Gimme that Ole Time Religion?

There is an old song called “Give Me That Old Time Religion.” It goes as follows: Give me that old-time religion, Give me that old-time religion, Give me that old-time religion, It’s good enough for me. Here is my question: To which religion does the writer refer? The religion where humanity was cursed for wanting […]

Spooky Spells (alternative title: Altered States)

I had lunch with a friend today. We were kidding around when the topic of religion came up. We have similar backgrounds and have complementary world views. He said something that, while making me laugh, took me to another place and time, when I was another person. It would be like watching someone brush their […]

Imagine, part 1

What do you know about the circumstances of your birth? There are a couple of tidbits I remember hearing about the day I was born. First of all it was August and my mother just wanted me out. It was hot and nobody in Colorado had AC back then, except of course the hospital. My […]

Moo Year

Let me say up front, that I do not make New Year’s resolutions. I think trying to change your behavior because of an arbitrary date is doomed to failure. Making little changes over time that is eminently doable. So in no particular order, here are some things I would like to improve upon (that is […]

I Can Do All Things (Phil four thirteen)

Go to church long enough and the same topics and scriptures are repeated. If they use the lectionary it is roughly every three years or so. At most churches it is somewhere between 3 and 5 years…except around Christmas and Easter, they are repeated annually. Rarely do you hear a good sermon about Jael driving […]

Thought Crimes

I went to a small Bible College with an enrollment of roughly 500. It was a conservative college right smack in the middle of Santa Cruz County. To say that our neighbors did not share our world view would be a gross understatement. We used to joke about ourselves saying that we lived in the […]

Paradigm Shift

So I find myself trying to find the way out of the forest of agnosticism. Honestly, I am not quite sure where to “go.” As I have mentioned many times before, I grew up plenty-hostile…Pentecostal. Pentecostalism is a very ethereal segment of Christianity. Your faith and your perceptions of God and others are emotionally centered. […]