Crucible of Thought

Some things are Truth, but not true. What if everything most Christians have assumed about Armageddon is wrong, and if our holy calling is to love our enemies and lay down our lives in peace, not to march out in war against them? You can view this as a video at https://youtu.be/3CEtxslXvhE

Most of the time that conservative Christians encounter the doctrine of universal reconciliation, they usually describe it with a bunch of caricatures, and I thought it would be useful to discuss those caricatures and contrast them to the truth about this doctrine. You can also read this in blog form at https://crucibleofthought.com/why-many-evangelicals-misunderstand-universal-reconciliation/ A video version can be found at https://youtu.be/PYjql3T3VQA

What do we do when our government becomes untrustworthy? I've been wrestling with this question for a while now. And everything I see coming convinces me that we're in for a REALLY rough ride in the near future. So what do we do about it? I have some ideas that won't fix any of our nation's problems - but they will give us a roadmap for bringing the love of God to those around us, even as the darkness grows. You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IXpfeZ-wnE

This week we watched another George-Floyd-like expression of extreme injustice by a government official take place in front of, and despite the obvious presence of, multiple cameras. In fact, that official was even captured on camera recording his actions on his own personal cell phone camera. The horror and outrage that so many are feeling today is understandable. But I'm wrestling with the definition of justice that I inherited from my evangelical upbringing, and my personal expectations of what God will do about the injustice, and how I was raised to think and pray about events like we see unfolding today. And the long and short of it is, God seems to expect us to do a lot more about the injustice, than we are comfortable admitting to ourselves. You can also watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqcFdo_U4_c

What if the thing Christians call "hell" was effectively just a welding torch, designed to join us all into one? What if we could become one, without all that heat and fire and pain? Let's talk about becoming one, and how it relates to something the aerospace industry calls "cold welding" or "vacuum welding." You can watch this in video form at https://youtu.be/Teaf6POYL50

I'm joined by Paule Patterson and Andy Luiten to discuss the state of the American church, and her relationship to prophetic voices calling her to account. How did the church get here? What factors are at play? Can we learn anything from the counseling professions as we think about whether the church can recover from its challenges? You can also watch this at https://youtu.be/-cL9POzUh5k

Paule Patterson and I talk about awakening and enlightenment, then the very opposite: the idea of kenosis, of dying to self, of ego death. What does it mean for the Son of Man to experience a mystical awakening? How do we need to die to self, to experience a death of our "ego," to become truly alive? Is this an individual thing, or can it only be experienced in community? Paule and I explore these questions together. You can also watch this episode at https://youtu.be/7CllsdnY9oc

In my fifth conversation with Paule Patterson about his book "The Coming of the Son of Man and the Mystic Awakening", we discuss ways that the Bible adopted language from the empire around them, but subverted that empire in the very adoption of that language. You can also watch this as a video at https://youtu.be/HR9cRpFCxQQ

Life and death are impossible to separate. And inevitably, life itself springs from death. It doesn't ease the pain of loss, but we can take comfort in the rebirth inherent in the process of life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXlIvBgsYmY

The MAGA propaganda machine is powerful and dangerous. More than anything I've seen in my lifetime, I've watched it successfully weaponize the human soul, taking the worst primal human emotions and using them to wound and even kill our neighbors and fellow citizens and the most vulnerable among us.

How dangerous a thing it is to claim a mantle of being God's chosen people living on God's promised land, and not scrupulously following God's laws! The land itself will spew them out.And yet, that's exactly what a massive number of American evangelical Christians are doing - even as they celebrate the horrible injustices being carried out by their government, violating the single most emphasized commandment in the Bible. You can also watch this in video form at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6JCqc63Qwk

Perhaps you've heard of "internal family systems" or IFS. I had encountered that idea about a year ago, and found the concept intriguing. But what is IFS, and can it help us heal? Can it help us reveal the Image of God within us?When I started talking to Andy on BlueSky, and discovered he's a counselor that specializes in IFS, I really wanted to talk to him about it. So we spent some time today exploring the basics of IFS, and how it can help us understand what's going on inside ourselves. And we wrap up with a bit of geeking out about the bands he plays in.

Paule Patterson and I spend some time in Section 5 of his book, talking about two topics. The first is communion, where it came from, how we practice it today, and what we might be missing in our modern practices. Then we switch gears and spend the second half of our conversation on the integration of consciousness and mysticism. I think I've always held a particular understanding of that word, mysticism, and I'm learning that it can be used quite differently than I had assumed. I grew up thinking of it as the weird old guy in the desert muttering to himself. But I find now that it's actually a core part of religious practice - or at least, it should be, if we evangelicals hadn't been taught to fear it. So if we understand mysticism as a healthy spiritual practice, what about the less mystical practices? How do we integrate mystic practices with more liturgical, more Western, ways of relating to God and the Holy Spirit?

