The UmBlog

Here is the quick summary. This book is a 5 star thesis with a 2 star execution. Great ideas benefit from great editors. I really hope Ronald Goetz 's book, The Galilee Episode , gets picked up by a real publisher with an editorial team to cut this rough gem into a thing of beauty it deserves. Goetz's spiritual journey started at a young age, resulting in Bible college and 15 years in the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination then in the United Methodists for the past 30 years or so. At some point he saw this passage in Luke 17 with new eyes. 34 I tell you, on that night two men will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left. I have to say I never thought of these passages in their plain reading before myself, but in the fundamentalist goggles I inherited. Why are two guys sharing a bed at night? Maybe because they are gay partners. And did you know "grinding" is not...

In the series "Not everything biblical is Christian" I've stayed on Bible texts specifically. For those who know the lingo, I have been proof-texting, pulling up a text, contrasting it to the life of Jesus and "proving" that they are in tension and resolving it by giving Jesus the final say. This post is different in the lack of a Biblical text. Instead I have included a screenshot from my Facebook timeline, about a month ago, with two different approaches to homosexuality, the way of the law and the way of love. I have lived most of my Christian life with the focus on the former, so I completely understand where the first writer comes from. Yet I have come to embrace the way of love and grace. So the day these posts appeared in juxtaposition I saw myself in two acts. Act 1: the letter of the law, a Javert. Act 2: the way of love. not even a Jean Valjean, even less a little Christ. The law is fixed. Love ever expands. Now the screenshot. The first post see...

Matthew 9:3 But go and learn what this means: ‘ I desire mercy, not sacrifice .’ Matthew 12:7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘ I desire mercy, not sacrifice, ’ you would not have condemned the innocent.  Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice , and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. Dear Johnboy When you were condemning "the gays" because of the clear teaching of the Bible you forgot this clear teaching quoted above. Matthew's gospel records Jesus referencing this on two separate occasions. Love is the primary obedience. All obedience flows out of love and compassion. This teaching lines up with Jesus' teaching on not judging others, etc. But then you came across the blog of Wendy VanderWal-Gritter, who later wrote a book called Generous Spaciousness: Responding to Gay Christians in the Church , who wrote from a conservative perspective yet really trusted the Triune God's ability to move in someone's heart to sort ou...

I've been on a 45 year long faith journey. I haven't reached a destination. Most of that path has been on fundamentalist/biblicist path. But there was so much of it I could no longer accept. Lately, in my version of NaNoWriMo , I've been exploring on this blog, my online public, personal journal, the concept of universalism. I could no longer believe that God is love and would send people to hell for eternity because they never heard of him, nor that he would extinguish the souls of his children for the same reason. I cannot imagine anyone suffering eternally for temporal offenses they did not know they were even committing. My faith is also not in my Bible but in the God who is love who sent his son to save the world that he loves. I do not think God the Father is pissed all the time and Jesus calmed him down by letting his dad beat the shit out of him for our sins. I also do not believe my gay friends have an agenda to destroy my family or anyone else's. Nor do ...

Dear Johnboy circa 80's and 90's... Remember when the Russian commies were the great enemy of America? Without a doubt that totalitarian system was horrific. Once they fell apart though, this country needed someone else to hate on. Osama Bin Laden was happy to oblige. But their threat was not close to nuclear annihilation, which left room in our collective psychology to look for other things to hate/fear. Whenever things in the world get scary, the fundagelical tribe likes to warn the nation about God's wrath and judgment. In the past, it has scared up new converts and kept the doubters in the fold. But the wrath never arrived. They kept crying "wolf" and the Lamb of God never shows up to start kicking in doors. So Johnny, you don't really know about the internet or Facebook, just free discs from America Online and long load times on dial up modems. Now the wolf criers are all over the place. It's like a million John the Baptists, Jesus' cousin, th...

When Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan he tried to enlighten his listeners on the principle that we are all children of God. All of us are each other's neighbors. He wants all of us to love our neighbors. In the kingdom of Jesus, there is no us and them, just us. Even enemies are us. Jesus tells us to bless our enemies, like we would our friends. Our neighbors are those in need. Who is not in need? Jesus teaches that when we help those in need, we are worshipping him. "Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me," and it's corollary, "Whatever you have not done to the least of these, you have not done to me." Matthew 25. Who are the privileged in the society I am a part of? Me. I am a white, educated male. Who suffers under the privilege of white males in my society? Women. African Americans. Minorities...racial and sexual. These two topics in particular are huge this week in America. 1- A young white man sat in on a Bible ...

