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Deconstructing Marriage (Eating Scripture)
Eating Mark 10:2-16 Jesus has been talking about children a lot lately. He said that how you treat a child is how you treat GOD. Then he angrily scolds the disciples about any little one that gets a stumbling block from them should cause them to cut off their hands or feet. He is speaking…
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Being the Millstone Church (Eating Scripture)
Eating Mark 9:38-50 Last week, Jesus foretold His death for the second time. And the for the second time, the disciples don’t get it. No surprise there. For me, this was always a given. From the first time I really heard Peter get rejected by Jesus for getting out of line to the first conscious recognition…
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It Is Not About You! (Eating Scripture)
This week, we dive into Mark 9:30-37, the second time Jesus foretells his death…and the second time the disciples step in it. Don’t worry; third time’s a charm. In this second bite at the apple, the disciples are shamed by the fact that they are being complete idiots when Jesus makes his second declaration. They are arguing…
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On Spelling It Out
It is normal today to say we live in an abnormal time. We think everything is damn confusing. Or not at all. We speak out of one side of our mouths that this is a time of all this conflicting data, but ideologues speak with such consistency and confidence. We recognize complex problems and we…
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Dude, Stop Being Satan! (Eating Scripture)
In this week’s piece, we explore the nature of Mark 8:27-38, the story with that great line: “get behind me, Satan!” Ouch! Peter got burned! The big thing about this story is that it is that turning point. The point where everything really does change because its game day. Yesterday was practice, today we play. If we dwell…
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Check out the new #progGOD site
Thanks to Patheos, a major religion website, all of the submissions to Tony Jones’ #progGOD challenge have been placed in one spot. And I’m in there! Check it out here. You can find my submission about two-thirds of the way down on the right. Here is Tony’s announcement of the new webpage. What is #progGOD? A short while…
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Experiential Teaching Is Not For the Weak
There is something about this story about a “fake kidnapping” that seems strangely wrong. Not in the idea of terrorizing youth or in the idea that we are an “overly judicious” society. There is something else. Toward the end, we get the defense: “It was a youth event, to illustrate what others have encountered on…
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Best Response to Doubters Yet
Tom Ehrich has written the best response yet to the anti-mainline and doom-and-gloom forecasts. Conservative commentators like Rupert Murdoch’s stable and Ross Douthat of The New York Times are feasting on what they perceive as the “death” of “liberal Christianity.” They add two and two and get eight. They see decisions they don’t like — such…