The gods are angry!
Oh, what have we done?
Our doom is coming!
There’s nowhere to run!

We sacrificed every virgin, on an altar so high.
Yet the dark clouds are still building, we are going to die.

We killed all the outsiders, who wandered into our tribe.
Yet the earth is still rumbling, the gods rejected our bribe.

We hung all the prophets, and burned all the books in fire.
Yet the volcano still rages, our future still dire.

We locked up the criminals, and punished all the sinners.
Yet the crops are still barren, we remain the offenders.

…

The 400 Years Between the Old and New Testament Can Put the Entire Story of Jesus in a Fresh Context

Religious texts are always an abundant source of contention and debate, but few have been misunderstood and abused more than the Gospels. Over the years I have realized the problem is not as much translation, as context. We interpret the words and stories of the Gospels as if they happen today, in a similar culture.

The problem with that is while the Old Testament is a book of history and law, the New Testament is about culture and spiritual development…

It can go without saying that many of us are struggling with mental health during this pandemic crisis. Sadly, too many of us also go without saying something about how we are feeling. There is a good chance the people around you are doing the same thing you might be doing: putting on as strong an act as possible while suffering in quiet.

Nothing makes feeling bad worse than thinking you are the only one feeling it. It makes you wonder if something is wrong with you, and if somehow you are weaker or less “together” than everyone else. …

Authenticity has got to be one of the ingenious inventions of 21st-century culture. Here’s how it works: You take a person of high social status and privilege, remove all expectations of responsibility and civility, and then say, "Oh my God! They’re just so real, you know?" Tada! What was once a vice, is now a virtue.

It’s true, we get tired of people who have finely crafted public images so polished there is almost nothing of them left. If we have learned anything in the Information Age, it’s that dark secrets and corruption often hide behind these gilded veneers. …

Those who persecute the LGBTQ community often hide behind a false doctrine that the Bible justifies their behavior. The reality is that the nature of God is very gender-fluid throughout Scripture, and even in the ancient traditions of Judeo/Christian spirituality. From a divine perspective, gender is more about a manifestation of feminine and masculine traits, instead of a rigid prison of rules. There is something beautiful about humanity learning to understand itself beyond binary gender, and there is certainly something ugly about those using the name of God to abuse others.

When God is a Woman

This is not a “God is a she” article…

In Nov. 2019, fellow Medium author, Joe Omundson, published the article "Seven Problems in Christianity That Killed My Faith." I didn't see this article till a couple of months later (algorithms and all that), but I found it a wonderfully honest and articulate expression of what bothers lots of people with the kind of Christianity that is currently the loudest in the western world. He permitted me to refer to his article, as I wish to now address these problems from a still-a-Christian perspective.

First, let me set the context that Joe himself does well to specify that these problems…

What’s the difference between a magic trick and a miracle? The new Netflix series, Messiah, has done a great job of calling attention to the slippery line between the two. For those who haven’t seen it, Messiah is a show about someone claiming to be the “Second Coming” of Jesus in our present times. Critics have called the show everything from blasphemous to boring, but I believe the show has done a great job of asking some important questions about our relationship with faith and belief.

Many have written about other topics the show covers, but I want to focus…

You are walking along a dirt road in the park and come by a man beating another man on the ground. The man on the ground is bleeding and covering his face, the other just keeps hitting him. You feel you should do something, so you run to pull the “aggressor” off the other man. As soon as you do this, the man on the ground gets up and starts running. The person you thought was the “aggressor” yells at you, “He’s trying to kill my family!”

You look farther down the road and see a family, a woman and…