Are you a lost cause to God? Are some people so bad that there is no hope of them ever being redeemed? There are certainly those who have been treated that way by religion, cut off, and left outside of religious community life. Even Jesus seems to imply in the Parable of the Sower that, […]

Once upon a time. It’s a phrase that has begun so many stories. It causes us to lean in, ready to hear what comes next because stories are powerful. Jesus told a lot of stories. His parables were a way of explaining the kingdom of God that he was ushering in. But sometimes his parables […]

Is the church really a family? Plenty of people have had experiences in the church that feel opposite to what we expect from family, but Jesus had a different view. He called God “Father” and his followers “brothers and sisters.” The challenge is that religion and family are two very different things. Is it possible […]

A quick search of comments online reveals that sometimes Christians can just be mean. The experience of many people outside the church is that Christians can be harsh, cruel, and judgmental. This does not describe all followers of Jesus, but the reality is there is a behavior gap in how religious people express their Christianity. […]

Religion is the organization of principles and practices around the worship of something or someone. People develop the rules of religion to try and get their relationship with God right. But like any man-made system, people can disagree about how the rules of religion are interpreted and applied. People who follow the same religion can […]

If you’ve ever looked for a new church or explored faith for the first time you know how complicated it can be. Religion that looks delicious on the surface can be awful once you take a big bite. Jesus was deeply concerned about this. He saved his harshest criticism for religion that looked good from […]

We all have deal breakers in our relationships, unforgivable things that can damage our relationships beyond repair. But are there deal breakers in our relationship with God? Is there an unforgivable sin that we could commit that is so bad that God simply can’t get over it? If so what is it, and what does […]

It makes sense that just religion would be rooted in justice. But how that plays out depends on what your definition of justice is. That word can mean different things to different people, and our definitions can cause us to have totally different outcomes in our lives. Jesus had a different definition of justice than […]

It makes sense that Christianity, the religion built around following Jesus, should be like he described – restful, easy to bear, light. So why isn’t that true for so many people? There’s so much tribalism, conflict, and division happening in large parts of the church that being a Christian can actually seem stressful. Why does […]

The Bible is full of stories and commands that can be confusing and complicated. How we interpret those things can either determine how we live out our faith or whether we are willing to trust the Bible at all. How do we interpret problematic parts of the Bible when so many people have different opinions […]