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A subversive approach to a subversive parable [From Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43] On the surface, the story reads quite clearly—maybe a little too clearly. If you’re a regular church attendee…
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Feasting Martin of Tours on Veterans Day
I absolutely love that the Church celebrates Martin of Tours, the “patron saint of soldiers”, on the same day as Veterans Day. Ironically, Martin was one of the Church’s first…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Katie Davis
Happy National Adoption Month. Katie Davis, twenty-five, moved from her native Tennessee home several years ago and has adopted over a dozen girls in Uganda, where she’s now raising them.…
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Defeating Despair in Detroit: Turning Wounded Children into Winning Children
Last week, every morning I turned on the news and there was at least one murder in Detroit. Ironically, I was in the city for about a week to present…
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Stop Going to Church! When Good News Actually Looks Like Something
By Jon Huckins
I love my neighborhood. It’s not that it is all that glamorous or cool or “safe” or whatever. It’s that it is full of people who actually want to experience…
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The God of Rap: Why Kanye West brought Jesus on Stage
By Ryan Herring
On the opening night of the Yeezus Tour, multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning rapper Kanye West brought out an actor to portray Jesus during his concert in Seattle. Most of the time when…
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Are You A Consumer?
By Micah Bales
Over the course of my lifetime, it seems that consumer has become the most common word used to refer to individual members of our society. On television, in newspapers, and on…
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Why 'Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin' Doesn't Work
By Tony Campolo
A few years back I did the below interview with New Direction in which I told the story someone once told to me of a gay son. In it I…
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Putting God in a Box to Keep People Out
By Yaholo Hoyt
Featured photo credit: David Hayward via The Naked Pastor The phrase “putting God in a box” is something almost exclusively declared as an accusation. Few people would be willing to…
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My Christian Response to Violence: Beyond the Politics to Spiritual Reflection
By Neely Baugh
Jesus and violence. I’ve struggled for a long time to voice how I feel about these two things and how they relate to each other. And I have my own…
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The 'Other Gospel' was easier
I admit that I find the gospel of partnering with God for the healing of the world much, much harder than the gospel of God loves you and wants to…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Brenda Salter McNeil (Part 2)
Last week I spoke with Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil — author, speaker, thought leader and founder of Salter McNeil and Associates—about her personal journey into the field of…
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Riddles, Giraffes, and Jesus
Anyone who spends any time at all on Facebook has seen a proliferation of giraffes on the site recently. For a few days, I noticed but didn’t pay much attention,…
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God, Jesus, Pacifists, Pansies, & A Girl from Pakistan: Thoughts on Mark Driscoll's Latest Article
By Jimmy Doyle
I dare Mark Driscoll to call this young lady a “pansy”. Mark Driscoll’s article, “Is God a Pacifist?“, has spurred a lot of online discussion and debate—and rightly so, because…
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Lessons from Nigeria
By John Watson
Boko Haram is not a name most of us are familiar with, but we will likely hear it soon. The entire swathe of countries which straddle the divide between North…
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Lessons from the Dead: What meditating on the inevitable can do
By Kay Campbell
Consider death: The post-final frontier. Death surrounds all of us in the Northern Hemisphere this time of year. Life is sucked out of the trees, one chlorophyll molecule at a…
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If Jesus is a pansy, I want to be one too – Reflections on Christlikeness
By Kurt Willems
Recently a pastor wrote an article about why God is not a pacifist. Not only so, he argued that Jesus (the “God-human”) is also not a pacifist and never taught…
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Children Steamroll Weapons in Iraq
After a terrible year of violence killing nearly 6, 000 people in Iraq, and dozens dead in recent violence in the Anbar province where we have so many dear friends in…
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Let's End Our Silly Battle for Jesus' Personality
By Yaholo Hoyt
Manly Jesus, Effeminate Jesus, Angry Jesus, Pacifist Jesus, Hipster Jesus… Every time someone redefines or re-frames Jesus, we all go crazy. Whatever we are or whatever we believe we try…
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Is Preachers of LA Representing Preachers the Right Way?
