God is not in control. I don’t care how many times Twila Paris repeats the chorus of her 1993 song making that declaration. It does not matter how many pastors declare it from the pulpit. Nor does it matter how many times well-meaning Christians pronounce it in an attempt to comfort those who are going through hard times. If God were in control, then there would be no need for Jesus to teach us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” because God’s rule and reign would already be here.
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Stop Objectifying God
Last fall I officiated a funeral for a five-week-old. Matty was a happy, chubby, giggly, and healthy boy who never woke up from a nap. The only medical explanation offered was SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which the Mayo Clinic describes as “the unexplained death, usually during sleep, of a seemingly healthy baby less than a year old.”
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What Haunts You Can Heal You
When read as a primal story, Genesis 1 reveals the story of God healing the world, our communities, and our individual lives. But it doesn’t necessarily happen in the way we expect because Western society offers a vision of healing that rarely invites us live beyond verse 2. Moreover, because broken Christianity largely integrates itself with Western culture, it too is complicit in our creative stagnation. Let me explain.
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Nothing Is Evil and Nothing Is Evil
Nothing is evil. How do you read those words? Do you hear me saying that there is no such thing as evil? Or maybe you read them as the absence of something, the void, is evil? Either way, when you read Genesis 1 as a primal story, as a cosmological myth, you are right.
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Which God Does Broken Christianity Follow?
How do you know which God anyone follows? Some people practice Islam who are kind, gracious, and compassionate. Others are terrorists. Both claim to follow Allah, but do any of us believe they worship the same God?
The same can be said for those who follow the God of the Bible. Fifty-five years ago, members of the KKK and Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King both claimed to worship the God of the Bible, but do we think they followed the same God? Today the same question can be asked of Westboro Baptist Church whose web domain proclaims godhatesfags and Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber who a decade ago founded a predominantly queer congregation in Denver, CO.
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Genesis Is Not A Science Book
Genesis is not a science book. The opening chapters of Genesis have nothing to do with the creation of the world. I know that sounds like a wild claim. After all, Genesis opens, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” but I have a good reason for saying it.
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