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Sometimes Certainty is the Greatest Sin of All

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One of the more offensive beliefs espoused by western evangelicalism (and there are many) is the notion that all expressions of the Christian faith preceding it - Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Reformed, et al - were in such gross and debauched error as to render them outside the familial participation of Jesus Christ and indeed worshippers of ‘another Jesus’ altogether.  They espouse this without really considering the ramifications of what they are saying.  If these traditional veins are indeed disconnected from the one true Vine of the church, that would mean that the assembled family of God was absent from the earth for over a thousand years.  Taking it a step further in logical progression, it would be asserting that all of the voices informing our current understanding of the nature of God and His Church are irrelevant as why would we rely on those worshipping ‘another Jesus’ for guidance of any kind?!  So that would mean… The doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement which evangelica
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Deconstructing Too Far

“Deconstruction”, when done correctly, is a refiner’s fire burning away that which is faulty or harmful, a gardener’s pruning cutting off those elements contributing to pain and death.  It should never consume the whole nor should it attempt to disconnect the branches from the vine.   While much needs removed, much warrants preservation.  Indeed, like pulling weeds from among the flowers, the purpose of subtracting the faulty is to enable the healthy multiplication of the pure.   A deconstruction process that burns the whole edifice to the ground isn’t healthy and it isn’t helpful.  It’s a form of mass suicide that, by inflicting the same fate on the wheat and the chaff alike, results in the same end as would have been obtained had we never deconstructed at all: misery and death.  (Note: I’m aware there are other, far better terms for the healthy form of ‘deconstruction’.  But I am equally aware that this is the word most commonly used and have adopted it above for the sake of clarity.
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The Universality of Theology

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Theology - much like change, the mind, the heart, politics, or social media - is neutral.  It can be a tool of oppression OR a source of awakening.  To discard the practice entirely, merely because the misinformed habitually misuse it, would be like doing away with the institution of marriage because some husbands beat their wives or cars because accidents happen.   The truth is, we are incapable of NOT engaging in theology.  For theology is not limited to ‘the study of God’, but extends to all that God does and all in whom He is found.  If Acts 17:28 is correct when Paul tells the pagan Athenians, “for in Him we live and move and have our being,” and John was on point when he said that “all things came into being through Him” (1:3), then each and every thing we do (and are) is in reality an act of theology! When you gaze upon a sunrise and it warms your heart.  That’s theology.   When you hold a newborn for the very first time and experience the full gamut of emotion from fear to imm
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Redeem the Words!

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Ok, people.  It’s time for some real talk.   Words can be triggering.  I know this.  But at some point we need to REDEEM THE WORDS rather than exert all of our energy avoiding what may be misunderstood or offensive.   Here’s what I mean: ‘Church’.  Yes the word is misused.  And yes, its misused form has been abusive.  But rather than dream up endless alternative terms, let’s REDEEM THE WORD to its original meaning.  The Church is not a building, nor is it a container for a religion.  It is those members of the collective family of God, across all time and space, who assemble together for mutual edification and encouragement.  It is essentially a family meeting.   ‘Evangelical’.  Yes the word has mutated into representing a decidedly western, punitive theological system that is works-based and legalistic.  But we can REDEEM THE WORD!  Its original meaning is simply to share and reveal the Good News.  And what’s better news than that through the Finished Work of Christ ALL PEOPLE have be
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The God of the Illuminated Journey

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The God of the Illuminated Journey The faith we experience is not our own or somehow under our manipulative control, to expand or shrink based on our effort or will, but originates from the Source: Father, Son, and Spirit.  As that faith grows, changes, and matures, it remains HIS faith at work in-and-through us.  We cannot multiply it or enlarge its borders.  We cannot order its comings and goings as if it were our subject, obliged to obey our command.  We simply discover it a little bit more each day.   We have, through the fear and intimidation of fundamentalist evangelicalism, substituted the journey with a destination.  By centering the argument on the false dichotomies (or, stated more accurately, false dichotomies as evangelicalism understands and articulates them) of heaven vs hell, saved vs unsaved, right vs wrong, the sunrise has been forfeited for a light switch.  Rather than experience Father, Son, and Spirit through a gradual unveiling of wonder wherein His luminance grows
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Silence Can Be a Virtue

Much of social media is devoted to a ‘my experience’ style of conversation. In some ways functioning as a public diary, its pages have become a convenient receptacle for otherwise internal thoughts, musings, admissions, and admonitions. Which produces a bit of a two-edged sword.  While it — I believe, correctly — bolsters the idea that everyone has something valuable to add in the marketplace ideas, it misleads us into thinking this should be universally applied to all subjects. Or stated more plainly: yes, everyone ‘has something to say’…but not necessarily something to say about each and every subject that comes up.  But because we’ve overemphasized the value of our opinions to such a degree that we feel entitled - or even pressured - to opine on just about everything, it results in us running our mouths (or keyboards, as the case may be) on things we don’t know anything about. Or at least, we don’t know anything about beyond our own experiences.  I’ve read several posts in the last
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Jesus is THE Lens!

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Like most people, I suppose, most of the criticisms leveled at me are, if I admit it, quite fair. Am I too quick to argue and defend my ideas rather than listen? Sure. Do I have a — completely undeserved — aristocratic bent from time to time? Yes, I own that. Do I love words to such an excessive degree that I frequently use far too many of them to make my point when fewer would do perfectly well? Ok…ouch! But yes, this is 100% true. It all the more shocks me then that the criticism most often charged against me is not at all true: “Matt, you’re just cherry picking scripture to make God in your image rather than allowing yourself to be confirmed to His.” The accusation is indeed so inaccurate that I, perhaps naively, wonder if it is because I have not adequately explained myself. So let me give it a whirl… ALL SCRIPTURE [γράφω - graphē] IS INSPIRED (literally ‘god-breathed’) is a far cry from equal, inerrant, infallible, or universally applicable. Scripture never bestows those a
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