The new Preachers of LA series by the Oxygen network has created uproar amongst many churchgoers. I have seen a lot of tweets and Facebook post from people angry about…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Brenda Salter McNeil
When I asked Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil who the first speaker was that she ever heard preach about racial reconciliation, she named Tony Campolo—when she was a Fuller…
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The Toddler Logic of Cain
By Morf Morford
Some strands of human nature stretch from the opening scenes of the Bible to tomorrow’s headlines. The actions, rationale and justification of Cain make up one of these strands. Cain,…
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Mark Driscoll's Badass Jesus
Mark Driscoll, the attention grabbing minister of the Mars Hill megachurch, is at it again. He’s pushing his badass Jesus who has, as he put it a few years ago,…
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Is Jesus Too Exclusive?
By Micah Bales
I‘m definitely a child of my post-modern generation: I tend to recognize multiple valid perspectives on any question; I experience truth as dynamic, changing in its expression depending on context;…
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The 5 Biggest Lies of Modernity
By Yaholo Hoyt
Modernity is a way of thinking that is becoming more and more outdated. However, as the recent Tea-Party led battles in Washington DC show, it isn’t going out without a…
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Sexual Behaviors: The Struggle Clergy Have
By T.C. Ryan
That we have enormous numbers of faithful, called and good people in Christian leadership today who are struggling with compulsive sexual behaviors is beyond dispute. In most cases, they are…
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Follow Up: John MacArthur's Controversial 'Strange Fire' Conference
INTRODUCTORY NOTE: I was overwhelmed by the response that I received for my post last week on Red Letter Christians which called out John MacArthur and the speakers at his…
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Bringing America Back to Life
Yesterday, I read about the 2-year old child who shot herself by accident in North Carolina over the weekend. Then I read about the horror of another school shooting in…
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From 'farewell Rob Bell' to 'You're fanatic Charismatics'
It’s not that long ago that John Piper felt confident in excluding Rob Bell from the evangelical playground with his infamous tweet. Many others piped in (no pun intended) to…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Tracey Bianchi
A lot of Christians—myself included—have, until recently, been sort of…sleepy…about climate change. After traveling to Malawi this year with Evangelical Environmental Network—learning from Africans whose communities have already been…
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“Trendy Religion”: Is Applying Social Science to Church Success Sinful and Selfish?
A recent HuffPost teaser for Billy Graham’s new (and assumed to be “last”) book released Tuesday, The Reason for My Hope: Salvation, says in it he tackles the topic of…
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John MacArthur attacks the Charismatic Movement at 'Strange Fire' Conference
If you’re an Evangelical and you’ve been connected to the internet for the past few days you have no doubt heard about the “Strange Fire” conference hosted by Grace to…
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Shall We Celebrate the 1%?
It continues to amaze me that there are Christians –both preachers and politicians- who seem to be much more interested in defending the honor and the interests of the very…
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Be Annoying for God
Kids can be annoying. I know; I have two of them. The other day, my son saw an ad on TV for some flying thing that, although he didn’t know…
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The Narcissistic, Yet Well-Balanced, World Changer
By Tony Jones
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is a review of Sarah Cunningham’s new book, “The Well-Balanced World Changer: A Field Guide…
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Churches are like Cities
some are big, some are small some are expanding, some are shrinking some are fast-paced, some are slow and laid back some welcome outsiders, some distrust them some elect their…
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Well Balanced World Changer by Sarah Cunningham
By RLC Editor
What happens when idealism and reality crash into each other (and you)? If you have ever passionately invested yourself in living your faith, championing a cause, or representing some…
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Excerpt: Endless Lines of Need: The Pool of Bethesda
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is an excerpt from Sarah Cunningham’s new book, “The Well-Balanced World Changer: A Field Guide…
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We Are All Called to be World Changers
By Jon Huckins
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is a review of Sarah Cunningham’s new book, “The Well-Balanced World Changer: A Field Guide…
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Q&A with Sarah Cunningham, author of The Well-Balanced World Changer
By RLC Editor
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is an interview with Sarah Cunningham about her new book, “The Well-Balanced World Changer: A…
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A Well Balanced World Changer
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is a review of Sarah Cunningham’s new book, “The Well-Balanced World Changer: A Field Guide…
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Sympathy for the Devil
By John Watson
Should we love Satan? This is one of those topics which is covered by blogs, articles, discussions, and almost universally with the same conclusion: No. No. No. Absolutely not. With…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Jim Wallis
Jim Wallis, longstanding friend of Red Letter Christians and the president of Sojourners, believes something just as radical as Jesus’ sermon on the mount: that politics in the U.S. can…
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A Better Reason Than Blame for Addressing Climate Change
By Yaholo Hoyt
No one can really question whether or not the climate is changing. In fact, that is why the more popular title has become “Climate Change” instead of “Global Warming.” While…
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Doubt and Certainty: Does It Have to be One or the Other?
