I want to use this post to try to do a “check in” about my spiritual life. I need to do this on a periodic basis to be sure I am moving forward spiritually. It is just too easy to sit back and say “I have learned enough”. That will never happen to me as long as I draw a breath. If you are not … Continue reading I Believe
There is a difference between worshiping Jesus and actually doing what he told us to do. I remember the documentary entitled “From Jesus to Christ” in 1998 on PBS Frontline. It was the serious beginning of my spiritual search for meaning. Becoming more familiar with the actual events of the period of the first 150 years of the common era (CE) helped me understand how … Continue reading Worshiping vs Following
One thing I like about Progressive Christians is that they call out hypocrites when they see them. We have to let the world know that White Evangelicals do not represent Christianity. Following Jesus is the basis for my spiritual life, but it is hard to convince others of that possibility, when there are so many hypocrites using his name to exclude others. Continue reading The Hypocrital Version…
Before I get started talking about those who proclaim the Progressive Christian mantel I thought it would be best to give you what I see as the foundations of both Evangelicals and Progressive Christians. Of course, in about 500 words, so this has to be a truncated version of the story. Progressive Christians Progressive Christianity has been around for more than 500 years now. It … Continue reading The Fundemental Differences Between Evangelical and Progressive Christians
I think I have probably spent too much time lately talking about the problems of modern Christianity. It’s time to concentrate on those who cling to the words of Jesus as I do. This post was originally made in February 2019. With the pandemic that seems like a lifetime ago now. It’s time to dust it off and maybe add a bit here and there … Continue reading What Does Being A Progressive Christian Mean?
Most of my spiritual life has existed between Catholicism and Evangelical Christians, with doses of agnosticism in between. I swung in and out of these three modes for almost seventy years before I discovered my true Spiritual home. The Catholic traditions tarnished my spirituality early on by declaring that almost all my childhood buddies, and everyone else for that matter, would not be joining me … Continue reading Progressive Christianity
When I came across the book with the quote below in 2013 it solidified my belief that, for the most part, the church has tragically drifted from the words of Jesus to the words of man. I had been pondering that thought for a couple of years; I didn’t know that it was thoroughly thought out by such a powerful person as Tolstoy. It is … Continue reading Terrible To Think What Churches Do To Men…
This post is an expanded response to a comment to last week’s post about Christian giving. I gave the person commenting a short answer, but I think this topic deserves more attention. Here is the comment on which the post is primarily based: Plainly speaking, Christian giving is almost always overstated by most Christians. In reality what they give at best covers about 1% of … Continue reading Christian Giving
For this revisit Wednesday I give you a post from November 2012 about one of my favorite Christian authors. He is a Quaker and I align very well with most of their belief. I have read a number of Mr. Gulley’s works. He has been very fundamental in realigning my spiritual journey in the last decade. November 20, 2012 Here is a quote by Philip … Continue reading Philip Gulley – The Examples Of Jesus
It’s been pretty obvious to me since I seriously spent four years reading the words of Jesus that his teaching have strong socialist roots. So, why are so many who claim to be Christian against any form of socialism? Just say that word and they go into the immediate attack mode. That is just another of a long list of things I don’t understand about … Continue reading Jesus Was A Socialist
For this Revisit Wednesday I bring you a post from June 2012 about a topic that I have always had trouble with and that is that women are supposed to know their place. “Knowing your place” has throughout history been a tactic to keep segments of society subservient to the ruling class. The very idea bugs me to my core. *****************June 2012 *********************** 1 Timothy … Continue reading Women Be Quiet!!!
