Thoughtful Reflections on Faith and Life
One of my favourite Christian thinkers is C.S. Lewis. And I am not alone. Many evangelical Christians absolutely love Lewis. It is interesting to note that I never heard of C.S. Lewis growing up as an Anglican, despite Lewis being a dedicate Anglican. It is among evangelicals that Lewis finds a home. But why? In … Read More “How Evangelical Was C.S. Lewis?” »
I frequently hear Christians outside of the United States, including evangelicals, wondering how American conservative Christians can be so supportive of Donald Trump. Now, I am also aware that there were many American evangelicals who voted for Trump while “holding their noses.” There were many things about Trump that they did not like but they … Read More “Why Are Conservative Christians So Supportive of Donald Trump?” »
Many Christians are very concerned about the suffering in Gaza. There is increasing evidence that there is some significant suffering including a famine. The World Council of Churches has issued a statement on their concern over the crisis in Gaza. But not all Christians feel the same way. There are some Christians who seem to … Read More “Why Are Some Christians Skeptical of Suffering in Gaza?” »
Before I go any farther, I want to make it clear that I identify as an evangelical. I speak not as an outsider who hates evangelicals but as an insider who is concerned. Most of the things that I am going to include are bad of themselves but how they are used can be dangerous … Read More “5 Idols of Evangelicalism” »
Way back in October 2016, just a few weeks before Donald Trump was first elected President of the United States, I wrote a blog post titled Thank God for Donald Trump. My thesis was that conservative Christians in the United States had long put their hope in the Republican Party. Now they were stuck with … Read More “I Was Wrong About Donald Trump” »
When evangelicalism, as we know it today, emerged from fundamentalism in the twentieth century, there was some semi-unity. Yes there were various denominations within evangelicalism that had different views on charismatic gifts, women in leadership, eschatology, and a few other issues, but there was still one tent under which they co-existed. I see a change … Read More “Fracture Lines Within Evangelicalism” »
One of the issues that I have with Evangelicalism is the attitudes toward LGBTQ people. It is far more than an assertion that sex is limited to a marriage between a man and a woman. In many corners of Evangelicalism is there is actual hate toward gay people. I address that in this video. Support … Read More “Evangelicalism Issues: Homophobia” »
I recently did a Twitter poll that stated that not all Christians were evangelicals. While some people disagreed with me, there were others that misunderstood me. They asked questions such as: “How can you be a Christian and not share the gospel, i.e. do evangelism?” While I was referring to a tradition within Christianity, evangelical … Read More “What’s the Difference Between Evangelicalism and Evangelism?” »
What role should the church play when it comes to helping the poor? In my early 20s, after time growing up in a liberal church and then away from church as an atheist, I joined a very conservative church. The view there was that helping the poor could be tolerable if it was directly related … Read More “Christians, Poverty, and What We Should Do” »
There has been a lot of pushback on the once popular practice of churches sending teams on short-term mission trips. While this was once a respected act of ministry, many see it as at best, church vacations and at worst, damaging activity toward that are supposed to be helped. Part of the narrative is the … Read More “Why I am Glad I Participated in Short-Term Mission Trips” »
I was raised in a liberal mainline church. I will admit that during the majority of my time in that congregation, I did not take my faith that seriously. It was while attending that church that I ended up becoming an atheist. After I returned to faith, I also returned to that congregation for a … Read More “Evangelical Christianity is Not the Only True Christianity” »
What type of Christian is apologetics for? Is it for just conservative evangelicals or is it something that all Christians can benefit from? It is interesting that I ask this question because I asked something similar about disability theology. In this post, I recognized that liberal churches are more active in disability theology/ministry, but that … Read More “Is Christian Apologetics Only For Conservative Evangelicals?” »
I was raised in a liberal mainline church that I felt was too theologically shallow for me to continue in. I went from there to a Pentecostal church that was more zealous in the faith but still had some problems. It was during that chapter in my life that I discovered evangelicalism. And I loved … Read More “My Biggest Problems With Evangelicalism” »
I continue to hold onto the label ‘evangelical’ even though I know there is a lot of baggage that is accompanied with that. I consider myself to be a moderate, which can be lonely. I’m too conservative for my liberal friends and too liberal for my conservative friends. It is for this reason that I … Read More “Restless Faith – Review” »
My heart breaks at recent events with regard to major leaders within the evangelical movement and attitudes toward women. One of the most respected evangelical leaders in the past few decades has been Bill Hybels. He seemed to have the ideal ministry. He planted and successfully led his church and was about to retire after … Read More “Evangelical Leaders, Abuse and Women” »
I have seen numerous posts recently calling into question the continued use of the label “evangelical.” Is it time for evangelicalism to come to an end? Some of the concerns seem to be the ties between many evangelicals and some questionable people/activities/ideas. Certain people are ready to reject the label “evangelical” because some evangelical helped … Read More “Why I Still Identify as an Evangelical” »
From time to time, I surprise some of my American Christian friends about my attitudes toward the culture war. By culture war, I refer to the battle between the left and right, the liberals and conservatives. I’m told that if I identify as an evangelical Christian (which I do), I’m obligated to join the fight … Read More “Why I Reject the Culture War” »
Carl R. Trueman, The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2011. E-Book. It’s been more than fifteen years now since Mark Noll published his successful The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind in which the (then) Wheaton professor criticized evangelicals for its intellectual obscurantism. Evangelicalism’s preoccupation with dispensationalism and six-day creationism, he argued, … Read More “The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” »
The definition of evangelical is one of the hardest things to pin down. It has a long and complex history. In the United States its beginnings were closely connected to Billy Graham and Christianity Today. I am not so interested in the history (at least not for this post), I want to know what the … Read More “What is an Evangelical?” »
First of all, I want you to know that I understand that progressive Christianity is not a monolithic group with all the same beliefs and attitudes. In this way, you are no different than classical evangelicals or fundamentalists. However, this letter is aimed at what I have seen as the common core of progressive Christianity. … Read More “Open Letter to Progressive Christians” »
