Untwisting Scriptures and offering the Living Water, to help others (especially those who have been abused) experience the joy to be found in Jesus Christ
Eight years ago, in the fall of 2014, I had the opportunity to correspond with a member of the SBC Executive Committee about the SBC sexual abuse offender database that didn’t exist yet.
His name was Roger Oldham, and he showed up in the 288-page investigative report issued by Guidepost Solutions on Sunday. Continue reading “That Time I Talked to an SBC Executive Committee Member”
This week the 288-page report about abuse in the Southern Baptist Church (SBC) came out. To some, it was utterly shocking.
To others it was, “It’s about time.”
I guess it depends on which side of the road you were standing on. What you had seen, heard, experienced. Who you had talked to. Who you had listened to. Who you had revered and who you had dismissed.
So I join my voice with others: It’s about time. Continue reading “Southern Baptists and a Culture that Breeds a Generation of Abusers”
Last week I reposted (on my Rebecca Davis—Untwisting Scriptures Facebook page) my four-year old “Idol Factory” post, and again I received several heartfelt responses, both publicly and privately.
A reminder that this pernicious teaching is still actively tormenting upright Jesus-followers who love God. Continue reading “When Does Sin Become Idolatry? A New Perspective on an Old Question”
I’ve heard sermons extolling the Bereans for searching the Scriptures, but it’s a rare preacher indeed who will urge his listeners to themselves search the Scriptures to see if what he is teaching them is true.
When I’ve heard it, it’s often been about fact-checking him on details.
But when Acts 17:11 describes the Bereans searching the Scriptures, it wasn’t about fact-checking Paul. It wasn’t about looking at just one or two proof texts. Continue reading “Did the Bereans Think Paul Was a Charlatan?”
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Friends, it usually takes me quite a while to process before I’m ready to comment on a horrific story.
Many others have already written, and written well, about the fall of Ravi Zacharias from his high standing in the Christian world. But for those of us who have been paying attention in the last 3 years or so, this latest revelation was a surprise not in fact, but rather in scope.
That is, I was knocked back by the vast numbers of women that Zacharias was preying on.
So then, as the report is released and some post it on social media, predictably others want to have none of it.
I understand. Zacharias was highly respected and trusted by many. (So much so that he and his family became millionaires on the donations of the faithful who thought they were giving to help the Word of God go out around the world.) Continue reading ““We Are Just as Vulnerable”: A Response to The Gospel Coalition”
I have posted about “nouthetic counseling” (later rebranded to be called “Biblical counseling”) more than any other tagged topic on this blog.
But this series will examine Jay Adams’ writings themselves, drawing from the work of Valerie Jacobsen on her Facebook page, with her permission.
Because all Christians have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit and life experience and access to the findings of brain science, so all of us can be competent to examine Jay Adams’ teachings. Continue reading “How Jay Adams Would Counsel a Pedophile”
For anyone who still wants to follow Jesus after having been treated devilishly by those who claim to be His followers (His shepherds, even!), Hebrews 13:17 might stick in the craw.
When I was a young graduate assistant working at Bob Jones University (learning publishing at BJU Press), like all the other employees I was given certain odious assignments to fulfill each semester, such as monitoring the “dating parlor” for a couple of hours on a Sunday.
One Sunday after I had finished that odious assignment, my replacement came along, a BJU lifer, Miss Potts. She asked me if I was going to obediently head on over to Vespers (the University’s drama program presented on Sunday afternoons).
“No,” I responded somewhat defiantly. “I’m going to church.”
Miss Potts was an old Southern lady with an absolutely perfect Southern drawl.
“The Univuhsity,” she said, “would want you to go to Vespuhs.” Continue reading ““Loyalty” Is Not a Christian Virtue”
If you’ve blogged for over ten years as I have, you probably have scores of jotted ideas, half-baked posts, drafts, and . . . what do you know it, full posts that somehow never got posted.
Today, when I had a few moments but wanted to avoid listening to the news that literally put me to bed yesterday on Pentecost Sunday, I began scrolling through my files and files of blog ideas.
And then, there before me was a complete post about Bill Gothard’s umbrella heresy that I never had posted. And since Gothard—a man that I, along with many thousands of others, used to adore—has been in the news again recently, and since his teaching promotes complete compliance to abusive authorities (talk about being pertinent to the news!) I’m posting it now.
My previous blog post about the Umbrella Heresy is here. Continue reading “Bill Gothard’s Umbrella Heresy in a Day of Protests Against Police Brutality”
I had to wait a while to write this post, because last Friday I became angry with Joe Carter at The Gospel Coalition regarding his blog post about conspiracy theories. (It isn’t the first time his writing has angered me—his notorious “Beware of Broken Wolves” post three years ago fired up several of us abuse survivor advocates and others, so much so that the post itself got over 300 comments. Those comments have all been removed now, but the post still stands.)
I warn you, this is a long post. I’m going to be speaking from personal experience about conspiracy theories. Continue reading “Christians and Conspiracy Theories: A Response to The Gospel Coalition”