I recently read an article that said bloggers are either creating or reacting. Since I live a lot of my life inside my own head, a lot of my writing…
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Beyond the Weapon
A few weeks ago a friend of mine got married on Mount Hood, and I spent the weekend staying at a cabin without cell reception. As I was driving down…
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Afghanistan 12 Years Later: Recommended Reading
This week marks the anniversary of the war in Afghanistan (October 7, 2001 was the launch of “Operation Enduring Freedom”). As we continue to work alongside our Afghan Peace Volunteer…
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AMERICAN JESUS — The Wounded Subculture of American Religion
There is something extraordinarily dangerous and ugly at the heart of American life: literalistic religion. There is something extraordinarily beautiful and enlightening at the heart of American life: literalistic religion. Now…
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Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Peace (Part 2)
Read Part 1 by Brian If we want to move beyond the vicious cycles of offense and revenge that dominate the status quo – and result in suffering for Christians…
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Beer and Hymns: The Video
Many thanks to Gregg Brekke at Sixview Studios for his fantastic work on this video. For those who have asked what Beer and Hymns is, or how we do it at our…
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Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Peace (Part 1)
The Al-Shabaab terrorists who slaughtered over 60 fellow human beings in Nairobi’s Westgate Mall tried to spare their fellow Muslims through a kind of religious quiz. If you could answer certain religious…
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Star Trek and the Language of Worship
High Chancellor Gorkon raises his glass and offers a toast: “I offer a toast to the undiscovered country.” And then Spock chimes in: “Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1.” The scene…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Jeremy Courtney
In the war-torn country of Iraq, Jeremy Courtney, his family, and their small team, patterned their lives after Jesus by loving their neighbors the way they loved themselves. Courtney’s recent…
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News Flash: Christians Don’t Have All the Answers
By Micah Bales
This week, the leadership team of Friends of Jesus DC began an eight-week process with the Tangible Kingdom Primer, a resource that helps small groups reorient around being sentto our local communities, modeling what…
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Robotic Christianity
A robot is a useful piece of technology typically used for complicated or dangerous tasks. Robots, often mass-produced, make no decisions on their own and are completely controlled by others.…
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Financial Help and Health Care Aren't "Crack" For Those in Need
When I was a young newlywed and first-time mom, the older women from my church brought me necessary items to fill my home. Although that was 19 years ago, I…
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Remembering Francis
Today (October 4), Christians around the world remember one of the great heroes of our faith, and the Pope’s namesake – Francis of Assisi. But Francesco Bernadone (Francis of Assisi),…
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Why You Should Care About the Reformation Project
By Emily Timbol
Last week I flew to Kansas City to meet with 50 other Christians who want to reform the church. The first reformer I met was Matthew Jones. Sitting in the airport…
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Abraham's (Many) Women
By Morf Morford
It always amazes me to see the Bible held up as a model for contemporary families and relationships. Abraham, the Father of three major world religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam,…
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ACT NOW: October Executions
EXECUTION ALERT October is America’s Deadliest Month of 2013 Unless we pray and work to change things, 8 people are set to be killed in October. Marshall Gore on October…
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Beyond Cyberbullying: How Words Can Kill
