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After sharing his story, Jason asked me his provocative question, “So, do you think I am still a Christian?” I wasn’t sure how to respond. I mulled it over for a long time. I finally said, “I guess it depends on how you define Christian.
If I had to summarize my religious journey with one Bible verse, I would choose Matthew 28:17, “When they (the early disciples) saw him (the risen Christ), they worshiped him; but some doubted” (NIV).
If Jesus had been asked to summarize the Prophets, as Hillel had done for the Torah, his reply would probably have been something like this: “Wake up, open your eyes and ears, repent, and start treating others with compassion and justice!”
I believe the “treasure in heaven” to which Jesus refers is a harvest to be planted and reaped from the dust of earth; with Jesus’ vision of a heaven on earth being the seed to be sown in the field of impermanence.
How Traditional Christianity is Holding Us Back
What does a Modern Christianity look like to you? Will you help build it?
In these post-election days, there have been no reports of the violence many had forecast. Certainly, this is most encouraging. There is no place for violence in a civil society.
Rather than embrace people of color and celebrate our racial and cultural diversity, regrettably, large numbers of white people are pursuing another path. Thus, the recent rise in anti-democratic fervor and its serious threat to our democracy.
Who was Jesus?
The question Who is Jesus? is perhaps the most complex issue in Christian theology, embracing, as it does, three interrelated sub-questions: who was he in his person, what did he do, and how does that impact us today?
How Religious Doubts Can Lead to a More Mature Faith
Healthy doubt can save people from many toxic beliefs. For example, Christians need to doubt the horrific idea that God eternally torments people in the flames of hell for holding erroneous beliefs.
Progressive Christians are perfectly comfortable holding faith and science in harmony. For example, they believe God created the world but did so through the process of evolution.
I recently queried readers of my Doubter’s Parish website concerning their relationship with institutional religion. I specifically asked if they were (1) staying in church, (2) leaving, or (3) undecided.
Our Current Situation. We live in a time in which the possibilities for evil are multiplying as fast and possibly faster than the good being accomplished by our innovations.
Have you ever wondered what Jesus did to deserve being tortured and crucified to death? How could someone so good be treated so inhumanely?
In recent decades, tens of millions of Americans have left their churches and other places of worship, and that trend shows no sign of abating. Instead, it’s almost certain to accelerate. Although motivations for departing organized religion are numerous, doubts about God, institutional religion, and traditional beliefs lead the pack.
The Scriptural evidence of this has always been right before our eyes. Yet, it is only in recent years that we have come to appreciate the Jewish roots of Christianity.
Blaise Pascal wagered that it is better to believe in God as if God existed than not believe as if God didn't. He argued that if God exists and we believe, then we are positioned by our beliefs to gain eternal happiness; whereas if we don't believe, then we might have positioned ourselves for eternal torment in hell for not believing. The gains or losses are therefore infinite if God exists.
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