The following is an Advent reflection for the Christmas season. Advent and Lent have been part of the Christmas and Easter seasons for much of church history. For more on Advent, click here. Family trees A few years ago, my sister researched our family tree on my mom’s side of the family and put togetherRead more
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By Peter Watts | Asking questions, Evolving faith, God in the questions, Learning and growing | 0 comment | 19 November, 2019 | 3
BOOK REVIEW Peter Enn’s book The Sin of Certainty: Why God desires our trust more than our correct beliefs has become a new favorite of mine. In it, Enns confronts the faulty but popular assumption that in order for faith to be true faith, a Christian must maintain clear and unequivocal theological certainty. In other words,Read more
By Peter Watts | American history, God in the face of Jesus, Jesus, Power & authority | 0 comment | 31 October, 2019 | 2
Our national filter It should not be a surprise that where we were born and raised has had a profound influence on our lives (culturally, politically, economically, socially, psychologically and religiously). Had we been born and raised in another family, in another place or even another country, we might have a very different understanding aboutRead more
Rights Rights are a beautiful thing. But what if clinging to those rights puts you in opposition to the way of Jesus? And what if the very one you call Lord is asking you to lay them down for the sake of others? Born in the USA I was born and raised in the USA (quickRead more
By Peter Watts | American history, Power & authority, Religious tolerance | 0 comment | 2 October, 2019 | 5
It may appear like our nation is more divided than ever. At least, that’s what our politicians would like to have us believe. Simple “fact checks” are not so simple or easy regardless of the news source you read, watch or listen to. At the same time, talk of a “divided nation” is not aRead more
Quick recap This post follows my previous post titled Is the Bible error-free?” and video on the same topic. I encourage you to read and watch those first to get some context. Let me be clear I am not interested in giving up on the Bible and God or telling other people to do theRead more
What is Biblical inerrancy? If you have been a Christian for any amount of time, especially if you grew up going to church, you have probably heard that the Bible does not have errors. The fancy academic phrase for this view is “Biblical inerrancy.” Most Christians I know believe this view about the Bible toRead more
Stories are incredibly important to us. As children, most of us learned the word “story” and we often attached that word to anything we read or heard that was fictional in nature. But later in life, the word story took on new meaning. Stories became ways or modes of talking about experiences we had thatRead more
By Peter Watts | Biblical inerrancy, Biblical violence, God in the face of Jesus | 0 comment | 30 July, 2019 | 2
The Bible says what? If you have ever spent any significant time reading through the pages of the Bible, you have probably come across verses that made you cringe. Especially the ones that make God appear like a violent vindictive tyrant. “God said what?” “God did what?” Many serious good-hearted Christians have asked these sameRead more
Silencing the vulnerable For those who are listening and attentive to the world around us, it’s often the loudest voices that get heard the most. Unfortunately, it seems, the louder you get and the more obnoxious you are can even get you elected president. Being loud has it’s place, but not when it neglects andRead more