Posts Tagged ‘church’
Why I Haven't Left the Church
We keep talking about Church. What it is, and what it should be. Why we stay, and why we leave. I’ve shared with you the stories of many who have left, but today I want to share the story of somebody who stayed. I’m so grateful to Abbi for sharing her perspective. Make sure you…
Read MoreHuffPost Live: Love the Sinner Hate the Sin?
Last summer, I had a conversation that I can’t get out of my mind. It didn’t seem like it at the time, but looking back that was when I began to shift from seeing homosexuality as an “issue” to seeing people’s stories and faces instead. The next day, I wrote about “Why I Can’t Say…
Read MoreConfessions of a Recovering Cynic
For years, I wore the label on my forehead in big black letters: “Cynic.” I was eighteen, nineteen, twenty and immersed in a dysfunctional system where authoritarianism and cognitive dissonance ruled supreme. I was a boy becoming a man and trying to bridge the gap between what I heard and what I saw. I was…
Read MoreThe Church is Dying and I Am Glad
Some people say that the church is dying, and maybe they’re right. They say that the church doesn’t have the political sway it used to, that the culture has shifted, that being a Christian doesn’t have the same social advantages that it used to. They say that the bandwagon has stopped carrying us and started running…
Read MoreWhen We Were on Fire (A Review)
“We were homesick for something we could not name, but we were slipping. The structure of the evangelical church service was not big enough to accommodate the deep questions of our hearts.” It’s been a week now since I read When We Were on Fire, and I still haven’t come up with a good way…
Read MoreWhen We Came Out
As a follower of Jesus, I believe deeply that we are called to love our gay brothers and sisters. I also believe that love is patient and kind, that love pulls up a chair and listens. Today, that’s what I’m doing. Today is National Coming Out Day. I refuse to see this day, these people,…
Read MoreLife in the After
Becca Rose is one of the bravest. Not only in the way she writes her story of freedom, but the way she fights to live that story. Becca blogs at bookwormbeauty.com and is the only person I know who tweets even more prolifically than I do. I’m grateful for what she’s written here; so much of…
Read MorePerhaps Love Bakes a Cake
It is a culture war that has raged in churches and courtrooms, in parades and fast food places. Now in the most bizarre turn of all, the “gay marriage” battle is being fought in bakeries and restaurants across the country. While many Christians see this as a disturbing indicator of mounting persecution, I see it…
Read MoreDon't Be a Friend of Sinners
When I was growing up Christians didn’t hang out with sinners. Sinners hung out at bars and Christians avoided them – bars and sinners both – so as to not spoil our testimony for the Lord. After all, one drop of muddy water ruins the whole glass. It was of utmost importance to avoid all…
Read MoreWhy We Left the Church (Our Stories)
We are an entire generation with the broken pieces of our religion scattered on the floor around us. We are the children who learned fake smiles too early, who found all the right answers dissatisfying, who know what it’s like to sit in a pew with our hearts a thousand miles away. For us, Sunday…
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