A lot of people are trying to “detox” from evangelicalism.

That means that people are taking a second look at our previous “assumptions” about the Bible.  People are not so sure the Bible says what we thought.  People are trying to create a gentler Christianity, one that’s not so fundamentalistic.  People are trying to build bridges, break stereotypes, and avoid (or remain vague about) topics like sin and hell.  We’re trying to stop making people mad at us for being Christians.

We hope all this makes us more attractive to “seekers” and outsiders.  We’d like people to think that it’s easy to become a Christian.  We don’t have to agree on much, just one or two really important things.  The rest, well, who can really know what the Bible says?  It’s all up to interpretation.  Sounds good to me.

But while a lot of young evangelical Christians are comfortable staying in this cloudy, Brian McLaren / Rob Bell kind of Christianity, branded as a perpetual “conversation,” who is actually winning the hearts of this generation?

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(Sunday morning, this post was born prematurely and unfinished.  I hate when I click the wrong publish date.  Sorry about that.)

I don’t know if the recent debate on heaven and hell is finally dying down.

Some people say the especially firey debate may represent a permanent divide in evangelicalism that may never heal.  Oh no!  All that Christian unity we’ve been working on with each other, down the drain!

I chimed in a few weeks ago and told you that I want to be a universalist.  Like a lot of people hoping for a nicer, gentler, hell-free Christianity, I want everyone to get to the good place.  I got an avalanche of responses.

But, although I want to be a universalist, I’ve got to tell you that I still believe in hell.  You know the oldest protest to the idea of hell.  “How could a loving God send people to hell?” Yeah, I think that’s the completely the wrong question to be asking.  In fact, I’d say the question we should be asking is, “How could a loving God not send people to hell?”

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Happy Friday, everyone. 

Today, I’m featuring one of the most interesting books I’ve featured here on the blog, Tim O’Donnell’s A View From the Back Pew.  O’Donnell’s book is a unique hybrid.  It’s a compelling spiritual memoir of a Catholic wrestling with religion, and a primer on O’Donnell’s perspective on Christian theology.

The book swings through everything in O’Donnell’s spiritual wanderings, from annoying the nuns at his Catholic school, to taking the Catholic church to task on many traditions (including how Catholics treat Mary), to being confronted by Christians about his practicing yoga, to a prosperity gospel that seemingly actually worked. 

I’ll admit, I wrestled with this book a lot.  But I also couldn’t put it down.  O’Donnell’s beliefs are far from “orthodox.”  But it’s obvious he’s still on a journey of faith and questions, so don’t read his conclusions as gospel truth.  You may hate his theology, or conclude he’s not a “real” Christian.  Or you may be comforted that even with his beliefs and questions, his faith is still intact.  You may read his book as a cautionary tale of the spirituality that the church (especially the Catholic church) is producing.  But his story is addictively compelling, and kept me reading to the end.

I’ve got Tim on the blog today with some great discussion, and we’ll be giving away a couple of copies today too!

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Spring is in the air…along with war.

It’s just kind of a perinneal thing, that old “necessary evil.”  So as the missles fly over Libya, Iraq winds down, and Afganistan is business as usual (read: very little progress), people get to choose again if they “support the troops,” or if they’re “peaceful pacifists.” 

Christians have it extra tough to try to see eye to eye on war.  I suspect that someone who opposed the war in Iraq has a fundamentally different view of America than a guy who supported the war.  But then we throw Jesus into the mix, and we’re just a mess.  We can’t decide what Jesus meant about “turning the other cheek.”

So whether you’re a pacifist, a war hawk, a lover or a fighther, I think I’ve got you all covered…

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Have any of you parents had to answer your kids when they ask you what is a “disco stick?”

Even if you haven’t been in that somewhat…sticky situation, chances are you’ve heard at least one of Lady Gaga’s songs in passing.  Whatever you think of the lyrics, they are infectiously dance worthy.

You’ve probably also seen her on TV.  She’s the one either wearing cuts of beef or emerging from a giant egg.

And her latest song, Born This Way, has been getting a lot of Christians’ attention.  It’s an anthem of self acceptance, especially for gays, transgendered persons and other “alternative” lifestyles.  She even says “God makes no mistakes.”  However you were born, go with it, becuase it’s good.  Some praise the song for singing Jesus’ gospel of love and acceptance.  Other Christians criticize the song, mostly because of it’s pro-gay message.

What no Christians are saying (or anyone else for that matter), is that no matter how much you love or hate the message of accepting how you were born, Lady Gaga is the most ironic, even ridiculous choice to be the preacher of the message.

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Of course, while the disaster in Japan rages on, and we don’t even know what the outcome will be, plenty of people are offering up helpful explanations of why Japan has been hit with such as severe disaster.

Some people say that global warming is actually to blame for the earthquake.  As if atmospheric warming would have any effect on the thousand degree temperature of the earth’s guts.

And as usual, a few “helpful” religious types are saying it’s divine punishment on Japan.  People with a more “granola” orientation say goddess Gaia or Mother Nature is angry because of all our plastic water bottles.

Even atheists take an opportunity like this to crack out the perinneal and supposedly airtight cliche, “Why would a so-called ‘good’ God allow this to happen?”

Does God punish people and nations?  Maybe.  But probably not in the way you’re thinking.

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