By this point, almost any aware person will tie MAGA to Donald Trump. MAGA is the acronym for Make America Great Again. The problem with that slogan is who defines what makes America (in particular, the United States of America) great. At this point, is it anything? Two recent articles, The Hill‘s Do Americans hate… Continue reading A New MAGA
Author: Ian
Against Institutions
I’m trying to read outside my silo, which looks at me and my belief structures a lot. I finally downloaded the substack app the other day, and Robert Reich was proposed to follow. So, I read his article The Dangerous Anti-Democracy Coalition. Reich brings up a lot of concerning issues. Thiel, Musk, and so on… Continue reading Against Institutions
Progressive Suffering
I started reading James Farwell’s, This is the Night: Suffering, Salvation, and the Liturgies of the Holy Week, and I came across this quote: Some social theorists, historians of philosophy, and theologians argue that the narrative structure of the modern myth of “progress,”—the structure of the “idealist diamond” that reduces suffering to a concept—was bequeathed… Continue reading Progressive Suffering
Losing Faith In God?
I saw this billboard the other day. There was a phone number that went along with it. I’m sure they’ve received some calls about it, and I pray that they have been successful in helping people remain in the faith. However, that a Christian organization felt the need to put this up is disturbing, not… Continue reading Losing Faith In God?
Unneeded
I am generally pretty open about my struggles with depression. I’ve even discussed my suicidal thoughts. I have made plans, and never (obviously) fulfilled them. The other day, I watched a webinar on our identity in Jesus Christ. It was a good webinar, don’t get me wrong, but it managed to trigger something. During the… Continue reading Unneeded
What Have We Lost?
Job lived 140 years after this, and saw his children and grandchildren to the fourth generation. Then Job died at an old age, having lived a full life. Job 42:16-17 (ISV) The global population continues to grow. The rate is slowing, and that’s probably a good thing. The earth is a finite resource and also our… Continue reading What Have We Lost?
Vain Hypocrisy
Part of me wanted to make this post at Devotion.al, but I realized this might be less devotional than Devotion.al deserves (a problem when you write at both, and the lines are often gray). Christians have long been trained to abhor the word hypocrite. Jesus has a thing or 10 about hypocrites. The problem is… Continue reading Vain Hypocrisy
Can I quit? I want to.
I’ve been a co-lead pastor for a church for less than a year. I’m tired. The first time I wanted to quit, my senior pastor said… If you can do anything else in your life, and believe that is indeed what God wants you to do, then do it. Ed Eby I might have gotten… Continue reading Can I quit? I want to.
Cost of Community
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31-32 NRSV We often look to Paul’s letters for our theology. This particular verse is about our praxis. It… Continue reading Cost of Community
Public Privacy
It’s not that I have something to hide; I just have nothing I want you to see. The Girl (played by Amanda Seyfried) in the movie Anon Privacy is a nebulous topic. The so-called Constitutional “privacy” of the United States is far more fluid than most people will acknowledge. In fact, based upon recent cultural… Continue reading Public Privacy