almost always use the NRSV day-to-day, so I have my… Continue reading Why I Don’t Often Read the New International Version (NIV)

Your Church is not Biblical

Recently a friend pointed out to me that a couple of disgruntled former members of our church had written Google reviews about our church saying we weren’t “Biblical.” Setting aside the facts that we read and teach on the Bible every single week and giving your former faith community an uncharitable and inaccurate review seems… Continue reading Your Church is not Biblical

How Many Donkeys?

In a previous post, Apples Are Not Bananas, Theology Is Not History, I discussed what I think is a major problem in either criticizing or defending the Bible. Namely, we shouldn’t be taking the Bible as literal, inerrant history. It was never intended to be read as such. Somehow, inerrantists have decided that there is… Continue reading How Many Donkeys?