How To (and Not To) Respond to the Current Crisis in the Middle East
BY: JON HUCKINS -- My heart is heavy. Every day for the past week, every social media outlet has...
Healing Toxic Faith: Did Jesus die to save us from God?
Why did Jesus have to die? Was it to appease a wrathful God's demand for punishment? Does that mean Jesus died to save us from God? How could someone ever truly love or trust a God like that? How can that ever ...
Why This Christian Will Never Own a Gun
As a Christian and a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) I often struggle with Scripture and how God intends for me to live in the world. Jesus and our faith demands of us to make difficult decision...
Of Hell, Heaven, Sikhs and Christian education for little kids
What's the goal of faith-based work: Getting people to believe something or offering help and healing regardless of beliefs?
The recent experience of Elly Scott, a brilliant young writer in Knoxville whom I'v...
Why I Went To A Sikh Temple Last Week
I wasn’t sure what to expect as we pulled into the parking lot of a local Sikh Temple last Wednesday night, but I assumed it would be culturally enlightening and offer a glimpse into a worldview and religiou...
Another Week. More Innocent People Die. Wash. Rinse. Repeat
Last weekend I wrote in Red Letter Christians remembering the victims of the Aurora, Colorado and contrasting the paralyzing debate between gun control and weapon rights advocates with the nonviolent teachings...
Clarence Jordan Never Said, “Nothing can be done.”
Clarence Jordan and Millard Fuller -- Photo Courtesy of Fuller Center for Housing
This Sunday marks what would have been the 100th birthday of farmer and New Testament scholar Clarence Jordan (July 29, 1912...
The Myth of Redemptive Violence
I had a veteran friend once tell me, “The biggest lie I have ever been told is that violence is evil, except in war.” He went on, “My government told me that. My Church told me that. My family told me t...
Senseless Violence in the Theater and on the Screen
During what one moviegoer hypothesized as "part of the movie, " 12 people were shot and killed with 38 more wounded during a midnight showing of "The Dark Night Rises" outside of Denver late last night. The Pre...
The Gospel of Rutba: Saved on the Streets of Iraq
Hardly anyone ever visits our community, Rutba House, without asking, “So what does Rutba mean?” Once someone confessed they thought it must be an obscure Old Testament character they’d forgotten.
But I al...