Peace Hacks

Political correctness has become the bane of American Christianity. It’s made us angry, and has us aking, “Why should we allow these growing numbers of voices to dictate what we can and can’t say?”

Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelist and Christian leader, Billy Graham, sums up our frustration:

“Do you see the insidious nature of all this? Inclusiveness now means excluding anyone who speaks out firmly for truth. It is happening everywhere in the country. Wishing to offend no one, our nation’s politicians, leaders, and decision-makers now stand for absolutely nothing. The very foundation of our Judeo-Christian morality is severely threatened.”

Many of us have voted a resounding “no” to inclusiveness and political correctness, seeing it as a threat to our right to speak and act as we see fit. We’re the marginalized ones.

The world has lost it’s mind, giving a voice to anyone who believes that they’ve been mistreated, even if they haven’t.

Anyone except us.

And that’s scary.

What’s next?

Should we fight? Many Christians in the US say yes. If we don’t defend ourselves, who will? Regardless of what that answer might be, it’s clear that this isn’t a fight we’re winning, which makes us even more Continue reading How Political Correctness Came to be the Enemy of Christianity

I recently watched a debate between New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman, and an Evangelical Christian apologist, Kyle Butt, who argued that God and His suffering world can exist in harmony. Dr. Ehrman’s most recent book, “God’s Problem,” a New York Times best seller, says no – suffering is proof that God doesn’t exist.

Kyle opened, guns blazing. He had studied every scrap of everything that Bart Ehrman had ever written, now face-to-face with one of the most renown, debate-hardened, erudite New Testament scholars of our day.

Dauntless, Kyle responded to Dr. Ehrman’s challenges with courage, passion – and an air of disrespect. He seemed to think that Dr. Ehrman was his enemy and that this debate was some kind of war.

While some of his responses bordered on insult, I understand Kyle’s posture. In the Evangelical world, we’ve placed a high value on theological “right-ness.” When we interact with someone who doesn’t think like we do, we’re tempted to downgrade them, sometimes asserting our not-so-God-given right to be abusive as we exalt our beliefs over everyone else’s.

I’ve been guilty of this so many times.

Kyle’s theology is what many of us would consider solid, but his lack of humility betrayed a deeper problem: it seemed that his understanding of suffering Continue reading Mystery and Religion

I’ve prayed for a lot of things over the years: money, relationships, different careers, influence, and the all-too-frequent request that God would show a wayward friend how wrong they are.

Most of the time, God doesn’t answer.

Looking back, I’m not sure I would’ve answered either. With few exceptions, my prayers have historically had nothing to do with what I really want. For most of my life as a Christian, I’ve lived with a bit of cluelessness about what’s most important.

So, as I’ve grown older, and as my values shift, I’ve learned to pray for different things. But these “new” prayers are dangerous. It’s not fun when God answers them.

I began praying like this when I came to grips with something that had been lurking under my personal radar for years; an error that was beyond difficult to admit. I couldn’t believe I was guilty of something so broken.

It got me asking, “what else have I missed?” What other broken things am I walking around with, perpetrating on others, totally clueless about? So many other people walk zombie-like through this life, unknowingly chained to the darkest things.

If so many others wrestle with cluelessness, I might be guilty too.

I’m ready to face my own hidden, underground brokenness. And there’s only one prayer for that, it’s something that the Israelite king David prayed.

Here’s my paraphrase of the most dangerous prayer in the Bible:

“God, I give you permission to root around inside, and to show me the places that are screwed up, broken, scared, wrong, etc. Give me the courage to face them, ask you for help, and step into healing.”

I started praying this, with a Continue reading The One Prayer That God Always Answers, the One We Never Pray.