When a sermon ruined a song

Willie Nelson’s song, “Always on my mind,” was ruined for me shortly after its 1982 release. By a preacher. For a good reason. While the song had been recorded a …

On judging others

Several years ago I wrote a column titled, “Why I don’t do dueling Bible verses,” noting how easy it is to extract something from the ancient texts that supports — …

More important than truth

Physician-scientist Francis Collins is known for his Christian faithfulness — and being one of the better voices for navigating issues of faith and science. Collins, who discovered the genes associated …

The Grief of Jesus

By: Guy Sayles Lately, I’ve imagined that I overhear the grief of Jesus. I hear strains of bewilderment and anger, loneliness and longing, protest and prayer. No wonder his followers …

To explain or ignore?

A challenge arises whenever something completely baseless and easily refutable gets offered up as shocking truth. Should I attempt to explain it or just ignore it? Increasingly, the first option …

Is it a cult? Check the ingredients

Religious cults were a big deal in the 1970s. I became intrigued by how these personality-led movements attracted such loyal followers. Some deprogramming efforts —initiated by concerned family or friends — …

Getting on the right trail

Anyone else tired of being told “what the Bible says” by those who ignore what Jesus said? It seems to be a daily experience. Sadly, the roots of misguided Christianity …

If by Christian…

For much of my life it was easy to answer in the affirmative when asked, “Are you a Christian?”  Now I pause a bit, unsure of how to give an …

Warning flags, parallels to not be missed

Why would professing followers of Jesus get and stay onboard with obvious acts of socially-produced evil? This important question has been rightly posed regarding German Christians amid the rise of …

Learning to debate like Jesus

One motivation for deeply exploring the idea of a “Jesus worldview” was the recognition that our typical arguments about theology and politics aren’t constructive. We tend to argue politics with …