Crucible of Thought

This is Part One of a four-part series on the various Christian doctrines of the afterlife.

You can watch this on YouTube at https://youtu.be/WOKE70TxluM

Dogmatism is often used to build a tribe, and strengthen its borders, often by threatening shunning for those who so much as question the dogma. But doctrinal humility and cheerfully welcoming uncertainty will ultimately build the Kingdom in ways that dogmatism cannot.

You can also read this episode at https://crucibleofthought.com/dogmatism

Welcome to the second video podcast episode for Crucible of Thought. You can consider this a bit of an experiment; after about a hundred audio-only episodes, I've decided I'd really like to start interviewing people that have caught my attention and are saying things I'd like to understand further. So this is a sort of warm-up experiment using the technologies I'll need for future interviews.

This is the very first video podcast episode for Crucible of Thought. You can consider this a bit of an experiment; after about a hundred audio-only episodes, I've decided I'd really like to start interviewing people that have caught my attention and are saying things I'd like to understand further. So this is a sort of warm-up experiment using the technologies I'll need for future interviews.

So as a sort of practice video podcast, a close friend and I had a discussion about tithing. We both attended the same church for quite a few years, and both stopped attending that same church about the same time, as we both went through a time of rethinking the fundamentals of our faith and doctrines. We talk here about our own experiences in our former evangelical church and its teachings and practices around tithing, and some ways that those were harmful despite claiming to be biblical.

You can also find this video on the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiW1ANwwqQY

The Bible is full of apparent inconsistencies. What do we do with them, and is it possible that God actually is just fine with an imperfect collection of writings about the relationship between God and mankind? I think so, and here are some thoughts about why that is.

https://crucibleofthought.com/a-perfectly-imperfect-bible

This is Episode 93. Some thoughts on infant baptism and universal salvation. It no longer seems quite as alien an idea as it did when I was steeped in evangelical theology.

You can also read this episode at https://crucibleofthought.com/on-babies-baptism-and-universal-salvation

I've been thinking about how I can safely and morally join with a church for missional work, even though I find myself fundamentally opposed to joining or building any institutional church. The word that came to me was "partnering," and here are some thoughts.

You can also read this episode at https://crucibleofthought.com/partnering-despite-differing/

When we think about foreign policy, it's easy to forget that nations are made up of people, and how we treat individual people was incredibly important to Jesus, far more than national identities.

You can also read this episode at https://crucibleofthought.com/nations-and-individuals

Those maps showing a shrinking Palestine are widely disputed by Zionism supporters, but there are some major problems with those counter claims. But there's a better way than political or military solutions.

You can also read this episode at https://crucibleofthought.com/about-those-maps-of-a-shrinking-palestine/

Some kinds of testimony probably do more harm than good. Too often, a story about ourselves comes across as an accusation about the other, and actually harms our witness. We can do better.

You can also read this post at https://crucibleofthought.com/a-different-kind-of-testimony/