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The Bullshit of Sola Scriptura

 One of the central tenants of the Protestant movement is the idea of Sola Scriptura, or "Only Scripture." It's the tenant that in many Evangelical and Protestant circles holds up the idea of the Bible as the Fourth leg of the Trinity, or worse, believes that when the Bible talks about the "Word" it means itself, and not the Logos (Christ). There are several problems I have with Sola Scriptura. The first is that it limits the ongoing revelation of God, and His restoration of creation. If creation is indeed being restored to what it should have always been, then God is moving. And it means that the bible needs to be understood in it's own context. But for many Protestants, this view of scripture has elevated it from the Inspired Word of God, which (to borrow from the Orthodox  Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko),  writings which constitute the true and genuine expressions of His Truth and His Will for His People and for the whole world , and instead becomes a frozen...
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Why don't we test our leaders?

 I was listening to Scot McKnight talking about his work "A Church Called Tov", and one of the things he questions is why we simply accept what pastors say without question. He also warned of certain denominations that have very little oversight over their pastors. In particular the bible church. This made me think of a church I attended for many years, which was a large bible church (well, large for my area). The pastor was very charismatic, and the worship was great, but I always had some theological problems with the teaching. In retrospect, I ignored a lot of things that should have been red flags because I was already shaking my head saying "oh, brother." One of these was the pastor getting the Greek goddesses Aphrodite and Artemis confused, and their worship. Or the time that they asserted that St. Lydia (the Deaconess of Philippi) had turned away from the faith later. Now that I think about it, I looked it up, there's no Church tradition (as this pastor c...
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What is the Bible? How does it relate to Jesus? What is the foundation of faith?

 I'm going to preface this with: my position here is evolving. I'm not 100% sure what I believe, I can only write what I'm wrestling with, and pray for further prompting. Right now, I have more questions than answers. I'm sure some of what I'm saying is going to make people uncomfortable, it makes me uncomfortable! But Jesus didn't call us to comfort, He called us to follow Him. I was listening to the "A Pastor and a Philosopher Walk Into a Bar" this morning, and they were talking to Pete Enns. I think I need to listen again to what they talked about, because talk about foundation shaking! I never really expected after I asserted "Jesus is real, I will follow" that I would find my religion (by which I mean neither my faith in Jesus, nor my faith in the Church Universal, but the specific practices and beliefs that I have built in support of the goal of following Jesus [thanks Brian Zahnd]) so thoroughly shaken. Before I start asking too many q...
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Renovation of Faith

 I've spent a lot of time over the last several years wondering about my faith, about the church, and about Jesus. I've felt lost, alone, and isolated. I've felt like what I read in the bible about Jesus and his earliest followers is so utterly disconnected from our modern Christian reality that I've questioned if we even have the right to call ourselves the church. We (Western, white, American Christianity) seem pre-occupied with politics, whether that's democrats or republicans; hot button issues that consume a significant amount of our energy but produce no results; shallow, empty faith that professes one thing, but doesn't live it; modeling ourselves after successful brands and companies; spending our resources on things that don't matter. And in all of that avoiding issues that the Church should be concerned about: the oppression of people of color, the plight of women both in and outside the church, the corrupt powers that allow people to work for star...
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