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Politics and Religion

2021-07-15T08:10:44-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Beatitudes: what does God require of us?

Last updated on: July 15, 2021 at 8:10 am By Kathryn Shihadah

Recently, we’ve been looking at what Jesus had to say about gaining eternal life. We found that he didn’t always say, “believe in me and pray the Sinner’s Prayer.” In fact, he told his followers clearly that heaven was for those who loved sacrificially. In his words – including the Beatitudes – and miracles, he demonstrated that God wanted faith, not formulas. In short, Jesus was not obsessively focused on doctrine as we often are today. I promised to look... Read more

2021-07-12T08:32:13-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Is God’s grace bigger than we think?

Last updated on: July 12, 2021 at 8:32 am By Kathryn Shihadah

It’s time to interrogate our idea of grace. We’ve been discussing eternal life and the “formula” that many evangelicals believe is the only ticket to heaven. We’ve seen that when Jesus spoke of heaven, at times his teachings didn’t include the “formula”: Here, Jesus encouraged his followers to emulate a man (the Good Samaritan) of a different religion, and this would bring them eternal life. Here, Jesus tells us that we will be eternally rewarded if we cared for the least... Read more

2021-06-30T22:15:48-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The inclusivity of heaven – according to Jesus

Last updated on: June 30, 2021 at 10:15 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

Last time, I promised to take a look at Jesus’ prerequisites for spending eternity in the presence of God. We’ve already looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan and Jesus’ command to “go and do likewise” (i.e. live like the Samaritan – a man of a different religion). The implication here is that God is not as big on theology as on love. A number of readers on Facebook objected to this reading, because after all, “Jesus specifically said that... Read more

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2021-06-28T23:47:10-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The salvation “formula” doesn’t work in the real world

Last updated on: June 28, 2021 at 11:47 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

We’re on the topic of “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” For me, as for most evangelical and/or conservative Christians, this was the easiest question in the world to answer. “Believe in Jesus as your Savior.” Until my paradigm was challenged. Living overseas for a decade, I traveled to dozens of countries (mostly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East). The experience was rich and the people were awesome – but my soul became more and more troubled.... Read more

2021-06-24T20:18:09-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The (not so) secret message of the Good Samaritan

Last updated on: June 24, 2021 at 8:18 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

If you’re like me, you’ve read or heard the parable of the Good Samaritan about a million times – but never understood its real message, although it’s been right in front of us all along. I’ve written about this topic before, but it’s time to circle back. I was recently accused of being “selfish” because I “love people without caring about their eternity” – a sentiment I totally understand because I used to be in that camp, but one that... Read more

2021-06-22T13:04:03-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Evangelicals: seriously, why are you still there?

Last updated on: June 22, 2021 at 1:04 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

I spent most of my life as an evangelical. We were all sinners – wretches even – saved by grace in order to bring glory to our Savior. We did that by faithfully accepting as true all we were taught, and then faithfully applying it to our lives (and the lives of others, when possible). When I was with my Conservative Christian Community (CCC), I was home. We assumed that our Bible teachers had a direct line to God. We... Read more

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2021-06-10T15:15:09-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

My U-turn from evangelical to LGBTQ+ affirming

Last updated on: June 10, 2021 at 3:15 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

In my previous life as an evangelical Christian, I had what I considered a healthy apprehension about gay folks. It was for the sake of my kids (or so I told myself) that I preferred to avoid discussing “that subject,” and sidestep any acknowledgement of the existence of “those people.” Like so many other awkward issues, it was invisible. Actually, it was more normal in our evangelical world to avoid awkward subjects than to discuss them. In all my years of Christian... Read more

2021-06-05T17:48:46-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Can Christians lead the way in re-thinking Hamas?

Last updated on: June 5, 2021 at 5:48 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

“Did you say you want us to ‘re-think Hamas?'” Yes. As in, recognizing it as a legitimate political party and dropping its label as “terrorist organization.” I know. Your first reaction, if you’re at all familiar with Hamas, is, “are you insane? Of course Hamas is a terrorist organization!” Your next thought might be, “egad, you’re a terrorist too, Kathy!” Now that that’s out of your system, let me ask you a second question: What makes you so sure Hamas is... Read more

2021-05-31T09:19:56-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Palestinians don’t just need peace – they need Just Peace

Last updated on: May 31, 2021 at 9:19 am By Kathryn Shihadah

Palestine, especially the injustice in Gaza, is topmost in my heart right now. I have tried to write posts for several days about other topics, but it just doesn’t work. Soon, inshallah, as the situation in the Holy Land returns to a measure of sanity, I will return to regularly scheduled programming (a variety of topics, from abortion to sexual orientation, and most of all, the words of Jesus). (Sidebar: are you registered for my newsletter?) The last time I... Read more

2021-05-20T16:06:51-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Regarding Gaza: don’t say “both sides need to stop”

Last updated on: May 20, 2021 at 4:06 pm By Kathryn Shihadah

From what I’ve seen, more people are engaging with the latest Holy Land crisis than ever before. People who never cared about international issues in the past are interested. Most are willing to learn. There will always be some who have it all figured out, but their numbers may be dwindling a bit. (NOTE: Before I jump into today’s topic, I want to clarify something from one of my Ramadan posts: when I talked about people who are unable to... Read more

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