Snarky Faith

This week, we'll break down Trump's executive order on religious liberty and why it's a bad idea for America and Christianity. Evangelicals rejoice every time orders or legislation like this are signed. If they actually understood the fundamental issue with proclamations like these, they would realize that they are very un-Jesus-y. They are damaging to the focus of the Christian faith and also sully the compassionate ways of Jesus. Do Christians care? Probably not.

These are simply legal proclamations that are more political than they are religious and that's a huge problem. When political power becomes our God, the actual God of the Bible becomes inert and feckless. God in the political sphere doesn't matter if we can find our own political gods. Religiously speaking, this is idolatry and it has nothing to do with the Kingdom of God or its ethics. It's more akin to Jim Bakker's end-of-times food buckets. They're all show, little substance and they play to the conservative base. In the end, they don't accomplish much aside from pushing the fake narrative that Christians are persecuted and need to withdraw and insulate themselves from the prevailing culture. Such a withdrawal is a direct affront to the Kingdom of God and actually has little to do with religious liberty.

So what does all of this accomplish? Not much. It just serves to allow the faithful to acquiesce their responsibilities as a follower of Jesus. In effect, they've become spiritual spectators of the faith. Join us as we talk through this smoke screen that only seeks to distract us from what matters most. Will we be snarky? You bet. More importantly, we'll hit on this and the rest of the Christian craziness of the week.

Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world.

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The legacy of Evangelicalism is pretty grim. With the culmination and climax of their pursuits in the man and character of Donald Trump, any amount of spiritual or ethical morality has been long evaporated. Their quest for power has come with many costs, the most paramount being the erosion of congregations across America. Evangelicalism is a cancer to Christianity. When it comes to cancer, it must be removed from the body to survive.

We'll delve into many of the causes and cancers of this malignancy of faith. The leaders are consumed with power. The congregants are deluded with self-comfort and the world continues on. Does any of this have to do with Jesus or the movement he started? Nope. Does that matter to the religious pious vying for scraps of political influence? No. The legacy of Evangleicialsm and thirst for status will be its own undoing. The threads are beginning to fray, but thankfully, none of this has to do with Jesus. Jesus abhorred the power structures of his day and today, he would feel much the same.

The road to redemption lies in the difficult road of self-reflection and looking deep into the sins of our past and present. It's not an easy road to travel, but it is the necessary road nonetheless. Righting the ship isn't an easy path to take. It's painful especially because it calls us to own up to our own mistakes and sins. The path of forgiveness and redemption was never meant to be an easy path. Though it's a path that Jesus calls us to. American Evangelicalism must repent and own up to its own failings in order to return to the ways and teachings of Jesus. This may sound dire, but it's exactly the servant posture we are called to take on as followers of Jesus. To embrace these humble ways, we must be willing to travel this path.

Evangelicalism may die, but the ways of Jesus will continue and that's not such a bad thing.

Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world.

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This week, we'll hold the mirror up to American Christianity letting its followers have a look at the monster they have created in the name of Jesus. We'll take a scattershot approach delving into the Christian news media and letting their own pressing articles and news to inform us about the most important issues within the faith. We'll skewer through their hypocrisy. When you take a look at Christian media and blogs as an overview of what currently matters most to Christians. The results are pretty sick.

We'll talk about Christianity's current obsession with all things, not Jesus, as we assess many of the root problems plaguing faith in America. We'll run through issues of fake persecution harping on the wrong and inconsequential issues, having false historical idols, being self-serving, and a myriad of other offenses as we blaze through Christianity through their pop-culture's own lenses and news outlets.

Looking into what's important to them, we'll let their lead stories inform the answers and chart a path to nowhere. The results are along the lines of what one would expect. It's not a snarky takedown. We'll let them do that on their own. Don't worry, there's plenty of holy snark to spread around in the process. I'm sure you'll enjoy the journey through missing the point. Join us as we deconstruct why the faith has gone awry and hopefully, chart a path to right the ship. There's always hope but that only happens when we cling close to the ways and teaching of Jesus and shed the religious bullshit of the times.

Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world.

www.SnarkyFaith.com

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Christianity’s obsession with the ‘end times’ is nothing new. From Tim LaHaye to Jim Bakker, it's rapture porn at its finest. This eschatological obsession abdicates its followers from actively engaging in the world around them. It’s a spiritual Brexit of sorts, where we look to the heavens and ignore the problems here on Earth. This theological strand makes a faith that brandishes itself with a philosophical, idealized otherworld that doesn’t exist in order to move through this life without getting one’s hands dirty. Simply put, this world doesn't matter because the afterlife is everything. The problem is that we find ourselves in a world that God made that is full of dirt, creatures, and humanity. To scoff at God’s creation scoffs at the nature of God.

With all of that being said, why do we obsess on escapist theology? I know it’s easy and following Christ is hard, but is simply that it? The easy road instead of the hard road? That sounds more like materialistic, selfish thinking than the Kingdom of God thinking. Once we deviate from what Christ commanded and move into a place where faith becomes comfortable, do we have a faith at all?

Join us as we talk through the crazy obsession of end-times thinking and escapist theology as we skewer through Christianity in America. Have we lost our focus? You bet. Is this blindness a sign of something more devious? Absolutely. We cannot remain complacent in a world that is full of chaos, injustice, and greed, especially if we, in America, elected Chaos into the Oval Office all in the name of Christianity.

Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world.

www.SnarkyFaith.com

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With all that is crazy and ugly in American Christianity, there is always hope. After all, Jesus didn't come to start a new religion or jumpstart an old one. He wasn't into nationalism or populism. He was never about getting rich or powerful. Jesus came to give us a different way to engage with the world, a new set of Kingdom-minded ethics that will always be in conflict with the prevailing empire of the day. The way of Jesus is still very alive; you just might not find in a church.

I’ve recently had various conservative trolls calling me out and trying to find a label that fits my faith, worldview, and ethical system. While that I appreciate their efforts, labels are not what interest me; action is. Labels are effective tools for tribal identity, but they are also effective ways to categorize and wholeheartedly dismiss a person or a group. Labels are what are polarizing our country. We cease to see the individuality of people and only see the broadly painted groups to which they ascribe.

For contrast sake and to feed the trolls a bit, we'll seek to find out more about the Christian left. It’s not about answers but pursuing what is happening within progressive Christianity. With our show, it’s never about the point. It’s all about the conversation, and we’re not seeking labels but always seeking how to right the ship of American Christianity and put it back on the path of being like Jesus.

We also delve into the alarming fact that 51% of Christians have no idea what the Great Commission is. This is a symptom of why the faith has gone off the rails. If you don’t know what Jesus is about, how could you possibly understand how to move the faith forward? Things like this scream to why the religious right has hijacked Christianity. If we don’t know what it means to follow Jesus, then why do we call ourselves followers of Jesus? Maybe this is part of the problem with American Christianity.

Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world.

www.SnarkyFaith.com

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