Our newest religion is to question everything – nothing can be absolute – everything is relative. To say otherwise is heresy. To make an exclusive claim is to succumb to hisses and disdain. To claim your religion is the one true religion is seen as narrow-minded and archaic. All religions, this new belief system argues, are equally valid. Read More >>

I came across a quote attributed to the Buddha. It goes like this: “If you truly loved yourself, you would never harm another.” Pretty good quote – it’s exact translation is, like most religious texts, disputed, but the intent is obvious. If you truly loved yourself, hurting someone else would diminish who you are, and thus you’d never do it. I agree with this. But the real question is how? Read More >>

The story of Jesus returning to his home town entitled, A Prophet Without Honor (Mark 6), is yet another example of people, even Jesus’ neighbors, not understanding who he is. When we read the text, below, we read it from such a distance that we miss the tone, the hatred, and the resentment that people had for Jesus. Tim Keller notes in one of his sermons that the key passage is that “…they took offense at him.” Why? He’s just a Rabbi, right? Read More >>

I was watching a cartoon geared toward tweens. In it a young girl discovers she has a pimple. She very quickly goes from being a pleasant little girl to a raging monster. In fact she morphed into a giant green monster who went on a rampage destroying the house while her parents cowered in the corner. Of course this was an exaggeration of how we feel when encountered with the unpleasantness of a zit. Or is it? Read More >>

Bart Erhman wrote a book entitled, Misquoting Jesus. And many indeed do. But a larger problem is that we under-quote Jesus. That is, we take a little piece and run. Some of our favorites are: love your neighbor, the truth shall set you free, let the little children come to me, love your enemies and many, many more. But the teaching of Jesus demanded much more than pithy quotes. Read More >>

There’s an article in the WSJ that argues that the Bible should be taught in public schools. I happen to agree. Now, my kids are unschooled, so I don’t have a lot of skin in this fight except to say that if one does not have a basic understanding of the Bible, they don’t know their history. Read More >>

I love Facebook. It’s a new drama every five seconds – we laugh, we cry, we reflect, we think. However, the speed at which ideas are disseminated (without critical thinking) is alarming. In this sense, Facebook is a place where the blind often lead the blind. Read More >>

Like many, I’ve read and heard preached the story of Jesus clearing the temple. This is often the first scripture that comes to mind when we talk about an angry Jesus. We say, “Oh man, he went ballistic and started flipping tables and stuff!” And indeed he did. But Jesus also did something else – he taught them. Read More >>

I’ve just finished reading Brian McLaren’s book, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World. It’s a fantastic book – I highly recommend it. In it, he has some thoughts from Ghandi in regards to Christianity that are worth repeating. Read More >>

I’ve been meaning to post some videos for some time – so I hope you like the short clip below. I discuss a little background of the Roman Centurion who proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God. It’s an absolutely remarkable statement given the character and job description of centurions. Why the change of heart? Read More >>