Ben Witherington on Rachel Held Evans

Ben Witherington's review, "A Searching Book— Rachel Held Evans’ ‘Searching for Sunday,'" is a must read.

It feels like he has articulated some of the issues I have struggled with as I try to find a balance between the conservative and fundamentalist Christianity I've been a part of most of my life and the "crazy liberal" ruminations of various bloggers and writers I seek out, who are struggling with the many flaws of Protestant Evangelicalism.

In this post, Witherington is interacting with RHE's latest book, and he has many specific comments to make about it (good and bad), but I found his comments to speak to a much larger issue.

How does the Church minister to this generation of searching people? Many who grew up in the church are, as adults, hungry for transparency, for "realness" that they didn't see as children. I don't have the words to respond to this article or book, but I wanted to pull out a few choice quotes:

Witherington:

But the church should never never become just like an AA meeting (one suggestion in this book). Why not? Because while we need such meetings, the church should not be focusing on our own brokenness and mainly sharing about that. We should be focusing on His brokenness when he hung on the cross, precisely so we will get away from our self-centered fixation with our own flaws and foibles. The church needs to be relentlessly theocentric in its worship, fellowship, and praxis, not anthropocentric.

On this conflation:

What her book fails to really grapple with however is the major difference between unconditional love and unconditional acceptance of us as we are.

Reiterated:

A loving welcome by Jesus does not exclude incredible demands in regard to our conduct, and indeed even in regard to the lusts of our hearts.

I don't know why these particular words ministered to me so much tonight, but it's encouraged me to keep grappling with these issues and to do so with some source material, such as this blog post.

Bonus: vocab!

I looked up the word "irenic" (to "unify Christian apologetical systems") which then sent me on a Google search.

And the word "desideratum" ("something needed or wanted").

Grief+Joy and Change

I have suddenly found numerous blog posts or articles about changing circumstances and perspectives with a mixture of grief+joy.

They are helping me finally start to put a finger on my life of the last nine years. I'm not ready to expound yet but I need to start the process.

I believe Rebecca Wolfe was one of the first "mommy bloggers" to start making money. I'm not sure why or when I added her to my Feedly account but I usually don't actually read her posts. There are all sorts of differing interests and worldviews reasons why but every few months a blog title catches my eye and I'm reminded that there is something really authentic about the way she writes.

"And keep sailing..." illustrates this fact well, I think, as she writes about the symbol her first purchased home was to her and what it has meant selling

Maybe I first latched onto this post when she said "I still haven't had time to emotionally process what actually went down but that's sort of recurring theme as of late sooooo.... 'Hello feelings, come on in. Take a number. I'll be with you shortly.'" Could I resonate more fully with a sentiment?

And this truth: "When we bought this house, we pictured ourselves staying here forever, but I guess that's normal. Humans don't put down roots while simultaneously planning to uproot them. Still, I have spent the last several weeks mourning the childhood I assumed would take place right here." That was like a gut punch realization to help me realize why (for the first time?) change is often so hard for me. I mean, how basic is that? Why have I never been able to articulate that fact before?

And lastly, this is what I have been realizing lately: "We can say goodbye and hello all at once." And it's painful. Why do I expect it to be anything else BUT painful?

The People vs OJ

I think the title of this article highlights one of the weird things about this show ("The People vs. O.J. Simpson has a Kardashian problem") but we still really enjoy the show.

[http://theweek.com/articles/606343/people-vs-oj-simpson-kardashian-problem]

Refining my role as a wife: Bearing it well http://redvinespirituality.com/refining-my-role-as-a-wife-bearing-it-well/

Anne of Cleves Comic

http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=348

Henry's Six Wives

http://the-toast.net/2015/11/11/unsolicited-advice-for-the-six-wives-of-henry-viii-working-within-their-social-parameters-and-not-suggesting-they-just-invent-feminism-because-thats-anachronistic/

Seventh Day Adventism

http://www.tms.edu/preachersandpreaching/evaluating-seventh-day-adventism/

Michael Phelps' Road to Olympics #5

http://www.si.com/olympics/2015/11/09/michael-phelps-rehabilitation-rio-2016

Chandler on Obstacles

http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2015/november-web-exclusives/matt-chandler-you-create-your-own-treadmills.html

Gladwell on School Shootings

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/thresholds-of-violence

GeorgeGeorge

I studiously avoid all conservative talk radio, but Seth will fill me in from time to time when he listens in and he alerted me to this new controversy regarding Bill O'Reilly and the way he responded to criticism on his latest book, Killing Reagan, from journalist George Will (article linked below).

O'Reilly seems to be on a mission to completely discredit himself and make his show even more inhospitable.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bill-oreilly-makes-a-mess-of-history/2015/11/10/03ef0d94-87d9-11e5-be8b-1ae2e4f50f76_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop_b]

Deception in the Church

"I believe that the devil looked nothing like the Grim Reaper character in the TV series The Bible. It’s this type of bad theology that keeps us naïve, and abusers know it. I believe that the devil attempted to deceive the Son of God much like he does today—by being the only friend to meet us in the loneliness of the wilderness when nobody else is walking with us. And should we resist, the devil only flees for a season: “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13)."

[http://boz.religionnews.com/2015/10/23/sex-offenders-in-the-pews-lets-not-be-deceived/]