By Yaholo Hoyt
The news this year has brought us a steady stream of stories about cyberbullying leading to suicide. Parents are rightfully growing concerned and seeking answers to how we can protect…
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Love Without Agenda by Jimmy Spencer
By RLC Editor
Why have so many Christians forgotten how to love? Have we missed much of the point of Jesus because of our obsession with Heaven and Hell? We’re forever arguing, theologizing,…
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The theology of government shutdown: Christian dominionism
On the eve of our government shutdown, I wanted to do some research into the theological roots of Senator Ted Cruz, the standard-bearer of the Tea Party Republicans behind the…
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The Government Shutdown – Fairness Over Love
By Alise Wright
Today 800, 000 government employees got an unpaid vacation and countless more get the unpaid part while still reporting for work. All under the auspice of fairness. At 12:01AM on…
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Excerpt: The Nature of Religion (Love Without Agenda)
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is an excerpt from JimmySpencer’s book, “Love Without Agenda: Moving Our Spiritual Goalposts from…
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Love Without Agenda: Moving our Spiritual Goalposts from Heaven and Hell to Wholeness
By Kurt Willems
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is a review of Jimmy Spencer’s book, “Love Without Agenda: Moving Our Spiritual Goalposts…
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Is Immortality Talk Just “Fear of the Dark?”
Renowned scientist and author of such books as A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking suggested recently that it is conceivable in the future that we may be able to…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Mimi Haddad
Mimi Haddad, the President of Christians for Biblical Equality, has stirred it up here at RLC with posts about the biblical injunction for women to remain silent in the…
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The Gift of Doing a Good Thing Badly
By Ed Cyzewski
One of the most important steps forward I’ve taken in ministry came from a failure that felt like an enormous step backward. I’ve always been excited about gardening, and as…
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Sentenced to Death for Being Black: The Duane Buck Story
By RLC Editor
Racial bias has no place in the administration of justice – tell that to Harris County, Texas. Duane Buck, sentenced to death in Harris County in 1997, may soon be…
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Amongst Sex Tourists, Slum-Dwellers, and New Friars: My Trip to Bangkok
By Kent Annan
For the first time in history, one of every two people lives in a city. Some 860 million of these city-dwellers reside in slums—uncertain, cramped, and frequently cruel. Most are…
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Plant Yourself. Hold Firm and Give Off Light Be A Lighthouse
NOTE: This post is an excerpt from Sarah’s latest book, The Well Balanced World Changer Many of us are taught, starting in childhood, to never, ever give up. It applies…
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Interests of the Wealthy Elite and Myth of Government “Inefficiency”
Among a very large circle of people it is an unquestioned dogma that the government can’t do anything right. This is partnered with the belief that the private sector –i.e.,…
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4 Reasons Jesus was Millennial
1) Jesus avoided labels. In fact, a large part of his ministry was breaking down preconceived titles, trying to bring about a world where there would be no differentiation between…
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We’ll Need More Than Church Signs
By Micah Bales
During my morning walk today, I must have passed at least half a dozen church buildings, each one with its own sign facing the road. Most of these were the…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Helen Lee
Red Letter Christians are convinced that Jesus-like neighbor-love was never meant to be performed once annually, on the church’s summer mission trip. Helen Lee, author of The Missional Mom,…
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Does Atheism Exist?
