‘Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you.’ – John Wooden

We all want to be part of a community that loves us, validates us, and even agrees with us. We thrive among “like-minded” friends who share our view of the world, and thanks to today’s connectivity, finding our “tribe” has never been easier. Regardless of where you fall on the ideological spectrum, it’s incredibly easy to find a group that agrees with you wholeheartedly and will affirm your views.

It’s also incredibly easy to find a group that agrees with you wholeheartedly, will affirm your views, and will join you in mocking and disparaging anyone who disagrees with your shared perspectives.

No group is immune to this phenomenon. Let me say that again. No tribe, group, club, or community is immune to this phenomenon.

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Don’t worry, I’m not talking about the TV show.

It’s time to talk about the scientific theory popularly known as “The Big Bang Theory” because Christians should LOVE this thing. I’m not saying we should tolerate it or “not feel threatened” by it. I’m not saying we should try to find some common ground because the scientific community supports it.

I AM saying we should 100% publicly adore everything about this monumental piece of scientific discovery. The Church should literally be it’s biggest advocate.

The Big Bang Theory represents one of history’s most incredible opportunities for Christians to stand hand-in-hand with the scientific community.

And yet, here in America, we’ve completely rejected this opportunity. Mention the Big Bang Theory to most pastors and they will practically vomit in their mouths in disgust. Try to discuss it, and…

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I have a problem with the rapture. And there are two very good reasons why.

1. First, because the scriptures do not teach it (contrary to what its proponents claim).
2. Second, because the church for 90% of its existence (for the first 1,800 years) never taught it.

But more importantly, I believe the Church’s present belief in the rapture is indicative of a dysfunctional, underlying mindset that leads us to engage with this world in a way God never intended

But let’s start by looking at scripture.

(At the end, we’ll tell you how to get a free copy of Stephen’s book 10 Reasons Why The Rapture Must Be Left Behind)

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For those unfamiliar with the subject, dating is a relatively simple procedure that must always be hopelessly complicated for any Christian daring to try it out.

If you’re feeling lucky, try Googling “christian dating advice.” We’ll see you next week…

But wait! Christians aren’t the only ones obsessed with the dating scene. If you search “rules for dating,” you may notice the unchurched are just as guideline-happy as the rest of us. It seems that dating might be universally confusing. So what’s the difference with Christians?

What makes Christian dating so hopelessly complicated is the Christians themselves. We bring our love for out-of-context scripture and applied-only-when-convenient principles into the mix, making for an entirely unique brand of utter ridiculousness.

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Who killed Jesus? Was it God the Father? Did God send himself to kill himself in order to appease himself?

As we discussed previously, the penal substitution model of atonement is built on a retributive idea of justice. It casts God as the vindictive herald of retribution and validates a pagan understanding of the gods and their constant need for sacrifice.

The key to understanding atonement is to understand the God revealed in Jesus. In the ministry and teaching of Jesus – in his solidarity and non-condemning posture towards humanity, his ability to freely forgive, and his view of sin as a sickness that needed to be healed – we do not find the kind of God who demands retribution and blood in order to forgive. If you think about it, that’s actually not forgiveness at all. A penal understanding of justice is a human construct and the lowest form of justice. The justice of Heaven is restoration. It looks like healing for the broken rather than the eye-for-an-eye model Christ rejected.
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One mark of great intelligence is that a person can solve a number of problems with a single stroke. I believe this is why Paul spoke of the ‘rich variety’ of God’s secret and hidden wisdom in having his Son become incarnate and die on Calvary (Eph 3:10; 1 Cor 1:30, 2:7). Through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the infinitely wise God solved a number of problems. Among other things, through Christ God defeated the devil and his cohorts (Heb 2:14; 1 Jn 3:8); revealed the definitive truth about himself (Rom 5:8; Jn 14:7-10); reconciled all things, including humans, to himself (2 Cor 5:18-19; Col 1:20-22); forgave us our sins (Acts 13:38; Eph 1:7); healed us from our sin-diseased nature (1Pet 2:24); poured his Spirit on us and empowered us to live in relation to himself (Rom 8:2-16); and gave us an example to follow (Eph 5:1-2; 1 Pet 2:21). God’s wisdom is displayed in a ‘rich variety’ indeed! – Gregory Boyd, The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views

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We’ve covered quite a bit so far in our discussion on Hell. We looked at every time the word “Hell” is mentioned in scripture (and discovered it basically isn’t… ever) and then we looked at every passage seeming to suggest eternal torment (and found how poorly we understand stuff that wasn’t written to us).

But get excited, because like Jesus distributing wine at a wedding, we’ve saved the best for last.

While our past work has established that the concept of Hell can’t be adequately sourced from the Bible, today, we’ll be looking at Church history to see how Hell lodged itself into Christian beliefs. We’ll show you where on the timeline eternal torment became a thing people believed in, we’ll look at the decidedly non-Biblical sources where it originated, and we’ll even examine why it stuck around.

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