Have you ever realized you were really, seriously, badly wrong in a way that hurt other people? In 2022 I realized I had been incredibly wrong about gay and queer people and their acceptability to God. So I publicly and clearly repented. This Pride Month, I'd like to spend a few minutes retelling and expanding on some of my history that led to that decision.

It's a provocative question: do we believe that God guaranteed that all the human activity since the time of the writing of scripture has led the Church to a divine, perfect orthodoxy? Is today's definition of "Christian" more accurate today than it was in the early church? And how did we get here, anyway?I spoke with Paule Patterson, who goes by the online moniker of Drunk Pastor, about Part 3 of the book he's writing about the ongoing formation of the Church, titled "The Coming of the Son of Man and Mystical Awakening," where he explores recent changes in the church and theology. In this episode, my third conversation with Paule, we actually look back in history at the early church, from about the second century up until the end of the Dark Ages, and consider the forces that shaped Christian thinking and led to our modern sense of orthodoxy. I've personally looked into Christian church history quite a bit in the last few years, but Paule brings some new light to the topic, with his background in philosophy, that helped me understand some of the higher-level thinking, and gave me some fresh insight into the forces of human nature that shaped history and drove a lot of the changes. It seems that as humans we either naturally want kings and we want certainty, or we want to be those kings and to be certain that those under us are well-controlled. Those themes show up again and again through history, and it seems to have driven Christian history as well.And this leads to the question: are those all-too-human tendencies what created orthodoxy - which would imply that it probably isn't quite what God intended? Or did God superintend the process to ensure that we arrived at a truly holy orthodoxy today?I think that's a very important question, and this discussion begins to shed light on it. #sonofman #mysticism #christianmysticism #progressivechristianity #orthodoxchurch #orthodoxchristianity #churchhistory

I've been getting involved in addressing homelessness in my town, and sat in on a meeting about renovating a house into a women's shelter. I was struck by how *stupidly* hard it is to help people get affordable or even emergency housing. It seems like all the wheels of regulation are jammed against any real progress. You can read this post in blog form: https://crucibleofthought.com/why-is-it-so-hard-to-address-homelessness/ Read about Ronald Reagan and the "welfare queen": https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the-truth-behind-the-lies-of-the-original-welfare-queen Read about reasons unhoused people reject offers of shelter: https://brightenthecorner.org/2023/02/12/why-some-people-avoid-homeless-shelters/ You can also watch this in video from at https://youtu.be/1vEpRUcQGTY

Today, a ton of people are talking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, even making a movie based on his life, but I had to wonder, what did he really think about nationalism and the Gospel, and more importantly to me, what would he think about what's happening in America today? Today I get to share with you a pretty wide-ranging interview with two Christian ministers, Ben Marsh and Bonhoeffer’s Child of the "Sacred Shenanigans" podcast, discussing our theological backgrounds and political journeys, and spending some time reflecting on the limitations of modern Western evangelicalism. We talked a lot about our evolving views, particularly the tensions between conservative theology and progressive political sensibilities. We also talked about our concerns about the rise of Christian nationalism. Ben and Bon emphasized a return to the self-sacrificial, Christ-centered faith exemplified by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who spent the last few years of his life fighting against the Nazi regime, and calling the church to return to a holy and missional walk like Jesus preached, and to look after the marginalized. Obviously, Bonhoeffer is one of Bon's heroes, and we kept returning to Bonhoeffer's ideas as we talked. We also spent some time discussing our modern online engagement, the limitations of church structures, and our mutual hope for an authentic Christian witness in a fragmented society facing increasing challenges from all sides. #deconstructingchristianity #christiannationalism #bonhoeffer #dietrichbonhoeffer #churchreform #authenticfaith

I'm pleased to bring you my second recording with Paule Patterson, who goes by the online moniker of Drunk Pastor - a reference to his personal journey of recovery. This conversation covers Part Two of his book. Well, actually, I can't say it COVERS Part Two. Rather, it bounces off Part Two. Even after speaking for about an hour about this section, we barely touched the surface of a few of the concepts he's raising. I guess you'll have to wait for him to finish writing so you can read it too!You can find his website and blog at https://drunkpastor.com/ You can also watch this in video form at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSgBie8Ok9w

I'm pleased to bring you what I think will be the first of several recordings with Paule Patterson, who goes by the online moniker of Drunk Pastor - a reference to his personal journey of recovery. He's a really neat guy and has done a ton of hard thinking about the nature of our faith and how it's expressed, and I knew I needed to talk to him. So we had a conversation a few days ago to just get acquainted, and I realized we could have some amazing conversations on camera about what we discussed. And it turns out he's been working on a book of sorts and he let me have an advance look at it, and so this first video covers Part One of his book.You can find his website at https://drunkpastor.com/ The video version of this episode can be found at https://youtu.be/XqVUbMXQaaM

While I mourn many things that are being lost in the last few months here in America, one that grieves me the most has been the absolute shredding of many markers of equality in our culture. As I watch what is happening, it's now clear to me that this equality was a lot less solid than I had thought. You can watch this on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEOOzOFQYQQ