This website was intended to be a log of my life and a lab for theological thought experiments. I was going to save more developed ideas for the Huffington Post and other publications. That ended up not happening for various reasons, but I think I am ready to return to Plan A. The Huffington Post is making blog submissions a bit more efficient, and I am tired of feeling ashamed of being an independent scholar. Continue reading “About This Blog”
Category: Reflection
Why Do I Still Go to Church?
Why do I still go to church? This is a question I ask myself pretty much every Sunday morning, at least. At one level I think this is the wrong question. I remember this one Evangelical woman I knew. Whenever she would talk to me about church, she spoke in terms of “getting fed” or getting her needs met. I try not to think that way. If God is the Good itself, then worshipping God is self-evidently good. The answer to the question, “Why go to church?” is the same as for “Why climb a mountain?” Because it’s there. Still, my question is more introspective. It is not why I should go to church. It is more practical, more human: Why do I keep going?A Confession
I sometimes give money or food to homeless people. I do not do it enough, and I do not talk about it (Matt. 6:1-4). But I need to tell you about something that happened yesterday. What could have been an act of charity became an act of robbery, and it was my fault. The desert fathers say that when you are robbed, if you can forgive the thief and relinquish your sense of ownership over what you gave, then you turn it into an act of charity. Yesterday, the opposite happened.