A pastor friend of mine recently posted this status on Facebook: “‘Just follow my rules and behave, and nothing bad will happen to you,’ is the exact opposite of the message of Christ.” It reminded me that the version of the Christian message I was
Despite the massive leaps and bounds the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has made as a whole on the civil rights front — as judges across the country strike down state marriage bans and the marriage equality case makes its steady march to the
“O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” (Isaiah 3:12) “… he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.” (Isaiah 5:7) About twenty years ago, I was asked by a
He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. (Micah 6:8) With the exception of relatively few denominations, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
Moral God and immoral nature On April 30, I attended a presentation sponsored by the Ottawa International Writers’ Festival featuring a talk by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner on his latest book, The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person. Job is
Love, hate and solidarity Is it possible to love and hate a book at the same time? That’s what I’ve been struggling with for the past week, after reading Timothy Kurek’s book The Cross in the Closet. As a gay man I find the premise
Being Jesus in Nashville: Finding the Courage to Live Your Life (Whoever and Wherever You Are) is an amazing book with an amazing backstory. The author, Jim Palmer, was a popular writer who had written two best-sellers in the evangelical Christian world: Divine Nobodies: Shedding
Some of the oldest things in Western religion have recently been the subject of new concern and debate. One instance: a book of the Christian Bible, the Apocalypse or Revelation of St. John, which is the main review in The New Yorker and the main
It might surprise many of you that I am a very theologically conservative Christian! I believe in the virgin birth of Jesus; the Resurrection; the Ascension of Jesus into heaven; His Sacrifice that covers over all of our past, present, and future sins. I also
“It was God’s will.” We hear this trope a lot in many situations. A child dies. “It was God’s will.” A child recovers from a deathly illness. “It was God’s will.” A storm blows away our house. “It was God’s will.” Unless our house was