OR “Why the Resurrection is Essential to Your Salvation” (in honor of Holy Week)

Much of my writing is presented to refute false teaching in the fundamentalist and evangelical Christian world. But I always want to point my readers to what is true, right, and good.

This Holy Week—the week that Christians especially honor the Lord Jesus Christ for all He has done for us, the week that culminates with a celebration of His Resurrection for us—I want to zero in on The Gospel.

Through the years that I’ve been in this evangelical world, I’ve pondered how much the term “gospel” is presented as vital, while at the same time how seldom those who use the term “gospel” have actually defined and described what they mean by it.

But understanding what “the gospel” is can mean the difference between death and life. Continue reading “6 Ways “The Gospel” Is so Much More than You’re Usually Told”

Deborah Brunt is a friend who served in the Southern Baptist Convention for many years, as an author, teacher, and women’s leader. Long before others were doing so, she bravely stood against the abuses of power and belittling of women that she saw and experienced in her various capacities there.

A couple of years ago Deborah wrote her account of being ousted from her life-long denomination for refusing to simply go along with the program, continuing to question and challenge. She described how she was shamed, blamed, ignored, shunned, and thrust to the side. In today’s terminology, we would say she was “cancelled,” or at least that’s what they tried to do. Continue reading “The Amazing Grace Cycle (Guest Post by Deborah Brunt)”

Religious Pharisees will tell believing children of God,

“No matter what you’re suffering, your greatest problem is your own sin.”

The ones I have known meant it this way:

Oh? You just heard that your child, or spouse, or parent is dead? Well, that’s very sad, but your greater problem is your own personal sin. Oh? Your husband is abusing you and your children? Well, that’s pretty bad—if it’s true—but your greater problem is your own personal sin.

I have heard this said to saints in the chains of slavery and oppression, to saints at the unexpected graveside, to saints in the most severe distress, suffering the greatest persecutions. Continue reading ““Your Greatest Problem Is Your Own Sin” (Guest Post by Valerie Jacobsen)”