10 Problems with Left Behind Theology
Yesterday, as President Obama was sworn in, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sang ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic.’ As catchy as is the chorus of that hymn, I’ve never enjoyed singing it in church. Whenever...
View ArticleYou Might Be A Christian If…You’re Not Funny (at all)
Woody Allen has a famous joke from Annie Hall about how he’d ‘never want to belong to any organization that would have him as a member.’ I think it’s originally a Groucho joke (wag of the cigar, wag of...
View ArticleMy Crush On Older Women
Yes, shameless title to get you to click on it. We’re nearing the end of a sermon series, Razing Hell, that’s tackled topics like heaven, hell, purgatory and the second coming. I’d be remiss if I...
View ArticleFour Guidelines for Thinking about the Second Coming
We’re winding up our Razing Hell sermon series this weekend by talking about the Second Coming of Christ, terrain normal Christians cede to the fundies, which is a shame because we need the full...
View ArticleWhy the Rapture is a Stupid Idea
We’re finishing up our Razing Hell sermon series this weekend talking about the Second Coming, a doctrine that’s gotten muddled and weighed down by the silly (and not very old) idea that God’s faithful...
View ArticleWhat Do We Mean By The Second Coming?
This week we close our Razing Hell sermon series by talking about the Second Coming, probably the Christian doctrine most burdened by fanciful, unhelpful interpretations of scripture. Here’s NT...
View ArticleJudgment is in the Eye of the Beholder
We’re winding down our sermon series, Razing Hell, this weekend talking about the Second Coming. When many people think of the Christian belief in the eschaton, last things, it’s the last judgment they...
View ArticleWhat About the Lake of Fire?
Some of you asked me that very question after my Hell sermon for our Razing Hell series. I didn’t have time to write up a response and, lucky duck, Scot McKnight beat me to it: ———————————– The almost...
View ArticleWill Everyone Be Saved In The End?
We finished up our January sermon series, Razing Hell, this weekend, talking about the Second Coming. It’s been a great series from my end. I’ve gotten a ton of emails from folks at church and from...
View ArticleA Nice Shout from Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed
Scot, who was our Scholar in Residence, a few years ago gave a nice note of praise for my sermon on Hell at his Jesus Creed blog: click here to check it out.
View ArticleSermon Shout Out from Scot McKnight: Going to Hell on an Airplane with Sam...
Scot McKnight has this sermon of mine posted today over at his Jesus Creed blog. Eastertide is often a season in which the lectionary guides us through texts in Revelation and on reflecting upon how...
View ArticleHow We Go to Hell
In my church, we’ve got a steady stream of people who come in off the street, asking for ‘assistance.’ Money. A lot of times- maybe it’s the time I spent working in a prison- my cynicism gets the...
View ArticleTalking About Money (and Hell) in Church
This week we kick off our annual stewardship campaign, that time of year when people who give to the work of the Church say ‘It’s about time the preachers are talking about money’ and the people who do...
View Article1 Cross & 3 Nails 4 Freedom
We continued our Lenten sermon series, The 7 Deadlies & the 7 Ways Jesus Us, by looking at the disciples’ envy in Mark 10.35-45 and what’s sometimes called the Ransom Theory of the atonement. You...
View ArticleLeaving Left Behind Behind
According to a recent Pew Survey on Religion, those who check ‘None’ when asked about their religious affiliation are the fastest growing religious demographic in America. In many cases, the Nones are...
View ArticleFour Guidelines for Thinking about the Second Coming
We’re winding up our Razing Hell sermon series this weekend by talking about the Second Coming of Christ, terrain normal Christians cede to the fundies, which is a shame because we need the full...
View ArticleWhy the Rapture is a Stupid Idea
We’re finishing up our Razing Hell sermon series this weekend talking about the Second Coming, a doctrine that’s gotten muddled and weighed down by the silly (and not very old) idea that God’s faithful...
View ArticleWhy Rob Bell is Right, Adult Baptism is Wrong and ‘Biblical Theology’ is...
David Bentley Hart (heretofore: DBH) was one of my first professors of theology back when I was a college student at UVA. He was just completing his PhD whilst I had about 24 months of being a...
View ArticleS.O.S. from the Outer Darkness
For all of November I plan to preach on Jesus’ Parable of the Talents. Found in Matthew 25.14-30, the parable is both juicy enough and sufficiently cryptic for multiple takes and interpretations. This...
View Article10 Points for Preaching Parables
10. The Form of the Text Should Determine the Form of the Sermon What holds true for preaching on scripture in general is particularly so for parables: the rhetorical form of the scripture passage...
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