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
I started RedLetterLiving twelve years ago yesterday to try to answer the basic question of how strongly Christian churches follow the teachings of Jesus. That part of my spiritual journey lasted six years. It was during that period that I went from a passive Sunday morning observer to actively growing my spirituality. I grew a lot during those years and since. What I found during … Continue reading In Celebration of Twelve Years
I have decided as my next project here at RedLetterLiving to take on the topic of Humanism and try to discover how that aligns with the teachings of Jesus. The post below was originally published in my main blog at RJsCorner about 2 years ago, I think this is a good starting point for an extended study here at RLL My conservative Evangelical friends would … Continue reading Humanism And Jesus
One of the most basic tenets in the Evangelical Community is the idea that everyone must be “saved” in order to get to heaven. I struggled with this concept for years before I came across the book If Grace Is True by Philip Gulley. He finally convinced me that that belief, at least as Evangelicals see it, is simply man-made. For this Sunday’s post I … Continue reading Evangelicals Ask “Are You Saved?”
For this Sunday’s post I am re-directing you to my RedLetterLiving site on this topic Continue reading To My Evangelical Friends…
What is it about toilet paper that has so many people obsessed with it. It is as if they think that will be the new money. 𤪠That, in a rather strange way, is what this post is all about.
Continue reading “The Obsession With Toilet Paper?”
Not all people who once proudly claimed to be Evangelicals are now MAGA cult members. It was refreshing to see that some have escaped and now label themselves Exvangelicals. I guess I could also wear that label as I was once an Evangelical myself. That is what this post is all about.
Continue reading “MAGA And The Exvanglicals”
This Sunday’s Looking Back is about one of my favorite Christian books and how I viewed its message five years ago.
Continue reading “Favorites Sunday – If God Is Love…”
I don’t like labels but there is a “but” in that statement for me. We need to understand just why the major conflicts arise in our world and then be able to see who is causing them. We can no longer afford a general “Us vs Them” mentality. If that keeps up it will eventually destroy us. Without knowing who “Them” is or what percentage of the population they represent we may just go down in ashes. That is what this post is all about.
Continue reading “MAGA/Evangelicals”
Prejudice is an ugly part of humanity.
The ugliest is saying your enemy isn’t human.
He is an animal without your qualities
How could it be otherwise.
It just struck me in the shower recently that we seem to be living in two distinctively different worlds today that are weirdly occupying the same space in time. That phenomenon is not terribly unusual in the overall scheme of things, but the intensity of it is almost freakish now. The “Us vs Them” mentality seems to have caused a VERY deep chasm between too many of us. That is what this unusually long post a about.
This phenomenon has several different faces. Let’s look at some of them.
Continue reading “It’s Them!!!”My new blogging friend John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina is certainly not afraid to call out Evangelicals for their discrimination against others. That is one of the primary things I admire him for and why read him daily. Here are some words from a recent post. I encourage you to click on the link to read the entire … Continue reading Not Afraid To Call Them Out
When I was a member of an Evangelical church the most often phrase I heard when its members couldn’t reconcile something recently happened with their beliefs in the bible was that “God works in mysterious ways, we just have to trust Him”. I always thought that was more of a cop-out than an explanation of the situation. But that is not the topic of this … Continue reading Works In Mysterious Ways…
Sadly, one of the things I believe the church has become very good at is to take some particular words from the bible and twist them around to more conform to their way of thinking. That is what today’s post is going to be about. Sometimes small alterations make a great deal of difference. For instance, we have about 90 percent of the same genes as cats … Continue reading Christian Nationalism
I am beginning to think that the phrase “Ignorance is Bliss” is a very appropriate condition in trying to keep informed in the political world today. There is just so much phoniness and lies floating around that world now as to make it uninhabitable. But in most areas of life knowing more about a topic results in better-informed decisions and lifestyles. Being proudly ignorant is … Continue reading Evangelical Christians Fear Knowledge
