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Casting Out Fear by Whistling a Happy Tune

A couple of years ago I wrote a series about “fear” (part one, part two, part three). But I knew there was much more for me to learn, and for me to share with others.

Not to mention that I want my next Untwisting Scriptures book to be (tentatively) subtitled Shut Your Mouth and Stuff Your Emotions.

Yesterday, a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I sat outside with my Bible and pondered “perfect love casts out fear” in 1 John (which I plan to blog about eventually). As I did, I thought about the typical ways believers are told to “cast out fear” and get on the right track with their “perfect love.”

All too often church leaders and other church people tell us that it’s by “choosing to do right,” our actions, our behavior, our internal decisions. Gritting our teeth and forcing ourselves. Will power. There may be some mention of the Holy Spirit, but it is often passing and incidental. Continue reading “Casting Out Fear by Whistling a Happy Tune”

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Does He Look Like He Loves You? (Guest Post by “Mara”)

Many Christians of my fundamentalist and evangelical background are wary of the concept of “religious experience,” at least partly because it has been abused in some circles. After all, “experience” without knowledge can open one to error and evil.

But if we as Jesus followers have only an intellectual knowledge of the Lord with no sense of His presence, then we face the danger of having a hollow faith. Our day-to-day Christianity can be devoid of the life He has promised (as in, for example, Ephesians 3:19-20). Continue reading “Does He Look Like He Loves You? (Guest Post by “Mara”)”

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6 Ways “The Gospel” Is so Much More than You’re Usually Told

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”

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Is Empathy Still a Sin? The Joe Rigney / Hannah Anderson Conversation

Last week Alistair Roberts hosted Joe Rigney, the new president of Bethlehem College & Seminary and author of multiple books, alongside Hannah Anderson, author of multiple books.

They disagreed about empathy, and did so amicably. That part was refreshing.

But I confess, some parts of the conversation were befuddling to me.

Yes, empathy is definitely still a sin, according to Joe Rigney

Empathy is always sinful, according to Joe Rigney, because (1) it sets aside all judgment of rightness and wrongness (as Brené Brown recommends), and (2) the empathetic person gets down in the quicksand with the sufferer instead of staying safely on the shore and casting out a rope. Continue reading “Is Empathy Still a Sin? The Joe Rigney / Hannah Anderson Conversation”

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The Amazing Grace Cycle (Guest Post by Deborah Brunt)

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)”

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Here’s the Link to that Zoom Interview with Me about Patriarchy

Last week Emily Elizabeth Anderson of Thriving Forward interviewed me in light of the recent publication of my second Untwisting Scriptures book, which addresses patriarchy and authority.

Emily is one of the “Jane Does” who brought the lawsuit against Bill Gothard and later went public about it.

Our two perspectives together may have been especially helpful for some, because we interacted as two generations, since I am of the generation of Emily’s parents. Continue reading “Here’s the Link to that Zoom Interview with Me about Patriarchy”

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“We Are Just as Vulnerable”: A Response to The Gospel Coalition

The tragic Ravi Zacharias story

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”

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4 Effects of Rules Without Relationship (From the Book of Romans)

NEWS

Untwisting Scriptures: Book 2 Patriarchy and Authority is available now! Subscribe to this blog to be the first to get notification of when the Kindle version (regularly $5.99) will be available as a free download.

And as you read this blog post, you’ll find an excerpt from the book sneakily inserted. And yes, it’s about Doug Phillips.

And now to our regularly scheduled broadcast . . . Continue reading “4 Effects of Rules Without Relationship (From the Book of Romans)”