Comfortable in the middle

I listened to a podcast interview recently where the interviewer said the phrase “ all scripture is God-breathed. ”  I’ve heard that phrase many times before, and always used to assert the authority of the Bible.  But something new occurred to me when I heard it this time, which got me thinking. But first, a warning:  If you’re the type of person who stands on the unwavering fact that the Bible is literally true, this might not be for you.  If you’ve read any of my posts, you know that I ask questions, and introduce uncertainty and complexity into the equation, to promote less rigid beliefs and convictions, and to encourage people to be on a journey focused on seeking truth, rather than claiming they already have it.  So if you practice bibliolatry, you probably ought to stop reading now. Bible belief as Christian identity Have you ever heard someone say, “God said it, I believe it, that settles it?”  I’ve heard it many times, and most often when someone is...

Today is an exciting day - the election audit report for Maricopa County, AZ is finally being released.  I’ve waited for this day with great anticipation, and I can’t wait to see how people respond to it. The Arizona Senate has been criticized and lampooned for this audit, and many would say for very good reasons, not the least among them being the selection of the novice and conspiracy-minded and secretive Cyber Ninja company to conduct the audit. However, I’d like to suggest that what the AZ Senate did was actually quite genius, if you look at it not from the lens of fairness, transparency and common sense, but from the lens of political power. It’s all about the money Maintenance of political power requires a lot of money and a lot of supporters.  If only one thing was clear from the Trump presidency and the 2020 election is that there are extremely motivated and passionate supporters on the right, who will go to astounding lengths to maintain political power.  And the...

I was recently watching a YouTube video by a well-known and popular leader in the New Apostolic Reformation movement.  I know I shouldn’t, but I just can’t help myself.  The armchair psychologist in me is fascinated by those who are waiting for God to redeem America through the reinstallation of the former President Trump.  As is my habit, I started scrolling through the viewer comments.  There always seems to be one or two comments which produce lots of replies, and often with some lively back-and-forth between supporters and detractors.  This one particular comment caught my attention, and not because I like it, but because it speaks to a particular problem I see among a number of politically-minded Christians.  Here is a copy of the posted comment: After the election, I thought to bring down my Trump Make America Great Again flag, when God gave me the following scripture : " You have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because ...

Did you know that right now there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Christians, and not just American Christians, who are declaring “America Shall Be Saved”?  If you don’t believe me, just Google (or better yet, Duck Duck Go, which will yield a less restricted range of hits) the phrase, “America Shall Be Saved.” This is a significant effort on behalf of a particular modern variety of Christian believers, and primarily associated with the New Apostolic Reformation and Independent Network Charismatic Christianity .  You might be asking, what is America being saved from?  The short answer is the wrath of God.  And if you reflect on recent American history, and how the media usually frames the information it broadcasts, it’s not too difficult to imagine that lots of people have a foreboding sense that America is in trouble.  If one then applies a supernatural frame of reference on recent events, it’s not too hard to imagine that some spiritually-minded Chri...

Doing research sure has gotten to be a popular fad in recent times.  It seems to have also taken on a completely new definition.  I remember when I was early in my PhD program, how much time I spent in the library, finding, reading, and summarizing hundreds of published research articles, in preparation for my own research project.  The annotated bibliography I produced was research in its own right.  I remember all of the journal readings assigned, and how we were taught not only to understand the data, but also to critically analyze the results and conclusions.  I remember my research design course, and the graduate-level statistics course I took.  All this just to prepare myself to conduct my own scientific research! When I began teaching biology at a Christian University, I had no idea how big of an issue evolution was for some Christians, so what did I do?  I spent multiple years reading and studying the claims and rationale of anti-evolutionists,...

My mind has been churning on what to make of the observations I’ve made watching the interpersonal dynamics of a wide range of Christian social media personalities and their followers and detractors over the past several months.  My reflection has resulted in the conclusion stated in the title of this blog post.  Maybe this is obvious to my Christian friends, and I’m just slow to reach the same conclusion.  Or maybe it’s a dangerous assertion.  I’m not really sure, but read on, if interested, and feel free to leave a comment at the end. There’s a lot of tension in the online Christian communities - battles even, as people take sides, and alternately defend and attack specific positions.  There are adherents of self-proclaimed prophets defending the same against “attacks” from other Christians who accuse them of being false prophets.  There are Christians calling out all sorts of heresies of other Christian personalities and leaders, in an attempt to steer p...