I know from personal experiences that saying you doubt something in your church can get you in some pretty serious trouble. I will make a bold statement for you. I am sure you have doubts, probably even serious doubts, about what you are told to be facts in your church too. Even Mother Theresa had them so don’t even bother to deny it! But, all … Continue reading Doubts are seldom allowed In The Church…
For this Revisit Wednesday I want to go to a post I wrote here over 12 years ago. It was the first time I seriously looked at the idea of Jubilee, but it would not be the last. I know from personal experience that the idea of giving someone something that they haven’t earned is much against what many white evangelicals believe. I can still … Continue reading Jubilee – Revisited
Of course, everything I say here at RedLetterLiving is my opinion, but sometimes it seems particularly necessary to make that declaration. Since I am going to compare some religious establishments on the post, this is one of those times As a little bio for this post, I give you a quick history of my six stages of Christian life: I was baptized into the Catholic … Continue reading The Church Needs Shame…
I originally wrote this post for my daily blog over at RJsCorner but thought it is also very applicable here as well. Anyone who has read many of my words here know that I don’t have a very positive attitude of much of what is found in the Old Testament. That part of the Bible is about Jewish history and the myths associated with those … Continue reading The Tree Of Knowledge
November 12, 2009 I found an interesting book a while back by Phyllis Tickle entitled “The Words of Jesus”. Phyllis Tickle is the founding editor at Publishers Weekly and is author of more than two dozen book about Christianity. In this book she attempts to take the red letters found in the Gospel accounts and separate them from the surrounding text. She does this, among … Continue reading The Words of Jesus
We need to get over the idea that those who pray the hardest get special favors from God and if he doesn’t answer our prayer requests then we are simply not praying enough. In my mind that is total fabrication and rationalization. Like so many other things, the religious establishment has had centuries to hone this particular message. Yes, I frequently pray to God. Except … Continue reading Those Who Pray The Hardest Get Special Favors
The Significance Of Universal Salvation…. A Wrap-Up This the the final revisit of the 2013 series on “If Grace Is True” Here we are at the end of my study into universal salvation as presented by Philip Gulley in his book “If Grace Is True”. It took a lot longer to get here than I originally thought but this is a very serious subject so … Continue reading Revisit – The Significance Of Universal Salvation…. A Wrap-Up
Divine Intervention means different things to different people and religious organizations. For many in the religious community it means that we must pray to God not to get cancer or even be sick, and if we do get sick, we must leave it up to him to cure us. Doing this puts everything in God’s lap and practically no responsibility to us personally. In coordination … Continue reading Divine Intervention
This is the second of three revisits to my initial posts on a book that changed my spiritual view of the world. I do these revisits so that you might better understand where I am going now by showing you where I have come from March 12, 2013. I was certain if I could preach the perfect sermon the altar would fill with people overcome … Continue reading If Grace Is True – Revisit #2
January 17, 2021 There is so much of the Old Testament that still drives many versions of Christianity, especially among White Evangelicals. They seem to be fixated on the wrath of God rather than his love. The vast majority of the source of that wrath comes from the Old Testament. It’s time for a new version of Christianity that focuses totally on the words of … Continue reading It’s Time For DIVORCE… Or at least another separation
I realize that the vast majority of viewers here at RedLetterLiving read the daily post but seldom go into the archives. In order to see where I am going with the blog you need to see where I have come from. On Wednesdays going forward I will be pulling up some of my most significant posts to show you how and why my spirituality has … Continue reading If Grace Is True – Revisit #1
One of the things I have probably struggled with the most is the difference between the Old Testament God and the God as described by Jesus. It just seems to me that The OT God is pretty much an egotist, vengeful, and merciless god and the God of Jesus is totally a god of love. How to reconcile that difference is a very difficult thing … Continue reading Doing God’s Will
Mother Teresa was once asked in an interview, “What do you say when you pray?” She replied, “Nothing, I just listen.” So then the reporter asked, “Well then, what does God say to you?” Her answer: “Nothing much, He just listens.” Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals (Shane Claiborne) Before I get into the main topic of this post, I want … Continue reading Listening To God
Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism and empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition…. One of my major projects for 2021 is to understand just what Humanism is all about. I have to get my mind in an objective frame of mind before I … Continue reading Humanism
Given what I post here the title above probably sounds like sacrilege to you. But in many ways being an Evangelical was just easier than taking my spiritual life seriously. I was an Evangelical for twenty-five years so there had to be something that kept me going back. Here are the things that I miss about being an Evangelical: The Conservative Evangelical Church is primarily … Continue reading I Kinda Miss Being An Evangelical
What the main selling point for religious institutions? What gets them in the door? Is it a place where they can be comfortably entertained on Sunday? The mega-churches seem to thrive with those folks. Is it a place where they can reinforce what they already believe about God? All those who hop from one church to another seem to be looking for that. Is it … Continue reading The Biggest Selling Point
Last week I gave you a catch-up on where I have journeyed in my spiritual life for the last six years. I ended that post with the one big remaining question that I will address here: Do we even need a “public” body of Christ? All the lavish religious cathedrals around the world have always disturbed me. It just seems to me that Jesus never … Continue reading The Public Body…
I thought that since it has been six years since I seriously posted here, I would use this post as a catch-up to where I am in my spiritual journey and end it with a serious question that remains unanswered. I have personally founded my spiritual life on the teachings of Jesus. It was an epiphany moment for me when that finally happened. Since that … Continue reading My Spiritual Journey
In case you haven’t visited here before I want to let you know that there are now 39,000+ versions of Christianity around the world. I realize that thousands of them are limited to a particular congregation who split off another body due to differences in what to believe about God, but there are hundreds of versions that have millions of followers and unbelievably many have … Continue reading Take Back The Church Of Jesus
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