Tonight, two Texas news outlets prepare to unleash a major report regarding an epidemic of abuse in Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) churches. They titled it Abuse of Faith. I can well imagine how the SBC’s top leaders must be bracing for it! Today, I’ll show you a little of what those leaders are afraid will come out in it–and what their reaction so far looks like.
When people receive information that challenges a cherished belief, they have at their disposal a number of methods to help them negate that information. We call those methods antiprocess. The further from reality the belief is, the more antiprocess believers bring to bear to protect it–so you can imagine that authoritarian Christians bring their A game to that task! Today, I’ll show you how antiprocess works, how it looks in the wild, and what it means for Christianity’s future.
Did you ever notice that the most intrusive and control-hungry Christians also tend to claim that Christianity boasts a historically-accurate Bible? There’s a reason for that. I’ll show you why, today.
The mockery of The Passion of the Christ continues. Jesus dodges questions (and a few blows), Pontius Pilate guards the Narnian door to Rome, and women are inconvenienced by premonitions. Through the magic of subtitles, guest columnist ssj injects a half-pound of heresy into every scene.
We’ll lay out a basic definition of claims and defenses of claims. And we’ll start looking at one major claim within the religion: that it is based on real history. We’ll see how persuasive this claim really is–and see if the evidence stacks up behind it. And then we’ll examine some big problems with the idea of historicity as a claim for the religion’s truthfulness.
To be an authoritarian Christian is to live in constant, unending, ever-ratcheting-upward fear. They fear so many things! Today, I want to show you another important feature of these folks: their terror of loss. I don’t mean simply loss of objects or people they love, either. They’re also terrified of losing any confrontations in which they find themselves, as well. Here, I’ll show you the lengths to which this fear drives those suffering from it, and how they seek to soothe that fear.
Ed Stetzer accidentally created a false belief! And ever since he popularized this idea, it’s assumed a life of its own. Here is how he did it, why he did it, and most importantly what it means for his religion’s future.
Last year, we began talking about a book called How the Great Pan Died. Some of us even located used copies of this out-of-print 1968 work. Finally, we plunge into formal discussion about it! Come join us for an intriguing look at the possible origins of Christianity–and a look at possibly how everything went hideously wrong.
Ed Stetzer wrote a recent post seeking to reassure his tribe, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). He wants them to stop panicking about their kids’ disengagement from Christianity. But this attempt backfires in the end, just like everything else the SBC is doing to halt its decline.
Bludgeons can’t have soft edges. And neither can those wielding them.