Gentle Thanksgiving and a Talking Donkey
There are several reasons why I choose to skip the turkey this year and celebrate a plant-based Thanksgiving.
Vegan in Key West and a Vegetarian View of the Biblical Sacrifices
In case you are wondering, my decision to follow a plant-based diet comes down to how I treat God’s creation—animals, humans, and the earth. I am a plant based vegetarian because of my belief in the Bible.
The Vineyard Story
We talk about coming to faith in Jesus and individually becoming a new creation, but we rarely take this “whole creation” commission seriously by becoming activists for God’s new creation.
A Veggie Diet and the Desert Fathers
I long for a theology of divine compassion and love in this world. God cares for us deeply, but His compassion isn’t for us alone.
When God Flips Tables
If Jesus walked through and examined the courts of our lives today, what tables might He flip over? I want Jesus to enter my courts, driving out everything that hinders a close relationship with Him, because life’s most important goal is dwelling in His presence.
Noah’s Story: The Grieved God, the Sin of Violence, and Abundant Grace
Considering the direction our world is headed, an impending flood-like crisis doesn’t sound far-fetched. How can we escape the coming catastrophe? When will God finally act? What hope do we have?
Pigs, Legions, Demons, and a Liberating God
Jesus tells us that if a sheep falls into a pit, it should be rescued (Matthew 12:11). But what about a pig falling over a cliff? How can I understand a Jesus who drove 2,000 pigs to their deaths?
Sabbath Reflections: Made for Humanity
I have gained a few Jewish friends over the years, and most do not normally encourage proselytizing Christians. However, one older gentlemen I’ve had the privilege of meeting invited me to visit his newly renovated synagogue. He gave me some shofar-blowing lessons, and we spoke about the Bible and the Sabbath. Before I left that day, he asked me to consider converting to Judaism and joining his synagogue.
My Vegetarian Lament, and Obeying the Creation Mandate
For centuries, Protestants have championed Martin Luther’s legacy of justification by grace through faith, not works. Habakkuk is the prophetic context from which Paul speaks in Romans of the right-making initiative that comes from God, yet it is often proclaimed from weekly pulpits in unbalanced ways that fail to connect to God’s work of justifying and righting all creation.
COVID-19: Animals, Wrath, and the Terrors of the Apocalypse!
I have thought about how God’s judgments might factor into modern plagues, especially in light of the plagues in the Old Testament. Is this virus a punishment? A warning of impending doom? Is God trying to teach us a lesson? Some have suggested that we are experiencing an end time epidemic, taken right from the pages of the apocalypse. Is this really true?
Theological InTents 