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Trendianity.
When I wrote this post back in 2011, I had no idea how this narrative would grow. But grow it did. A fake form of Christianity is taking over the church, one based on the trendy views and issues of the day instead of the gospel.
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“We finally got it right.”
This comic (via St. Thomas the Doubter) captures so perfectly something I’ve said time and time again: If we’re convinced that those who came before us got important things wrong (like slavery or the earth’s place in the solar system) and those who come after us will get important things wrong (like, say, being way…
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Some disagreements are too important to debate.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been traveling to different colleges to talk to students and begin campus conversations about homosexuality and Christianity. At each stop, we bring together a roomful of students who disagree with each other and then try to have a respectful conversation with each other. The experiences have been fascinating, and…
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Physician, heal thyself.
Yesterday, I posted about a frustrating experience I had where a young woman accused me, in a very confrontational and hurtful way, of not being a Christian. It wasn’t the first time the charge had been leveled at me, but something about that particular interaction really got under my skin, so I decided to write…
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“People do what they know to do—not what you think they should know.”
—Maya Angelou, quoted by CNN
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What. A. Night.
Yesterday was the first day of Transforming the Conversation, a new program I helped design to try to build bridges of understanding between gays and Christians (and, of course, those of us in the middle), specifically in more conservative areas where it’s most needed. The program involves going to 20 universities, mostly in the Bible…
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“I love you so much that I need to hit you with this Bible. Really, really hard.”
By far the most frustrating thing about having conversations on controversial issues is when people don’t know when to stop fighting. It’s like going to play paintball with your friends, and then after the game is over, finding that someone won’t stop shooting. “Whew! Well that was fun. Okay, let’s get this gear off and…
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A brief reflection on context.
Is that the most boring post title ever, or what? It sounds like a treatise on some obscure subject that you might find in a dusty old book on an untouched shelf in the back of a university library. One of Stephen Covey’s famous 7 Habits is to “seek first to understand, then to be…
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Hey, I’m on Rachel Held Evans’ blog!
For those of you who don’t know Rachel Held Evans, she’s a Christian author and blogger who has built a reputation for gently and patiently challenging preconceptions—both her own and others’. I got to interview her for a podcast that hasn’t hit the podcast feed, but will soon. Rachel’s been doing a really cool thing…
Newly expanded and revised!
Divided by faith and LGBTQ identity? Torn has an all-new edition with new chapters, new stories, and a new study guide to help heal the rifts.
Tired of the polarization?
Learn about Justin’s book Talking Across the Divide, and download the free study guide!