Hi and welcome back! Lately, we’ve been talking about a podcast called Gospelbound. It’s a production of The Gospel Coalition, a hard-right Calvinist evangelical group online. In this particular episode of Gospelbound, two guys talk about all the awful persecution that their tribe totally faces. Except this persecution is largely a complete Read more
For a bit now, we’ve been looking at an evangelical podcast called Gospelbound. In the specific episode we listened to, two Christians outlined their strategies for reversing their religion’s decline. Interestingly, both strategies reveal the speakers’ distinct lack of faith in their own religious claims. Today, let’s marvel at their accidental reveal — and ask what their strategies might look like if they actually believed that anything they said about their god was true.
Hi and welcome back! We had to stop the presses today. My goodness, that Hillsong megachurch is just struggling hard these days, isn’t it? Yesterday, we learned about a third American church of theirs that’s been hit by scandal. Today, let’s review Hillsong’s recent past and newest scandal. And then, let’s wonder Read more
The tagline TGC created for Gospelbound claims it offers listeners “firm faith in an anxious age.” Of course, it does nothing of the sort. Instead, it offers the usual authoritarian blahblah from the most toxic elements in their entire end of Christianity. I’ve saved the most alarming of that blahblah for last: their oh-so-very Calvinist plan for churn reduction. They think more control over congregants means less churn from their churches. Today, I’ll show you what that means — and why it’s such a laughable contradiction of the supernatural claims of authoritarians.
Gospelbound’s own marketing claims that it will give listeners ‘firm faith in an anxious age.’ We checked out their most recent episode, about a TGC-produced book called Before You Lose Your Faith, and we weren’t impressed. But hey, maybe they just forgot about their target audience because they were talking about their own book. So I wanted to check out what else they were telling potential doubters. Today, let’s evaluate another of their episodes — from the point of view of a Christian who desperately needs a jolt of ‘firm faith in an anxious age.’
TGC’s people think that churches need to step up to be safe harbors for Christians struggling with their faith. That’s an impossible demand, but also a very safe one for them to make.
Hi and welcome back! Recently, we covered a post by Brett McCracken on The Gospel Coalition (TGC) (archive link). In it, he slammed deconversion and ex-Christians in the most hateful and contemptuous ways imaginable. But at least he demonstrated nicely that evangelicals have finally begun to notice the process of Read more
Hi and welcome back! Of late, I’m noticing a new trend in the news: the children of celebrity pastors are starting to speak up — and against their famous parents. PKs, or preachers’ kids, already have a rough row to hoe. But the ones with celebrity parents have kept pretty quiet Read more
Lately, we’ve been talking about a dumb post that Brett McCracken wrote recently on The Gospel Coalition (TGC) (archive link). In it, he outlined what he thinks TRUE CHRISTIANITY™ involves—so he could then demand people try it before leaving his religion entirely. Along the way, he also created a strawman Read more
This past week, we had a really good time examining Brett McCracken’s post on The Gospel Coalition (TGC) (archive link). In it, he accidentally demonstrated how very little he understands of deconversion. He also offered up what might be the three most ridiculous reasons ever concocted to stick with Christianity. We covered the first and second of those already. Today, we’ll tackle his third reason: ‘bespoke spirituality’s loneliness.’ Gosh, ya’ll, the suspense is killing me! Will a TRUE CHRISTIAN™ finally manage to win his tribe’s beloved game of Last Ideology Standing? We’ll find out today.