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resonate?

insurrection
see if these words resonate ::

‘[There] is a way of living that is able to short-circuit the present social, spiritual, or political order, something that we witness at a political level in the life of Mother Teresa, who no more protested against the caste system in Calcutta than she affirmed it. She simply lived in a different reality. She lived as though it did not exist, helping all who came to her regardless of their social class. This act of living the not-yet state of equality as if it already existed in the now is the truly political act, an act that directly confronts unjust systems by ignoring them and living into a different reality.’

–peter rollins

what do you think?

aliens!

alien

‘for YHVH – your God – is a God of gods and the lord of lords :: the great, the mighty, and the awesome God – who has no ‘favorites’ and is not partial to bribes. he executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving them food and clothing. love the alien, therefore, for you were aliens in the land of egypt.’
– deuteronomy 10

‘alien’ is not a word we use often – for obvious reasons. it’s a dehumanizing term, and is most often used of extra-terrestrials – not humans. in the passage above, instead many bible versions translate the word ‘sojourner’ or ‘stranger’ or ‘foreigner.’

that sounds better.

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editing the gospel.

censoredfaith
imagine if jesus refused to engage with those whose beliefs were different than his own, or worried about risking his standing in religious culture more than caring for the Other.

imagine if he concerned himself with being misunderstood by the first century israeli paparazzi and therefore excused himself from places and faces that might affect his ‘holy’ image and reputation.

we might have to edit out a few stories in the gospels.

like, all of them.

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division.

division

yesterday, i held my tongue.

as the supreme court continued its discussion on gay marriage for the second day in a row, again our facebook feeds filled with changed profile pictures and folks combating one another on the validity of such an action.

other folks used their status to decry the ‘unholy contempt being shown for God’s ways‘ (a literal quote) and more than a few posts were made with some political, religious or moral rant for or against homosexuality.

with some of my friends fighting for equality and others fighting to maintain the status quo – each convinced of the moral validity of their arguments – whether based on their interpretation of a religious text, personal ethics, some moral code or a conviction of civil rights and justice – the conversation seems to be causing more division than dialogue.

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pulling ahead.

pullingahead

some of the fine folks over at Odyssey Network sat down with rob bell and asked him to further expand his recent comments in support of gay marriage that caused quite a stir this week online.

here’s what he said :: Continue Reading…

gut check (part ii).

gutcheck2

a gut check for my progressive friends

(a follow up post from this one) ::

your voices are loud, growing in an ever increasing cacophony calling for inclusion, equality, justice, tolerance and acceptance.

you rightly demand the right to believe in an understanding of God unhindered by cultural mandates of 2000 + years ago, and instead desire to contextualize a message of love and unconditional inclusion for all.

but does your ‘all’ include everybody?

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olds.

oldsmobile
rob bell asks,

is God like an oldsmobile?

for awhile, oldsmobiles were not only reliable vehicles, but the coveted method of transportation; full of technological advances that fit their time.

but they don’t make oldsmobiles anymore.

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documentaries.

documentaries
over the past couple of weeks, in addition to investing in relationships with real people, i’ve also made it a point to dedicate some time each day to watching documentaries – on the history of the gay rights movement, the plight of LGBT people and the church, so-called ‘ex-gay’ reparative therapy and others.

here are just a few titles i found challenging, inspiring, informative or helpful (the majority of these can be seen for free on netflix) :: Continue Reading…

gut check.

gutcheck

a gut check for my conservative friends ::

what would you do if you saw a hindu in heaven?

a muslim?

an athiest?

an LGBT person?

what would your initial, natural response be?

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arithmetic.

arithmetic
this past monday at our Living In The Tension gathering at The Marin Foundation, we talked about some of the tricky conversations surrounding biblical interpretation.

our discussion naturally led us down the path of such topics as bruno mars, butterflies and arithmetic.

i’ll briefly describe one of those here.
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