Kingdom Living
Shouldn’t preachers rally Christians to fight political injustice?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Kingdom Living, Politics, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: My pastor has publicly supported your book The Myth of a Christian Nation. But he’s recently called on the church to take a stand against the injustice of our local government cutting funding for inner…
The One True Source
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, ReKnew
In the weeks to come, I’d like to share some thoughts on each of the nine convictions (expressed in A ReKnew Manifesto) that ReKnew seeks to promote. The ReKnew team is convinced that this “Manifesto” articulates…
Kingdom Centeredness
Category: Essays
Tags: Discipleship, Essay, Kingdom Living
Topics: Following Jesus
A Silent Center white knuckles cling against peace and cries for release into chaos flying, centrifugal to death in attempt to salvage human breath for breathing, through peeling purge that burns away flesh to…
Following Jesus Doesn’t Work
Category: General
Tags: Discipleship, Kingdom Living
Topics: Following Jesus
I met a middle aged woman one day who told me she had given up on Christianity. “It just didn’t work for me,” she said. My response was: “What on earth made you think Jesus…
Living With a Kingdom Consciousness
Category: Essays
Tags: Discipleship, Essay, Kingdom Living
Topics: Following Jesus
What Is the Kingdom of God? I want to begin by asking, “What is the kingdom of God?” This may seem like a rather obvious question. We all know what the Kingdom of God is,…
The Bible, Government and Christian Anarchy
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Kingdom Living, Politics
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
This “essay” contains my informal reflections on biblical texts that I believe support what some call “Christian Anarchy.” Consider it a very rough draft of a future project. I’ll argue that Kingdom people are called…
The “Kingdom Now”: Reflections on Magical American Christianity
Category: General
Tags: Discipleship, Kingdom Living
Topics: Following Jesus
One major problem American Christians face is that we tend to embrace a magical view of the Christian faith. We assume that if a person “prays the sinners prayer,” “surrenders their life to Christ,” and…
Living Jesus’ Prayer for Forgiveness
Category: General
Tags: Forgiveness, Judgement, Kingdom Living
Topics: Following Jesus
Luke 23:34: Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Could anything be more shocking and yet more beautiful than this prayer? After being whipped, beaten, crowned with thorns,…
Everybody’s Got a Prequel
Category: General
Tags: Forgiveness, Judgement, Kingdom Living
My wife and I, along with some friends, recently attended the Broadway Play Wicked. Without giving too much away, I’ll tell you the play attempts to answer the question: What could have possibly made the…
Capitalism and Greed
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Wealth and Responsibility
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
It’s hard to deny that capitalism is the best economic system around. It creates wealth far better than feudalism, communism, socialism or any other system one could name. But for all its advantages, capitalism has…
William Wilberforce and the Possibility of “Christian” Politics
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Kingdom Living, Politics
Topics: Creation Care, Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
William Wilberforce was a passionate Christian who entered politics for the sole purpose of ending the slave trade. For more than thirty years he passionately and courageous labored to get Parliament to outlaw the practice….
Trapped in a Constantinian Paradigm
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Kingdom Living, Politics
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
A Response to James Smith’s Review of The Myth of a Christian Nation In my book The Myth of a Christian Nation I repeatedly call on Christians to engage in social activism. Followers of Jesus…
The Wrong “Bulls-Eye”: Reflections on the “Christian Left”
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Politics
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues, Following Jesus
As it has since the fourth century, the Church today for the most part operates with a Constantinian (“power-over”) paradigm. Because of this, most socially concerned Christians are inclined to define the Church’s mission as…
Why is America Becoming More Politically Divided?
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Politics
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
I watched a 20/20 special the other night on politics in America. The show explored the “growing political divide” in our country. Here’s some of the information found in this program. * Since the early…
Does Following Jesus Rule Out Serving in the Military if a War is Just?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Kingdom Living, Non-Violence, Q&A
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence, Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Jesus and Military People Some soldiers responded to the preaching of John the Baptist by asking him what they should do. John gave them some ethical instruction, but, interestingly enough, he didn’t tell them to…
What Would You Do If Someone Attacked Your Family?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Kingdom Living, Non-Violence, Q&A
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
The New Testament commands us never to “repay evil with evil” but instead to “overcome evil with good” (Rom.12:17; cf. I Thess 5:15; I Pet 3:9). Jesus said, “Do not resist an evildoer. But if…
Getting Free From the Sin of Sodom: Living With Outrageous Generosity
Category: Essays
Tags: Essay, Kingdom Living, Wealth and Responsibility
Topics: Following Jesus
Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. Erich Fromm Jesus, the poor and the greedy Though it’s often missed by American…
Racism: Why Whites have Trouble “Getting It”
Category: Essays
Tags: Diversity, Essay, Kingdom Living, Racism, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
I’m a member of a special task group on racial reconciliation that consists of a dozen or so pastors from around the Twin Cities. We’ve been meeting periodically for the past year or so in…