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Mercy Not Sacrifice

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Pharisees

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June 2020

June 03, 2020

Why True Christianity Is Anarchist

I wanted to take a few moments to talk about anarchism since Donald Trump has...

February 2020

February 01, 2020

Resisting Harm Is What Holiness Is For

One way to talk about the tragic division in contemporary American Christianity is to say...

April 2018

April 13, 2018

Control: The Greatest Temptation of Satan

One of my favorite songs by the dark industrial synthpop band VNV Nation is "Control"...

August 2017

August 08, 2017

Is it un-Christ-like to drag a famous theologian online?

I got in trouble this weekend for a Facebook post in which I expressed regret...

July 2017

July 17, 2017

If Jesus Had Been Eugene Peterson

Members of the Sanhedrin, I understand that the charges against me are quite serious. So...

April 2017

April 21, 2017

The debate that’s older than Paul’s letter to the Galatians (#NoSuchLaw)

The United Methodist Church faces a major flashpoint next week when our Judicial Council meets...

April 05, 2016

Can Jesus save us from keeping score? #MercyNotSacrifice

From now until the release of my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us,...

November 2015

November 01, 2015

Seven points of contention in today’s reformation

So it's that time of year known as Reformation Sunday when we remember the anniversary...

September 2015

September 30, 2015

Jesus would have met with Kim Davis and Gene Robinson

Nothing makes Jesus facepalm more than the stupid oversimplifications of our culture war. Apparently, some...

July 2015

July 07, 2015

Six scriptures I would use to address Kevin DeYoung’s 40 questions for rainbow flag-waving Christians

Kevin DeYoung’s 40 questions for rainbow-flag waving Christians has been making rounds across the internet...

May 2015

May 14, 2015

Jesus’ holiness vs. our moralism (with Debra Hirsch)

I've been reading Debra Hirsch's Redeeming Sex as part of the Patheos Book Club for...

May 11, 2015

How would Jesus behave on social media?

Christians behave badly on social media. We're rude. We're arrogant. We gossip. We spread rumors....

May 15, 2014

Jesus, you tell us not to judge but…

If there's one thing that progressive and fundamentalist Christians demonstrate their enthusiastic agreement upon, it's...

April 2014

April 01, 2014

Nothing outside you can make you unclean

In week four of LifeSign's "Jesus vs. the Pharisees" series, we look at a key...

March 2014

March 05, 2014

Jesus vs the Pharisees: A Debate on Holiness (my Lenten sermon series)

One of the most important and often neglected threads of the gospel stories of Jesus...

February 2014

February 11, 2014

What makes God mad? My hard heart.

This weekend, I had the perfect setup for a stereotypical social justice Christian sermon. I...

August 2013

August 16, 2013

Everyday we’re posturing (Christian sin-talk with @RachelHeldEvans, @KevinWatson, and @RenovatusPastor)

To paraphrase that annoying hit dance song "Party Rock," everyday we're posturing. What I mean...

July 2013

July 09, 2013

What are the “weightier matters of the law”? (Matthew 23:23)

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "weightier matters of the law"? It...

April 2013

April 22, 2013

Why I clash with the gatekeepers

I often clash with the gatekeepers of Christian orthodoxy. I'm sure that I get under...

April 17, 2013

Maybe God is angry at people who project their anger onto Him

If you want to know who God is really angry at, maybe you should read...

April 02, 2013

Fleeing the wrath to come vs. hearing the voice of love

A few months ago, a friend wrote a blog asking whether the teachings of Henri...

August 2012

August 23, 2012

Worship not performance

In contemporary Christian worship, a distinction is often made between worship that is "really worship"...

August 06, 2012

Sabbath healing as a paradigm for Christian morality

"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). This is...

May 2012

May 17, 2012

"I desire mercy not sacrifice"

"Go and find out what this means: 'I desire mercy not sacrifice'" (Matthew 9:13). There...

May 17, 2012

“I desire mercy not sacrifice”

"Go and find out what this means: 'I desire mercy not sacrifice'" (Matthew 9:13). There...

January 2012

January 12, 2012

Why I hate doctrine but love Jesus (response to a similarly named video)

Over the last two days, a video by spoken word artist Jeff Bethke called "Why...

October 2011

October 13, 2011

Does God hate people? (A response to Mark Driscoll)

Mark Driscoll created another controversy recently in a sermon when he told his listeners that...

May 2011

May 16, 2011

Pride: How We Hide Our Nakedness

Deadly Sin Sermon Series, 4 out of 9 -- 11/6/2010 Texts: Genesis 3:1-13; Luke 18:9-14...