The word “faith” is short and appears innocuous. But it has caused much human misery in history and continues to do so presently. A good first step in addressing this problem is to appreciate that “faith,” like most words, has multiple meanings. The type of faith discussed in this essay will be confined to religious [...] [...more]
I attended church for years in multiple places. I asked many questions which were never answered. Indeed, it seemed that no one that I knew had ever asked themselves the questions that plagued me. One day I was in Sunday School in a Methodist church which I had been attending for several months. The teacher was [...] [...more]
Early in my Junior year of high school, my mom decided to move back “home” to West Virginia. Well, it was still home for her, at least, but after a decade in Florida it was no longer home for me; I felt terribly out of place. I was a strange and lonely kid who read [...] [...more]
Bart Ehrman is a bible scholar who started his career as a conservative evangelical, but eventually became an agnostic. Most of his students and colleagues are believers so he never ridicules Christianity. He just gives a clear, dispassionate account of its historical origins. For me, his polite tone made his critique even more devastating. For example, [...] [...more]
In the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, who is a Baptist minister, stated “I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what [...] [...more]
When considering ancient stories of miracles, we have to keep in mind the problem of translation and revision. For instance, many scholars believe that the word people have translated through the ages as “carpenter” may have been mistranslated. “Laborer” is probably more accurate. (See, for one, Gospel Truth by Russell Shorto). For all we know, [...] [...more]
I and the Father are one. (John 10:30) In a human family, the father is traditionally recognized as leader of the pack. He is physically the largest, and he frequently has the meanest temper. In my own family of ten, dad was alpha. As with many families of my generation, this alpha often went [...] [...more]
As a child, I always had a deep reverence for the Presbyterian Church I attended in the Philadelphia suburbs. It wasn’t so much the religious teachings that inspired me as it was the ambiance – creaky wooden floors, hard brown pews, arched doorways and windows, a pleasant musty smell, rich stained-glass, colorful tapestries, graceful floral [...] [...more]
A few years ago a close friend (whom I’ll call Tom) convinced me, against my better judgment, to visit the Sunday school class that he and his wife were attending. It was in a fundamentalist Baptist church. He was so pleased with his experience there that my wife and I finally gave in. We attended [...] [...more]
