Does Jesus poison everything?

The late great atheist, Christopher Hitchens, said that religion poisons everything (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything) “…organized religion is “violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children” and sectarian, and that accordingly it “ought to have a great deal on its conscience.” (Wikipedia). 

Jesus’ Subversive Kingdom – Part Twelve

In this world construct that we live in, you don’t believe something until you see it; with Christ’s kingdom, you won’t see anything until you believe it. Its subversive nature confounds the wise and resists the proud. By faith, not by sight, we understand that this invisible kingdom frames everything we do see (Heb.11:3). 

God really is a good Father

Every Father’s Day I post something about our heavenly Father. I shared the song “Good Good Father” by Pat Barrett and Tony Brown (Housefires) in February 2015. Since then I’ve shared interviews and other renditions of the song, including one with Chris Tomlin. It is, by far, the most popular worship song I’ve ever posted with over 35, 000 views and growing. If you like to read what I said in those posts, you can go here.

Why does this song continue to resonate so with the body of Christ? Partly it’s because a generation, much of it fatherless, is finally finding answers that only a Good Father can provide. We’re finding our true identity in the love of our heavenly Papa. We’re finally finding out, despite all the stories told about what He’s like, that He’s not angry or disappointed with us, nor is He so transcendent and distant that we can’t be embraced by Him. We’re finding out He really is a good, good Father in every way!

This version is sung by Kalley Heiligenthal from Bethel Church.  Be blessed and happy Father’s Day!

The nature of biblical inspiration

What does it mean when we say that the Bible is inspired by God? And a question we don’t often ask is, in which way is it inspired? The “inspiration” for this post comes from lengthy discussions I’ve been having with atheists over the veracity of the Bible text. If you would like to read the 100-plus comments, you can go here.  I may cover the reliability of the New Testament

Jesus’ Subversive Kingdom – Part Eleven

“Let’s turn the Middle East into a sea of glass!” “Let’s nuke ’em back to the stone age!” I can remember saying these types of  patriotic sentiments, and hearing my friends echo them, during the Iranian hostage crisis in late 1979. Later, during the Gulf War in 1991, we also encouraged ourselves with smart bombs and visions of slaughtering our enemies with technological precision.

Religion vs. following Jesus

Religion is about us inviting God into our life; following Jesus is about Him inviting us into His life.

I don’t believe in religion.

Does evil come from God?

In a word, no. If you need an explanation, read on.

This subject came up in a discussion at Insanitybyte’s blog with her post, “Mirrors and Conundrums,” which included fellow believers and an atheist.  This is a vast subject which I will only be able to briefly touch here with summary statements.