Have you ever been annoyed when a spiritual guru has told you to do some self-exploration?  I think that’s fair.  There’s enough self-absorption in our country that when another Christian pastor or spiritual leader tells people to “look inward” or to “know thyself” that it sounds like New Age Narcissism.  Often times, Christians object to [...]

“So some have doubted.  But then in turn there were some who sought to refute doubt with reasons.  As a matter of fact, the connection was actually this: first of all they tried to demonstrate the truth of Christianity with reasons or by advancing reasons in relations to Christianity.  And the reasons fostered doubt and [...]

Don’t you hate overly serious pastors?  Don’t you know that their earnestness belies their insecurity?  When one’s in a position of spiritual authority, be it a situation where we counsel, preach, or lead a meeting, there can be a temptation to use seriousness to gain leverage.  By being overly serious about a matter, we can [...]

In last night’s show of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart spent a segment laying into Keith Olberman, host of MSNBC’s Countdown. He is the liberal equivalent to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, and he used to be a host of ESPN’s Sports Center.  He’s known for his quick wit, fast-talking diatribes and punchy rhetoric.  I don’t [...]

Anyone want to read the Bible more this coming year?  It’s a favorite New Year’s resolution for Christians.  Often times we start from the beginning and then get bogged down in the early books.  We give up before we get out of the month of January.   If you’re looking for a new way to [...]

Two days ago my kids sneaked off with a box of strawberry cake batter mix from our pantry.  They ran to their room and opened it with the intention of eating the mix.  Not surprisingly, when they opened the bag some of the mix began to spill on the floor.  This became a game for [...]

There are a lot of poor people in Cincinnati.  I was there for a wedding earlier this year.  I was staying at a hotel in the city, so I wanted to be prepared in case I ran into any beggars.  I went to a drug store where they sold gift cards to fast food restaurants [...]

Don Miller learns to live an exciting story.  That should be the subtitle to this book.  In the process of trying to turn his Blue Like Jazz book into a movie, he comes face-to-face with the reality that he is living a boring life.  He has to sit down with the movie producers and turn [...]

When I read that God said to Abraham, offer up your son as a sacrifice, I wonder if this story should have been left out of the Bible.  What does it have to do with a loving God and his relationship with his people?  Isn’t this just at best a bizarre case of emotional manipulation [...]

The following is an excerpt from a recent ordination paper that I wrote which sought to answer the following question: Explain the effect of power and privilege in areas of race, economic class and gender upon your life and ministry.
If racism is a “system of advantage based on race,” (Tatum, Beverly Why are all the Black [...]