Death to straw men

Originally posted on John Meunier:
United Methodist Internet conversation is plagued by many logical fallacies. We invoke the slippery slope. We appeal to authority. We roll out the band wagon. The one that always comes to my mind first, though, is our rampant use of straw man arguments. This is so common that it almost appears…

Why Churchgoers Must (Really) Change

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2…

The Disabled God and other reflections

  The corporeal is for people with disabilities the most real. Unwilling and unable to take our bodies for granted, we attend to the kinesis of knowledge. That is, we become keenly aware that our physical selves determine our perceptions of the social and physical world. These perceptions, like our bodies, are often nonconforming and disclose new categories and models of thinking…

Yes, I Am a Bible-Believing Christian.

That’s why I don’t believe that dividing the church is a good idea.  Here are some biblical passages that underscore the importance of unity in the church:  John 17:20-23 ‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all…

Bishop McLee, Human Sexuality, and Basic Christian Doctrine

Let me be clear: I think honest conversation is righteous and healthy—even indispensable—within the Body of Christ. One of our goals at United is to help students have real conversations with people with whom they disagree. Part of our problem in the UMC is that political posturing has replaced intellectual virtue, and when that happens, the road…

In What Lies Our Unity?

I’m not so much making a point with this post as asking a question. I have been in dialogue with a friend who asked: Is the unity of which we speak in the UMC a baseless unity? In other words, what is the common thread that runs through the UMC and holds us together? Our…

Do you believe in the demonic?

The Synoptic Gospels are full of stories in which Jesus casts out demons. In Mark’s gospel, healing and exorcism are Jesus’ main activities. In the early church, exorcism was part of the pre-baptismal ritual. Throughout much of the world today, exorcism is a common part of Christian practice. Even in the United Methodist Church, our…

Does God Actually Do Anything?

I recently went to a theological lecture. At least, it was ostensibly theological. The lecturer was discussing a variety of social problems, and, in the end, I suppose the point was that we have to do something about these problems. I optimistically filled in the narrative gaps that I was experiencing, hoping what was meant…

We All Need To Worship

Some recent opinions in the blogosphere notwithstanding, corporate worship is one of the most important ways in which we come to know and love God more fully. From its earliest days, the Christian faith involved both individual and corporate experience. In baptism we become part of something much larger than ourselves, the communion of saints,…