This morning I read in Luke's gospel this curious story. Luke 16 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’  5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘Nine hundred gallons[a] of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’  7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels[b] of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “ Th...

I keep finding more and more podcasts to listen to and I have less and less time to listen to them all. I do not have time for some of ones I noted last December anymore. Science and Faith - Ask Science Mike  , Twitter @ mikemchargue "People call me Science Mike. Christian turned atheist turned Jesus follower. Spiritual and skeptical." Faith and Doubt and Worship - The Liturgists , Twitter @ TheLiturgists , with Michael Gungor "A collective of artists seeking to make thoughtful, progressive, beautiful, and evocative liturgical work." Faith and sexual minorities - At the end of the day by Kevin O'Brien , filmmaker and his co-host, a Baptist pastor "I'm not trying to reach the #LGBT community. I'm trying to reach hetero-Xians w/ doubts & questions but no safe place to ask them." Humor and a little faith - You made it weird with Pete Holmes "Everybody has secret weirdness, Pete Holmes gets comedians to share theirs." ...

Derek Flood has written an excellent book explaining the issues I covered in my blog series this past autumn. My series is titled " Not everything Biblical is Christian ." His book is titled  Disarming Scripture. Cherry-picking liberals, violence-loving conservatives, and why we all need to learn to read the Bible like Jesus did . It is certainly a mouthful, but his examples are better than mine and deserve a thorough treatment here. Flood's book is ten chapters long and I intend to speak about each chapter in separate blog posts. I heartily recommend this book for the thinking Christian. Chapter 6 is titled, "Reading on a trajectory." Flood takes the work of William Webb and takes it past Webb's idea of trajectory in certain areas. This is Flood's proposal, " we cannot stop at the place the New Testament got to, but must recognize where it was headed. " p. 124 At first blush this sounds anathema to conservative Christians. But consider ...

The Apostle John thoroughly describes the scene when Jesus dies at his crucifixion. This part struck me tonight as I meditated. John 19:31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn't want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was the Passover). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. (NLT)   by James Tissot ca. 1890 These guys were hanging on crosses, being executed in one of the most barbaric ways concocted by the Romans. I am sure it appears merciful to ask Pilate to hasten their deaths by breaking the legs, hastening death by suffocation. John is clear that mercy is not the motive of these religious leaders. No, they were motivated by re...

Keeping with my commitment to count my blessings this Advent season of 2014 I raise my glass to the gay saints in America. This group knows how to persevere despite the buffeting from the wider culture as well as the smaller church culture they don't quit on. When I want to quit, I think of their struggle to see Jesus when his people, their brothers and sisters, represent him as hateful and bigoted, as I have in the past. This blessing stood out to me yesterday as I listened to an interview with Jennifer Knapp , a Christian singer/songwriter who lost her very large church fan base when she came out of the closet. Her interview appeared on the BadChristian Podcast # 48. Two things in this interview lodged in my memory. The three guys interviewing her asked her how she felt about them believing homosexual activity is a sin. (To be fair to them, they think elevating sexual sin over any other is wrong of the church, and they all admit to their own sins.) She responded with so much g...

Let me say it for any critics. I'm stupid. I'm blind. I am an ally of minorities, including sexual minorities. I do that poorly as well. This is one stupid, blind guy's attempt at re-reading Romans 1. I am trying to continually learn. Today, my reading plan took me into the beginning of Romans, St. Paul's magnum opus on grace and faith. Romans 1 is called a clobber passage because it seems to categorize all homosexuality as bad. Here is the second half of the first chapter. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.   24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one ano...

