heretic [her-i-tik] 1. a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church. 2. anyone who doesn’t conform to an established attitude, doctrine, or principle. synonyms: apostate, backslider, recreant, dissenter, skeptic, freethinker. (those made me laugh!) my post up at rachel held […]
Read Moreinsecure christians
this was a guest post i wrote for rachel held evans‘ blog last week (see, i do know how to use capital letters!). i wanted to re-post it here so i had in my archives; plus, some of you may not have seen it or wanted to comment over there because there were loads of […]
Read Morethere's a difference between believing & "right belief"
one of the things i love the most about our little wild & crazy refuge community is we can hold the space for a lot of divergent views about the Bible & life & faith. it’s not an easy task, i must say, and sometimes i get asked “so, just what does the refuge believe […]
Read Morethe great distraction
a few weeks ago i was in a conversation with a friend about the use of the Bible in our Christian faith. i sometimes get criticized for not using the Bible enough, in that i am not that excited about exegeting passages intellectually. i definitely believe in the value, challenge, and beauty in the Bible, […]
Read Morethe golden rule
**this post is part of rachel held evans’ synchroblog this week on the rally to restore unity. there’s some fun stuff over there this week! * * * * * when i was a kid my mom had a plaque on her wall that said “whoever has the gold makes the rules”. looking back, oh […]
Read Morewhy sometimes i get sad
last month a mainline pastor from a small town outside of denver got in touch with me to see if i would be willing to come speak to their high school’s baccalaureate service in may. they were looking for a female pastor, someone who would inspire the kids & open up some doors that hadn’t […]
Read Moremeat lovers beware! our taste buds have been contaminated
i originally wrote this post for the refuge blog in october 2007. when i was looking at a few old posts this week i stumbled across it and thought i’d repost it because most everyone here has never read it. it’s almost 3 years later and even though i am rarely around people who ask […]
Read Morewrestling with the word "christian" – a video conversation
well, i’m going to take a risk here and mix it up a bit. sometimes i think just-words-week-after-week-after-week get boring so i’d like to try some different textures on the carnival this year. i’m going to experiment with video here and there, nothing edited or flashy or scripted; i definitely don’t have the time or […]
Read Moreout of the darkness: never underestimate the damage of spiritual abuse.
if there’s one thing that really pisses me off in this world it’s abuse. to me, abuse is when people use their power, authority, position, or strength in unhealthy damaging ways to control, harm, manipulate, and use people. abuse strips people of dignity. it confuses and hurts. it messes with our heads. it crosses socioeconomic […]
Read Moreassuming is dangerous
well i had some other thoughts mulling around in my mind that will come later this week but i couldn’t resist sharing a different one today after a few emails i received last night that got me all riled up. i have friends all over the map when it comes to politics, religion, socioeconomics, age, you […]
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