I like to share my thoughts on theological and philosophical topics. I am also a student working through an MDiv and occasionally share papers on the blog. If you have any questions on a paper or blog post, send me a message! I’d love to talk with you about it.
The Hub of Christianity is in Africa
What if the decline of “Christian America” is not the same thing as the decline of Christianity?
For generations, American Christians have assumed that the future of the faith was closely tied to the cultural strength of Christianity in the West. But the global story tells us something very different. Christianity has always moved—across borders, cultures, languages, and centers of power. Today, its demographic center has shifted dramatically toward Africa and the Global South, while immigration is bringing millions of Christians from those regions into the United States.
At the same time, younger Christians are rediscovering ancient, embodied expressions of faith that existed long before America.
The surprising possibility is this: what feels like Christianity losing ground may actually be Christianity becoming less American, more global, and more visibly like the multiethnic Church it has always been.
Anxiety-Driven Theology: pt 4
Judges is not a simple cycle of sin and rescue; it is a downward spiral in which Israel becomes increasingly shaped by the powers it was called to resist. From Othniel’s clean deliverance to Ehud’s unsettling violence and Gideon’s transformation from fearful deliverer into a mirror of Midian, this essay explores how anxiety can reshape theology, worship, and power. Drawing on the “Canaanization of Israel,” the blog connects Judges to the larger biblical story of idolatry, empire, and false security, then turns the mirror toward the modern Church. When fear promises safety, strength, and cultural control, we may believe we are resisting evil while slowly becoming like it. Judges asks a haunting question: are we being formed by YHWH, or discipled by the powers we claim to oppose?
Anxiety-Driven Theology: pt 3
My claim is that the Old Testament tells a repeated story: Israel did not merely want Yahweh to deliver them from Egypt. They wanted Yahweh to displace Pharaoh and let them keep Egypt.
This blog focuses on one of the most crucial idolatry narratives in all of Scripture: the making of the golden calf at the foot of the mountain of God.
Most people rightly recognize that the golden calf story is not merely about a bad religious statue. It is about what the statue reveals. At Sinai, Israel exposes the image it has been carrying in its heart. The people delivered from Egypt still know how to think, fear, worship, and organize themselves like Egypt.
Anxiety-Driven Theology: pt 2
This second essay in the Anxiety-Driven Theology series explores how fear pulls God’s people back toward the systems that once shaped them. Beginning with Abraham’s journey from Mesopotamia to Egypt and continuing through Israel’s wilderness complaints, the blog traces how Scripture exposes the spiritual seduction of Empire. Israel’s struggle was not merely the worship of false gods, but the deeper temptation to trust visible power, political security, economic stability, and predictable provision more than the presence of Yahweh. This reflection invites readers to examine how anxiety still shapes theology today.
Pentecost and the Color Line
Pentecost was never just about speaking in tongues. In this thought-provoking exploration of William J. Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival, discover how the Holy Spirit was poured out to heal racial division, unite the nations, and form one family in Christ. A compelling call for the church to recover the true purpose of Pentecost: reconciliation, justice, and Spirit-filled unity.
Anxiety-Driven Theology
Israel did not simply want deliverance from Egypt. They wanted the security of Egypt without the oppression of Pharaoh. They wanted Yahweh to preserve the benefits of Empire while removing its cruelty. Human beings consistently try to remake God in the image of the systems that make them feel safe. That’s anxiety-driven theology culminating in idolatry.
King and Corpse
Explore the meaning of Mary anointing Jesus at Bethany in John 12 and how it reveals a powerful gospel truth: Jesus becomes both King and sacrifice. This reflection connects Lazarus’ resurrection, the triumphal entry, and early Christian theology to show how Christ transformed death into the pathway to victory, hope, and eternal life for believers.
That Thing Jesus Did Not Do (But You Think He Did)
he common reaction to this scene in John is that Jesus walked up to the temple, saw the money changers and merchants handling their business, and in a moment of pure, holy rage twisted together a whip and created an Indiana Jones salvation moment, flipping tables and screaming at the Nazis. Quite the opposite of a berserked warrior hero, Jesus is about to lay down his life and take upon himself the shame of this crooked marketplace.
Santa: the Man, the Myth, the Legend
Every December, Saint Nicholas reappears, smiling, generous, wrapped in legend. For some parents, he’s a lie to be exposed. For others, a positive myth to be defended and celebrated. To others still, he’s the embodiment of commercialism and colonialist hedonism.
But Saint Nicholas is best approached neither with suspicion nor sentimentality. Approach him with theological curiosity.
Before Saint Nicholas became a symbol, he was a pretty awesome follower of Jesus.
Why It’s Okay to Practice the Way
John Mark Comer’s latest work Practicing the Way is a prophetic call to the Western Protestant traditions of faith that we can no longer ignore the aching need to have an embodied faith that turns professing Christians into practicing disciples. However, many within Reformed Evangelical circles have taken issue with Comer’s book, especially concerning his language on mysticism, his emphasis on spiritual formation, and his hermeneutic on the life of Jesus. As a supporter of Comer’s work, this article is my attempt to evaluate Practicing the way against Reformed Author and Scholar Kevin DeYoung, who published a critique of the book.
