Thursday, July 19, 2012

Rachel Held Evans, prophet for a post modern church

She may be seen as one of the protestant sub-cultures biggest feces agitators, (probably in the top five) but she is also one of the most important prophets in the post modern era. Some may think she causes too much controversy, others may call her a heretic, but the thing that makes Rachel shine is you can tell she really cares.  Oh, and worst of all, she's a woman.

Seriously though, she cares about people. Believer or not. Conservative or liberal. She cares about the church, and how ineffective, and mainly how inauthentic it can sometimes be. After reading her work I sense a need for the authentic, she needs to rip off the old bandages and see the festering sores underneath. One of her blog features is called "learning to love the Bible for what it is, not what we want it to be". The fact that this should be in anyway revolutionary (and it is) is sad.

I think she is one of the forerunners in a growing group of believers that have finally realized something. We don't have all the answers, and we need to stop pretending we do. Will we ever get there? I don't think so. If you had all the answers you would essentially be God, and that is how some individuals and groups act. They act as if they own the secrets of the "God franchise", and quite frankly, they are wrong.

She writes about whatever interests her, sometimes the reaction is limited, other times their is an explosion of heated debate. She may not always be right, or politically correct, or scholarly, but she generally has a good point, or question that should be talked about. She initiates conversation, and that is important. As a group we should be talking about everything. Why are so many afraid of shedding light on the how's and why's of the church? Power? I think so.

Should she be worshiped? No. Is she God? No. But she sure knows how to get your brain rolling, if you're willing to think about the questions she's asking.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Always with the change.

Anything that is alive changes and grows, anything that doesn't is dead.

Changing things up a little around here. I think I have been a little afraid to write much these days. Once I write something and send it out in the world, about a week later I want to tweak this and change that. My ideas are always evolving and changing, and I feel responsible for the ideas that I write and put out into the world. I guess what I'm trying to say is writing things down, even on the net, seems so permanent.

This is a theme I am really starting to see in my life, and I am understanding that there is nothing wrong with change. I don't like it, but usually in hindsight I see its necessity. I often enjoy the results of change, just not the process of change.

So what am I changing with this blog? Mainly I want to use it. I want to write. So I'm just putting this out there, I think a lot, and my ideas evolve over time. Nothing here is necessarily set in stone. As I get a little more confident in what I'm writing I may start linking this up to the twitter and Facebook accounts. We shall see.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

God was a Man, for 33 years

I need to be clear, YHWH was, is, and never will be a man. Except when he was Jesus. There I said it.


But it says in the Bible that God is him, father, King and son. Let me be blunt, what makes a man a man? A penis and balls. Jesus had a penis and balls, so he was a man (at least I assume he did, since he was a he). What are a penis and balls for? Reproduction. So logically if God is a man, there must be a female God too right? Because God needs to reproduce right? Yes I'm sarcastic.


Humans understand gender, because we have gender. If the Bible constantly referred to God as IT, instead of he, wouldn't that be a little impersonal for a personal God? Not to mention Man AND Woman were made in Gods image. WHAT!? Also I'm sure it was mostly men who wrote the books of the Bible, thus God is He...


So I guess the question that remains is, does God have a penis? Is there anywhere in the Bible that says YHWH has a penis, or a vagina for that matter? If God had a penis what would He use it for? Peeing?


So what is God? Love. Among a other things. Patience, kindness. YHWH does not envy, YHWH does not boast, YHWH is not proud YHWH does not dishonor others YHWH is not self-seeking YHWH is not easily angered, YHWH keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. YHWH always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. YHWH never fails. does not envy, YHWH does not boast, YHWH is not proud.


I hope you know were I'm going here... God is not a thing. God is not an animal with a gender. God has no need for a penis.