Posts Tagged ‘sin’
Jesus Dies on the Cross
It’s Good Friday and I’m standing barefoot in my driveway with a sledge hammer and a fistful of nails. Scattered around me on the ground are broken pieces of an old church pew, a shattered portrait of Jesus, the small leather Bible I read every single day many lifetimes ago (when I was a good Christian).
Read More10 Reasons Why Christians Should Give Pizza to Everybody
Are we seriously still having this argument? How do you even respond to stuff like: “We’re not discriminating against anyone, that’s just our belief and anyone has the right to believe in anything… I choose to be heterosexual. They choose to be homosexual. Why should I be beat over the head to go along with something they…
Read MoreFor They Shall See God
Blessed are the pure in heart (for they shall see God). And I always thought that to be pure in heart meant to have successfully wrangled my sinful impulses — stuffed my fleshly desires into cages like so many squawking, unruly chickens. To be pure in heart meant to follow all the rules. Sadly, to be…
Read MoreWhen We Throw Stones
“Let him who is without sin throw the first stone.” That’s what they say, when religious leaders are questioned about their abusive and manipulative actions. “We all make mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. You wouldn’t want somebody airing all your dirty laundry, would you?” As if building an multi-million-dollar “ministry” or “church” on the backs of vulnerable followers…
Read MoreWhy I Held This Sign at Gay Pride
I ran into a street preacher at Charlotte Pride this year. I was carrying a sign that say “God Loves Gays”; he was carrying a big Bible and wearing a t-shirt that said “Jesus is the Standard”. He handed me a tract and asked if I had received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I assured him…
Read More3 Lies That Kept Me Trapped By Porn
I’ve read a lot of stuff about pornography, lust, and accountability. When I first glanced at My Chains Are Gone, I thought it was going to be more of the same. It wasn’t. David shares his journey to freedom with candor and clarity that is often missing from this conversation, especially in the church. While pornography and…
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 MoreWhy I Can't Say Love the Sinner / Hate the Sin Anymore
I thought we just needed to try harder. Maybe we needed to focus more on loving the sinner, and less on protesting his sin. But I’m done. I can’t look my gay brother in the eye anymore and say “I love the sinner but hate the sin.” I can’t keep drawing circles in the sand. Even…
Read MoreDrawing Circles in the Sand
This week the Boy Scouts of America voted to no longer exclude Scouts from their ranks “on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.” In the circles of Christianity that I often frequent, the defining mantra for interaction with the LGBT community is “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” We talk of how sex…
Read MoreI'm Sorry I Hated You
Jesus had a way of putting profound truth into just a few words. One time he summarized the entirety of the Bible by saying “Love God with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself.” In these two commands lie the essence of all Christian spirituality. I’ve been thinking about empathy lately, and about how…
Read More