By John Watson
Do you know any Atheists? I imagine you do. I think about Atheism a fair bit. I have a number of friends and family members who are Atheists. In my…
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What Love Looks Like
Shaheed has one tooth, zero legs and countless stories to tell. He sits in his wheelchair holding a change cup outside of the Rite Aid on my way to work.…
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Five Things that are Holding Christianity Back
I’m often asked about what trends I see within Christianity, both good and bad. So in my ongoing effort to help name trends and offer an alternative way of thinking…
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This Pope is a Sinner
This is significant. From the start, there was an air of excitement surrounding this Pope – the Pontiff’s chosen name, never before used by any pope in the history of…
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Frank Schaeffer was 15 years ahead of us
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is a review of Frank Schaeffer’s new book, “And God Said, Billy!.” When I…
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Random acts of glory – and senseless acts of Grace
By Morf Morford
“Random acts of glory – and senseless acts of Grace” would be a good description of the earthly ministry of Jesus – especially as we see it expressed in the…
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A Secularist’s Affirming Take on Evangelicals
Tom Krattenmaker has lived on the margins of religious culture much of his life, and now he finds himself in the center of the evangelical Christian conversation. Tom is taking…
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Do Good Better: One Year of Gravity
You know that feeling that resonates deep within you when you meet someone who helps the world turn a bit better? It could be a simple “hello” or a quick…
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Navy Yard Shooting: More Dead by "Most Wanted Gun in America"
More dead people – by a weapon that’s been called “The most wanted gun in America.” Thirteen are dead following a mass shooting at the Washington (D.C.) Navy Yard. Another…
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And God Said “Billy!” by Frank Schaeffer
By RLC Editor
is a darkly comic coming-of-age story written by the master story teller that author Andrew Dubus III hailed as the funniest American writer since Mark Twain. The story, set…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Bruce Reyes-Chow
Bruce Reyes-Chow, the former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA’s 218th General Assembly (#prettybigdeal), is a pastor and writer whose new book, But I Don’t See You as Asian,…
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Review: And God Said, "Billy!"
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is a review of Frank Schaeffer’s new book, “And God Said, Billy!.” Anyone who…
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Excerpt: My Big Break (And God Said, "Billy!")
Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Red Letter Book Club. It is an excerpt from Frank Schaeffer’s new book, “And God Said, Billy!.” Sometimes I…
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Emails: Raleigh Leaders Plotted To Criminalize Feeding Poor
An article released last night by News & Observer reporter Colin Campbell revealed that City of Raleigh officials at the highest levels plotted for months to to find “legal” ways to keep people who…
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Miley Cyrus’ Contribution to Feminism
Ever since the most recent Video Music Awards show aired, there has been a breathless competition online to see who can be more offended by Miley Cyrus’ highly sexualized performance.…
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The Future of Evangelicalism in the Millennial Generation
I am an Evangelical. But what does that label even mean anymore? A few days ago I was sitting around chatting with a few new friends at my Bible College.…
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The Cross and the Crucifix
By Morf Morford
We may not think about it very much, but we identify ourselves, and define others, by symbols. Whether by certain colors or sports teams logos, uniforms, the cars we drive…
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Syria. Why history matters.
My bachelors degree is in History from the University of Colorado. General history. I studied world history, American history, ancient history, any and all kinds of history. I took a…
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Schrödinger's Bible
By John Watson
Is our understanding of the Bible not just limited, but actually flawed? Has our cultural inheritance led us to misapply ancient Greek thinking to the Word of God? As scientists…
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Hating the Poor but Loving Jesus?
A popular praise song – among my favorites – pleads, “Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord. I want to see you.” Do we really? Apparently the hearts of many…
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On respect, responsibility, and Mrs. Hall’s open letter to teenaged girls
Last week I saw dozens of people linking to a post written as an open letter to teen girls from the mom of several boys. Almost as quickly as that…
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Now on the Red Carpet: Nancy Ortberg
Today we’re chatting with Nancy Ortberg —author, speaker, consultant, wife and mother—about justice, a new generation of Christians and using our spending power to do good. Nancy, you’re one…
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Syria: The Stuff No One Wants To Talk About
By Jon Huckins
I have read countless articles from political, religious and ethical perspectives on why or why not the U.S. should militarily intervene against the Syrian regime. Most do a decent job…
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Blessed are the Retweeters …
Blessed are the Retweeters … …for they will inherit good feelings about themselves and a ‘job well done.’ At first there were hints and murmers. A share here. A ‘forward…
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Looking for someone to bomb ….
Does it ever seem to you that there are some unknown group of folks in and around the US White House who are just looking for someone to bomb? It…