Civil Discourse and Being Intellectually Honest
All of this is eroding civil discourse. When the opposing side is seen not as a rival but as an enemy, dialogue disappears. Instead of listening, we caricature. Instead of seeking compromise, we vilify. Social media only magnifies the problem, groupthink spreads unchecked, exaggerations take root, and mutual distrust hardens. And to top it all off, less and less face-to-face interaction removes us from how our brains attune to each other and process our differences and opposing viewpoints.
God and Delayed Justice: John 11
John’s gospel is actually riddled strategically with a message of hope when it feels like God is ironically acting against your best interests.
Jesus begins in the narrative by purposefully being absent where he is needed (11:6-7). As the narrative continues, his involvement deepens, his responses become more personal and hopeful (23-36), and a once seemingly distant God now takes on the suffering of the people (38-44).
We’ve all asked the same question that the Jewish community was asking? “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?” (11:37).
God, you’ve done harder things. Couldn’t you have fixed this?
The Lazarus miracle emphasizes that God’s purposes are not hindered by either Jesus’ delay or the reality of Lazarus’s decay; rather, these very elements are integral to the outworking of God’s sovereign will. John presents Jesus’ delay not as negligence, but as a profound expression of divine love for Lazarus and his family, and a day is coming when He will make all of it right again
Is Easter a pagan sex celebration that was stolen by Christians?
The fact is, there is no evidence/documentation that Ishtar has anything to do with Easter whatsoever. The idea is completely made up. For one thing, Ishtar is not pronounced “East-er,” it is pronounced “Ish-taa.” It appears as (𒀭ᱥ̌ َتََر) in Akkadian, which was an adaptation of “Inanna” (𒀭宁) in Sumerian. We get “Ishtar” from the sounds these symbols represented in the ANE. And speaking of symbols, Ishtar was associated with storms and clouds (kind of like Baal in the Phoenician world), and her sacred symbol was a lion, which signified the roar of thunder in a storm. Bunnies and eggs were never involved, though bunnies and eggs certainly have been symbols of fertility in the past.
Sabbath: The Sacred Rebellion
It feels counterintuitive, but resting actually makes us more productive anyway. More hours don’t necessarily lead to better results. Studies back this up—overworking leads to burnout, not brilliance. Jesus Himself modeled this rhythm. He often withdrew to quiet places, choosing rest over relentless work. Sabbath restores creativity, energy, and clarity, ultimately making us more effective in the six days we do work.
Reading Paul: The New Perspective and why it matters.
For centuries (pretty much since the Protestant Reformation), ancient Judaism was viewed as a “works-based religious system.” This means that if faithful Jews followed/obeyed God’s law (given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai), they essentially “earned” God’s promises of provision, favor, and rescue in times of need. In other words, if we follow all the rules, we legally earn our right to freedom and blessing. Scholars also looked at Romans 7:7-25 and believed Paul was saying, “No one can actually follow the Law perfectly; it’s too challenging. If obeying the law is how we all get to receive God’s goodness, we’re all doomed because we just can’t.” Paul’s letter to the Romans seems to provide the antidote to this problem by contrasting “good works” that merited God’s favor with grace through Jesus Christ, a greater avenue for God’s favor.
The Bible and Culture
The bible is a collection of divine revelations given by God to humans within the context of their culture, giving the bible and culture a cyclical relationship where one impacts the other. This does not mean culture in any way has authority over the bible. It simply means that culture helps us understand the bible, because culture helped us receive divine revelation from God.
Without culture, we wouldn’t be able to understand anything. That’s why God gave us culture. When you see the world getting increasingly chaotic and confusing, don’t blame or fear culture.
People are Messy. God is Merciful.
Expect people to be messy. You’re thinking, “Joey I know. I get it.” But think messier. So messy that you dread having to call them and address the issues they have after a week of dealing with your own work and family and personal issues. Plan for the worst people. Expect them. Look forward to them. Paul shows us this in a letter to Timothy, his Small Group Leader, “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” Then he says, “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy.” The invisible God can be seen in your patience. The love of God can be seen in your mercy, modeled after Jesus and fueled by the Holy Spirit.
Deconstruction: Why I’m Not Against It
There is a long list of evangelical influencers and figures who point to “deconstruction” as the driving factor in why this is happening. People like John Cooper, Alisa Childers, Tim Barnett, Natasha Crane, Christopher Yuan, Mark Driscoll, and others (none of whom I mention to criticize, by the way) believe that “faith deconstruction” is when young individuals piece-meal their faith together and create a freaky chimera religion made up of whatever they like, discarding what they don’t like, and ultimately worshiping themselves in the process.
The Problem with Saying “I’m Not Being Fed.”
Every day we are being formed by something. We’re all being shaped, bit by bit, day by day, into someone. Most well-intended Christians hope to be formed into strong followers of Jesus, but the problem is in the word “hope.”
Nobody will wake up one morning and go, “Oh wow, I’m a devoted follower of Jesus with strong, healthy habits and spiritual disciplines. So glad I made it!”
Suffering is a Gift
What would it look like if the driving factor in our choices was not to avoid suffering?
Being betrayed by the emotionally immature? That would be an opportunity to display grace and loyalty, not an offense to recover from.
Turning the other cheek when someone slaps you in the face? That would be a chance to pronounce a blessing on them, not hit them back.
Why? Because we’re delighted to suffer—if our suffering has even the slightest potential of drawing someone else into closer orbit with the ways of Jesus.