Is your life designed by God and unchangeable by any decision or choice you might make? If it is, you must be like a robot? Robots don’t write their own codes; rather, they follow the pre-determined design of the programmer. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Love’
A Robot or an Alive Human
Posted: May 18, 2018 in Christian LifeTags: Choice, Christianity, Control, Faith, Freedom, Love, Obedience, Will
Reimagining Life with Jesus
Posted: January 11, 2018 in Christian Life, Life's DesignTags: Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, church, conversation, Jesus, Love, Spirit, Spirituality, Transparency, Vulnerability
I have been in a process of reimagining my life. The word “reimagine” means to reinterpret or rethink an earlier version. It is approaching again something already experienced but in a new way.
The memories are warm and comforting as I recall times in my life when I was completely encased in the ethos of those days, enveloped in a particular kind of Christianity and particular brand of Baptist. Inside that cocoon I felt comfortable and safe, developed ministry skills, and exercised spiritual gifts. Yet there were times I felt empty, that there was surely more to Christian living than a confining sterile obedience to biblical principles. (more…)
“Presence” In Memory
Posted: November 29, 2017 in UncategorizedTags: Death, Healing, Loss, Love, Memory, Pain, Relationship, Strength
There are times when I still think Barbara, my wife of forty-five years, is in the room. I almost say something to her, but when I look around she’s not there. Then the loss and the pain of it washes over me anew. After many years of her presence, five years of her absence has not erased the emptiness that arrived expectantly but undesired on September 27, 2012 when she died after being ill for over two years. Michael Piazza, pastor of Middle Collegiate Church in New York City wrote in a recent post in reference to the loss of his husband, “My experience has been that the adage ‘time heals all wounds’ is probably a lie.”
Barbara and I began dating in the last year of graduate school, were engaged by graduation, and married a year later. Over the years, we lived in three U.S. states and four countries on two (more…)
Being Christian and Gay—Conclusion
Posted: October 25, 2017 in Being Christian and GayTags: Christian, ethics, Faith, gay, Love, Scripture, sexual Ethics, sexuality
In this concluding post to the series “Being Christian and Gay”, I want to do more than “put myself out there” in some kind of existential witness to faith and sexuality through my personal story, even though it’s through our stories, through the particularities of life, that the practicality of theological truths can most readily be observed. (more…)
Being Christian and Gay – Part 5: A Christian’ Sexual Ethic
Posted: October 3, 2017 in Being Christian and Gay, Gay LifeTags: Christian, Commitment, ethics, gay, Love, marriage, Relationship, sexual Ethics, spiritual
We have considered a context for our conversation—personal experience–and biblical texts that have been used to address sexual orientation; now let’s look at ethics, knowing right from wrong. My ethics are derived from my theological understanding, which is informed by my relationship with Jesus, my reading of Scripture, and my interpretation of the contemporary sociocultural environment. (more…)
