In the early church, when the Followers of Jesus had diverged from Judaism (about 88 CE), they gained the reputation of being cannibals. They were a mysterious group. They met in secret places like catacombs and had strange signs and signals such as a fish—in Greek, ichthus. If two people met on a road, one … Read more
In March 2017, Annie and I were in China cruising on the Yangtze River. Every day we disembarked and saw fascinating things. The day before we left the river for the city of Xi’an and the terracotta warriors, we took a short bus ride to a four-century-old Buddhist pagoda. It was next to very high … Read more
Scientists have found what they claim are the oldest-known traces of life on earth, embedded in some Canadian rocks. The article states the fossils are really only 3.7 billion years old, not 4 billion—but what’s a few hundred million years! Scientists are still investigating this, so I’m sure there is someone out there ready to … Read more
Someone must have an answer. I need one, quickly. Maybe one of our many Evangelical Christian (EC) relatives can help me. The polls suggest that over 90 percent of ECs voted for Trump to be the forty-fifth president of our country. Here’s my first question: What did you honestly think when Mr. Trump, for many … Read more
As a child and teen, church was the center of my life. My dad was the rector, which made me a PK (Preacher’s Kid). I was an acolyte and loved serving at the altar. I was big into our youth group. If you wanted, I would give you a private tour under the church, in … Read more
My father was an Episcopal clergyman. He thought he was a Christian. My mother was born and baptized a Methodist but became an Episcopalian when she married my father. She, too, thought she was a Christian. I was baptized when I was three weeks old in the Episcopal church, but my parents said later it … Read more
I have never been attracted to science fiction. It’s too far-fetched. I’ve tried to read Harry Potter—three times. By the second chapter, I’ve lost interest. Whenever I hear one of those preposterous stories told in the Bible, I cringe for fear that people will literalize it. For example, all the stories about Jesus’s resurrection, which … Read more
D&D is short for Dogma and Doctrine, which reminds me of a riddle: Why don’t cats go to church? Too much dogma! (Shame on me!) Watch what happens to most of the D&D when the theistic god of yesterday is promoted to encompass the entire universe. One can no longer think about a small Master … Read more
I don’t think it’s any secret that the institutional church, especially in developed countries, is dying. The worst part: the leaders don’t seem to know how to revitalize it. What are your feelings? From my vantage point, I don’t see how a church can survive if church leaders insist that a god lives up there, … Read more
I have been terrified of John for some fifty-five years. He’s complicated, threatening, outrageous at times, secretive, and almost unintelligible. I wanted to have nothing to do with him. He was poison. Then a strange thing happened. My wife and I had been working with inmates at the local jail on Tuesday afternoons, but the … Read more