Hi and welcome back! I had a laugh earlier today looking at something online that was written by a very worried-sounding Christian conspiracy theorist: Oh gosh, y’all, what if Yahweh himself is really one of the Anunnaki? See, that’s the biggest problem with believing in a powerful being who doesn’t actually Read more
Today, let me show you the increasing lengths some folks will go to for privacy — and how it can be destroyed.
Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about how the idea of Hell began and how it changed in early Christianity. We’re now up to the momentous 4th century, when Christianity underwent a whole lot of big shifts. Today, let me introduce you to Augustine of Hippo — and show you Read more
I’m sure Randy Adams thought the SBC’s election this week would run along similar lines — or at least give him a chance to publicize his accusations against the main leaders of his denomination. Make no mistake: he’s got a lot of those accusations.
Hi and welcome back! Last time we visited Hell, we checked out what the second wave of Christians (2nd – very early 4th century) thought of the idea. And we saw these Christians slowly embellishing and extending the initial ‘lake of fire’ idea. Today, let’s see what the third wave Read more
Today, let’s look at the SBC meeting, the election of Ed Litton, and just the sheer audacious state of these guys.
We tracked the prehistory of Hell already, so today, let’s look at what 2nd-4th century Christians did with the idea of it.
Years ago, I used to be so scared of being proven wrong. In my old (authoritarian) crowd, if someone got discovered to be wrong, that meant they were vulnerable to attack — and inevitably they got attacked. But in science, it’s okay if something turns out to be wrong.
I had not yet learned that authoritarianism itself precludes sincerity or faithfulness in Christianity. Individual Christians might cultivate these traits, but there is no way to have a whole group of them reliably doing the same thing. Sooner or later, a bad-faith actor gets into that group — and wrecks it, often before it’s even really gotten off the ground.
In these two letters, Moore tries very hard to portray himself as a man of deep principles and great morality: a hero in every sense of the word, fighting hard against the enemies of good in the halls of power in his denomination. Alas, his actual behavior doesn’t quite support that portrayal. Today, we’ll see how Russell Moore fits into his own self-presentation as a big damn hero.