No matter how much (or little) we personally pick up the Bible, we all can influence how it is evoked in our culture: away from terrorizing applications, toward beautiful applications. This week's focus is inspired by one of our favorite responses to our survey about "Texts of Terror". It was two words: "Paul. LOL."
Read MorePurity culture (making "acceptance from God" dependent on White American Evangelicalism's specific ideas on sexual ethics and gender identities) peaked in the 1990s and early 2000s, and still has a massive impact today. Is there a way outside of purity culture to find God's help in developing a healthy sexual ethic? We believe so!
Read MoreOne tension it feels we must hold to live life well is (on one side) pursuing ideals, and (on the other side) choosing to embrace what is true right now and maybe can't be ideal. Hayley and Kyle discuss how to do that well without losing our minds or succumbing to cynicism.
Read MoreIn relationships, it’s experiences above all that build trust. The same is true for relationship with God, so we want to consider together: what personal experiences have shown you God might be all-loving? If you grew up religious, you may have been taught that you can’t trust your experience, because you’ll just make God in your own image, and that’s why you need a strict set of beliefs. We hope to show you otherwise!
Read MoreWe collected awesome, honest questions from people in our community about how it’s hard to believe in an all-parts loving, no-parts punishing God. Hayley, Kyle, and Vince (our pastors) have found there ARE actually satisfying responses to these hard questions, that can free us up to feel spiritually alive and active. Even better: there are a number of them. We don’t all have to come to the exact same conclusions…
Read MoreThe winter ahead feels certain to be long for lots of reasons: fatigue, disconnection, loneliness, loss. And the reactions we may have to all this are those often associated with grief: anger, denial, bargaining, and feelings of depression or defeat. Special guest Erica Coates, professional counselor and friend of BLC, offers some spiritual/mental health principles that can help us grow hope within us so we can grieve our losses well, rather than pass on our pain to the next person.
Read MoreVince and Kyle talk about why liberation theologies are what our country needs right now, why liberation theologies shine a clearer light on what is happening in Jesus on the Cross, and yet end with a surprisingly charitable view toward sin theologies.
Read MoreTaking inspiration from last Sunday’s discussion learning about Latin-American views on Jesus as the God of the Oppressed, Kyle & Vince consider how white guys like them might more closely follow that God, and all the good that offers them in spite of the sacrifice that requires of them.
Read MoreWith the coronavirus in view, but also any senseless suffering each of us might face, Kyle and Vince discuss the difference between a “Life as God’s Blueprint” understanding of believing in God and a “Life as a Battlefield” understanding of believing in God. The former is extremely common, but hurts many. The latter has helped them personally find powerful connection with God in the midst of hardship.
Read MoreIf Jesus’ death on the Cross is just a confusingly violent picture of a God that requires punishment for his plan to work, Vince feels unsettled. But if Jesus’ death on the Cross is a picture of a loving and self-sacrificial God that chooses solidarity with scapegoats instead of solidarity with the powerful, then Vince finds himself pulled out of his small life and into a big and inspiring story. And he needs that!
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