September 28, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Narcissus is a character in Greek mythology celebrated for his exceptional beauty.  Early in his life Narcissus did not know how truly beautiful he was until the day he saw his own reflection in the waters of a spring, and seeing his own image he fell in love with himself.  Based on this mythological character, the word ‘narcissism’ began to be used about 200 years ago to describe an excessive degree of self-centeredness and selfishness.  Like Narcissus, we are intrigued and mesmerized by our own images in this 21st century Western world.  We’ve peered into the mirror of ...

September 26, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Our spiritual transformation is not a process where we sit and watch.  God does not force us to grow.  We must consent to our growth.  We consent initially, when we are spiritually re-born.  We consent on a daily basis, as we yield to our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Lord of our lives.  As we consent to him we grow, and with growth comes growing pains.  God mercifully and carefully and gradually changes us.  He challenges us.  He works with us, teaching us and slowly and inexorably making us his very own handiwork (Ephesians 2:10).  Our spiritual transformation does involve just one decision ...

September 24, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The stubborn insistence of the Christ-less perspective of Christendom at large about the appalling fabrication of eternal torture in hell as a just punishment for sinners is one of the most evil, reprehensible and diabolical of all dogmas and teachings – all in the name of God!” Originally published in: Letters to My Friends ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

September 21, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “It’s amazing what we humans find impressive.  Thinking back to religious places I have been, religious displays I have witnessed and religious rituals I have personally performed, I remember many times when I have been impressed by dead men and women walking.  Thinking back throughout my years spent deceived by the devices of institutionalized religion, I have taken plenty of tours in what amounted to spiritually whitewashed tombs.  When I was a dead man living within what was actually a spiritual tomb, I thought I was vibrant and alive.  I thought anyone not in my tomb was dead! ...

September 19, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “As Christ-followers, we run the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1) and are united with all our fellow runners in Jesus, a great cloud of witnesses, both dead in Christ and alive… we need not all pray the same memorized prayers someone else wrote, we need not sing the same hymns or participate in the same traditions, rituals or ceremonies… We are not united because we wear the same uniform or have precisely the same doctrinal answers.  As we run our race, our unity in Christ is not a set of humanly produced theological propositions.”  Originally published in: Christianity ...

September 17, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “In this image, there is no more sea.  In ancient times, the ocean was viewed as a realm of mythical monsters, a mysterious and frightening force that regularly took human lives.  In apocalyptic imagery, the sea is the source of the satanic beast.  The absence of the sea is therefore symbolic of the absence of evil from the earth. As we read symbolic literature, we are always tempted to try to reduce it to our world of reality; to take abstract, profound truth that is so overwhelming we cannot possibly embrace all that it means and whittle it down to our size.  Thus, we see ...

September 14, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The deception of legalism is this: The greater we denounce and declare war upon external sinful actions, the closer we are to God.  The truth of the gospel is this: The greater the emphasis on humans earning God’s favor by avoiding external sinful deeds the greater our distance from God’s amazing grace.”  Originally published in: Bad News Religion ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

September 12, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Try convincing and persuading someone who believes in an angry God filled with wrath that God loves everyone.  You will quickly discover that people get angry with anyone who tries to take away their angry God.  Many believe in an angry God because they need an angry God.  Ironically, they need a God of hate to help them feel better!  Christ-less religion and polarizing political perspectives (sometimes coexisting in one very toxic mix!) are quick to accommodate such a desire.”  Originally published in: Christianity Without the Religion magazine, February 2020 --------------...

September 10, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “I’m reminded of the story of two brothers – both of whom were rich, but they were rich because they were lying, corrupting, cheating businessmen.  They made sure to attend the right church in town – the one that all the bankers and town leaders attended.  Their pastor, however, could see right through the brothers’ deceptive ways. One day one of the brothers died.  The other brother went to see the pastor about the funeral.  He said, ‘Pastor, I know you don’t think much of my brother – or me for that matter.  Here’s what I am going to do.  I will write ...

August 31, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Temporal churches – with their constitutions, by-laws, organization, decrees, creeds, doctrines, rules, rituals and ceremonies – can fail to encourage individual intimacy with Jesus Christ in favor of their own survival, their own preservation and their own growth. A brick-and-mortar church that may begin with a few Christ-followers, based solely in and on him, can soon be overcome with standardized religious practices and beliefs, with structure and bureaucracy.  What starts as a matter of following Christ can turn into a religious machine, which becomes an end in itself – a self-perpet...

August 29, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Hypocrisy is so easy to see and identify in others, isn’t it? Mark Twain once said, ‘Nothing needs to be reformed as much as other people’s habits.’ And when other people’s habits are hypocritical, when they are two-faced, then we are often outraged.  Hypocrisy is often called ‘not practicing what you preach.’ The hypocrisy that Jesus condemns is rank hypocrisy – living in an arrogant, high-handed manner, expecting perfection of others while being virtually impervious to your own imperfections and flaws.  Humility is, in many ways, the polar opposite of the attitude projec...

August 27, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “When the power and purity of the gospel is preached, religious authorities whose religion is based on law cannot restrain themselves.  The response of legalistic religion to the gospel of grace includes thundering, emotional and high-volume-laced threats about the importance of working harder and doing more, being diligent and always giving more energy, time and money.”  Originally published in: Letters to My Friends ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now