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.
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.
Pentecost: Why Fire? Why Wind?
Pentecost is a beautiful picture of how God brings holiness into our lives. We are finally able to live a life worthy of the goodness of God thanks to the inner work of the Holy Spirit, but we have to take that holiness seriously. We’ve been purified in fire. We’ve been swept clean of debris. We’ve been made holy vessels. What are we doing with these vessels? Where is holiness in the grand scheme of our Christian priorities? Are we thanking God for the wind and fire that are making us clean? Or are we frustrated at the pain of righteous burning and heavenly sweeping?
If we’re embracing holiness, Pentecost is really good news.
God’s Promises in Unlikely Places
This small, simple passage about ritual purification regarding childbirth is a promise that echoes throughout all of eternity that God will make us, the rebellious, unclean, sinful wretches that we are, purified and able to enter into His presence once again.
Don’t rush through these chapters in the Bible. They may seem odd and out of place in our contemporary context, but there are powerful promises in them that reveal the hope of a good God who redeems His beloved creation, you and me.
Don’t Downplay Worship for Justice
There’s a saying that makes its rounds every 10 years or so in nominal Christian circles, and it goes something like this:
“Jesus did not ask to be worshiped. He does not want our worship, he wants social justice.”
This is completely untrue, and it derives from classically liberal Christianity in the early 20th century. Before we get to that, however, let’s establish that God does care about justice, and Jesus does want to be worshiped. This nonsensical idea that we have to devalue one thing to elevate another is foolish and dangerous. We do not need to minimize God’s worship to elevate God’s justice. We should be extremely cautious not to minimize any aspect of God’s character to favor another. Common social reform philosophies do this all the time—they require that we identify and tear down a villain social group to elevate another, oppressed social group. In this context, the pious worshiper is the villain.
Significance of the Virginal Conception
The virgin conception is a reminder that God always makes a way when there seems to be no way. Only the God of the Hebrew scriptures, revealed through the person of Jesus, is the God who creates something out of nothing. When there was only darkness and emptiness, God created something magnificent. When there was no pathway for salvation, God created a pathway. The virgin birth proves this again.