All Christians wrestle with applying Jesus' second highest commandment, the Golden Rule , "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31. The conservative church in the United States, has felt this is overruled by other passages in the Bible when it comes to homosexuals among them and outside. But some of us within the conservative church have challenged that hermenuetic. Mark Achtemeier is one respectable voice within the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) who used to argue within the church nationally against full inclusion but has repented of this stance and now wants to help the church become fully inclusive of homosexuals. He uses all the familiar tools, methodologies and principles of conservative Bible scholarship to assuage those who cannot fathom how full inclusion is possible in  his new book . He writes, "The result of this encounter with the Bible has been a growing conviction that the church’s condemnation of same-gender...

Snippets of a letter to a younger church leader... I facilitate a Bible study at work and I really enjoy it. Today, we studied Ecclesiastes, and 10:1 speaks to why [insert famous Christian televangelist]'s good deeds are overlooked by his strident anti-gay legislation posturing,  One dead fly makes the perfumer’s ointment give off a rancid stench, so a little folly can outweigh much wisdom. I used to think that if I learned the original languages I could get a better understanding of the things that were highly valued in our fundamentalism yet contrary to popular opinion, science, and research. I took 2 years of NT Greek and a year of Hebrew. I can still read the Greek but not the Hebrew anymore. But that knowledge, although good, showed me that the original language is not the end zone. Context is huge. See my brief study on a verse of Paul's . Historical studies are huge. Genre is huge. Text critical studies are huge as well. So I keep reading and learning. But the m...

I am an american evangelical raised in the fundamentalist strain of the faith. I had the book, The Fundamentals , for awhile, but I never read it. Lately, some of the sacred cows I used to defend vigorously, have lost their luster. This isn't new for me. I no longer think, like I told a poor girl in my high school youth group that listening to Pink Floyd means no salvation for her soul. I am an idiot. Now I like Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, too. But I elevated chaff to wheat. Miscellany to necessary. Dust to Must. Like then, so now, things I presumed gold looks more like pyrite. I don't like feeling foolish. But I am a fool, and, I feel I need to document my change in thinking. I do think I'm really learning to trust God's constant refrain in the Bible, "Fear not." There are three issues I've stopped fearing. Number One: When I went to the Christian liberal arts college my freshman year, I was somewhat scandalized, really scandalized, but then really lib...

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) revealed today their majority opinion on the federal Defense of Marriage Act , signed by President Clinton in 1996. In particular, section 3 of the act prevented homosexual spouses from receiving federal marriage benefits. The SCOTUS found this section violated the 5th Amendment 's Due Process clause , which made the law unconstitutional. I support the effect, although I don't understand the legal methodology, see the court's opinion in PDF . I support this ruling because I'm proudest of my country when it helps minorities. I'm also terribly ashamed of it when it hurts minorities, see yesterday's ruling on the Voting Rights Act . I believe, and I used to believe differently about this, that wanting my gay neighbors, friends, and co-workers to be treated fairly under the rule of law, to not have any fewer benefits than I do for no crime on their part, aligns with Jesus' Golden Rule . Treating others the way...

Two years ago, I wrote a post , which generated more hits than I normally see on my little ol' blog, criticizing Dr. Tony Jones's decision to have a sacramental but not civil marriage in order to demonstrate his allegiance to the gay community in Minnesota. His Twitter statement read, "But we are not getting legally married until you can. We are getting sacramentally married." In hindsight, as my views have evolved on gay marriage as a civil right, I really appreciate his sentiment. I still do not think it was the right call as a church leader or seminary professor. Even a national columnist thought it was a poor choice. But today, Minnesota legalized gay marriage, and Dr. Jones has announced his plans to civilly marry his sacramental wife this summer. I'm happy for them.

Even if you are Christian who is not even open to considering the full inclusion of homosexuals into the life of your church, you can still learn something from Pastor Sandra Turnbull's book, God's Gay Agenda . Why can you learn something from this book? The author is informed. She loves the Bible. She loves Jesus. She sees the fields as "white unto the harvest." Turnbull pastors Glory Tabernacle Christian Center in Long Beach, CA, and holds a Biblical Studies degree from Evangel University and a Master of Arts from the Claremont School of Theology . See more about her at her bio page . She grew up on the missionary field. She tells some of her own story in the beginning of the book. When she joined Youth With a Mission as a young adult, she developed a relationship with another woman on her team. YWAM sent them home. She submitted herself to Christian ungay-me ministry, which didn't work. Eventually, years later, she reconnected with that woman and they are...