Last time we met up, we checked out the first part of an evangelical pastor’s terrible listicle (archive) about Jesus’ resurrection. He wanted his flocks to feel more certain that Jesus’ resurrection really happened in the real world. And I’ve no doubt that he did very best he could to Read more
Most Christians agree that the most important part of their entire religion centers on Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Even the most liberal Christians generally think that even if they can consider the whole rest of the Bible to be mythic in nature, Jesus absolutely died and then resurrected himself in Read more
When an abusive evangelical pastor, Christian Watts, tried to downplay his grooming of a teenager decades earlier, he described his predation as ‘my past sin.’ That’s a time-honored tactic for people caught in his exact circumstances. Let’s take a closer look at this tactic to see why it works so well in evangelical culture.
It’s the unforgivable sin. The worst thing a Christian can possibly do. Jesus himself declares in two gospels that if someone commits it, he’ll never forgive them, ever. And yet Christians have never known exactly what it is or how to tell if they’ve done it.