One of the things that totally baffles me is how people who now say they are Evangelicals but vote in almost direct opposition to those established beliefs. I hate to use the words but due to their hero the only words that come to mind is that they are “FAKE EVANGELICALS”!! It’s a good time to try to sort out how Protestants who voted for … Continue reading I Am Always Trying To Figure Out The New Evangelicals…
Some say that all religions are the result of mankind asking “Why are we here?” Everyone eventually comes to that question and various answers have resulted in what we now call “religion”. I have let it be freely known here that I am a follower of Jesus Christ but don’t call myself a Christian anymore, and particularly not an Evangelical! That word has been totally destroyed … Continue reading Why Are We Here? We Are Here Because…
I find myself often complaining when Christian organizations don’t come right out and say that currently labeled “Evangelicals” have kidnapped the true meaning of their religion and have replaced it with their own political version. I search out where someone is speaking out on this topic and here is one of them.  You might want to read the whole article if this is of interest … Continue reading Over 300 Christian Theologians Challenge The Corruption Of U.S. Christianity
Britain is becoming an increasingly faithless society, according to a new survey that has found 53% of Britons now describe themselves as having no religion. The proportion is the highest ever, up from 48% in 2015 and 31% in 1983 when the British Social Attitudes survey was begun by the independent National Centre for Social Research. The trend is evident across all age groups but … Continue reading Having No Religion or Faith..
This post continues with my fundamental beliefs about the Bible. I have not come to these beliefs on a whim. They are the result of many years of thoughtful prayer and study. I am also not trying to prove anyone wrong. Everyone should come to God in their own way. So letâs get on with the final four areas of my view on the Bible. Some words … Continue reading My View Of The Bibleâ Part 2 .. What I believe (conât)
One of the major problems, that is besides their political leanings, is too many evangelical churches preach the âSit Back and Wait Syndromeâ. I know, as I did so myself, that it is too easy to just ignore your Church’s current beliefs in order to preserve your “country club membership”. Taking a stand against something often times means you’re asked to leave as you don’t … Continue reading The Sit Back And Wait Syndrome..
The GOP and particularly the Evangelical segment seems to be against so many things. Anything to do with below the belt issues or invented since the Victorian age they are against. You name it and they seem to be against it. Â There is a simple solution to this. If you are against it then just don’t do it. If you believe it is wrong to … Continue reading Well Then Don’t…
Almost ten years ago I started my first blog called RedLetterLiving. It was about living by the words of Jesus. I was concerned that even though Christianity was founded on the idea that Jesus was the Christ few current Christian denominations seemed to put much weight on his actual words.  Little did I know that this study would go on for six years before I had … Continue reading The Teachings of Jesus Are Very Hard To Follow..
  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since our American culture is now almost totally geared around consumer spending. We simply can’t keep the paradigm going if we spend less this year than we did last. It seems that houses today MUST have  master suites with at least 150 square foot closets and 200 square foot bathrooms. The general rule is that the family now … Continue reading More & More.. and then the Chinese Way..
âI donât suppose there ever was a time when everybody knew as little about what they were talking about as they do today.â â Will Rogers, 19 September 1933 How does ignorance come to outshine wisdom? Of course, that is not true for all of us but the percentages seem to be drifting in that direction as our recent elections showed us. The religions of … Continue reading Ignorance Outshines Wisdom
Some Christians believe that each and every word in the Bible is literally true and without error. Even though I did not believe in a literal Bible I belonged to one of those churches at one time. I often asked embarrassing questions during our weekly bible study. Questions the clergy leader really didnât care to try to answer.  Asking those questions is probably one of the reasons … Continue reading What Language Did Adam & Eve Speak??
I have had a Sojourners membership for a number of years now and enjoy the monthly magazine. One reason is that it shows me that I am not alone out there in believing what I do about Christianity. Â Jim Wallis, who is the editor-in-chief of the magazine always has an editorial at the beginning of each issue. Â This month is was about how the word … Continue reading Defining Evangelicals…
RJ's Corner 