Truth As Relationship

Vacation is over, and it is time to get back on the blogging horse again. I trust you have enjoyed my break as much as I have, and now it is time to resume exploring how our orientation towards truth as that which proves Jesus in retrospect is flawed, and offer an alternative view of…

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The truth is not Jesus

There are many idols prowling around our consciousness’ these days, and an even easier one to spot than belief is the truth. I know this sounds extreme and I will undoubtably get lampooned by some friends on this one, but the truth is not Jesus. But wait, Jesus said that he was the truth (Jn.…

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Radical Openness to What?

I ended my last post by suggesting that faith is a radical openness to what God is doing. I want to expand and elaborate on this point because it can be taken in any number of unhelpful directions. I want to take it in this one: Radical openness is not conceptual; it is not openness…

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The Creation of Idols

“Concepts create idols; only wonder grasps anything” – St. Gregory of Nyssa The difficulty in distinguishing faith from belief is immense. This is primarily so because of our post-Enlightenment penchant for conceptualization and rationality within the framework those concepts create. Yet for the present I will attempt to distinguish the concepts of faith from the…

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The Bible Is Not About Believing.

I left you all dangling a bit with the end of that post; so much so in fact that my mom emailed me to confirm that I still thought there was a God! Having assured her of that reality, I will offer up another initially offensive proposition: The bible never, not once, tells us that…

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The Saturday evening Post About Beer: Red Trolley Ale

Ever since I was introduced to this delicious amber ale it has been a constant source of desire for my beer drinking palate. Unfortunately, it is expensive ($10 a six pack on sale) and so I am constrained by my frugality from acquiring it more often. However, that did not stop me last week, when…

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Does God Care?

I ended my last post by wondering whether or not God cares about what we think of God. That question is important for me as I reflect on the theological training I’ve had and on the experiences my life has given me. It seems that so much unspeakable evil has been done in the service…

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Lumps of Clay and the Bottom

The longer I live the more I am amazed at the myriad ways of people finding God, peace, hope, faith. And I am even further amazed at the myriad ways of people losing God, peace, hope, faith. If I’m honest, it all creates a deep sadness that rests in the center of my chest, like…

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The Saturday Evening Post About Beer: Great White

It’s been forever since I’ve done a Saturday Evening Post About Beer, and for that I owe you all a sincere apology. This installation features my most recent go-to on a warm California evening: Lost Coast Brewery’s Great White.While it is true that I cut my teeth on IPAs, I’ve made a left turn from…

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The Metaphysical Golden Calf

We all have beliefs. Let me just start out there. Each one of us has something that we consider to be true, and to mark that as true we attach something called a belief as a marker. This is why philosophers consider beliefs to be the markers of what a person or group consider to…

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