Many people in the deconstruction crowd have religious trauma around prayer. The sources are many. It seemed pointless when God already knew everything. Militaristic "prayer warrior" language didn't sit well with latent nonviolent tendencies. A prayer service where people screamed, "Boughta-Honda-shoulda-boughta-Hyundai!" gibberish at the top of their lungs was freaky. Dead … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Leans Into the Contemplative Tradition for Prayer
God
Beatnik Christianity Asks, “WHO is God?”
Rainn Wilson of The Office fame is not a Jesus follower but wrote an excellent book based on his Baháʼí Faith. While promoting it on The Holy Post Podcast he mused, "Bottom line: the #1 most important question anyone can ask themselves is, is there a god?... We're either a random assemblage of molecules that happened to have developed this incredible consciousness or there is … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Asks, “WHO is God?”
Beatnik Christianity Laments the Existence of American Civil Religion
When it comes to church-state dynamics, Paul showed us the way by appealing to his citizenship in the Roman Empire while reserving his allegiance for Christ and His Kingdom. Sadly, Christian culture in the U.S. has taken another path. We suffer from a chronic condition of adjective-noun confusion. An adjective is a description. A noun is a source of identity. That distinction … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Laments the Existence of American Civil Religion
Beatnik Christianity Minimizes the Use of “Ism”s As Pre-Packaged Ideologies
It's perturbing when people demand unconditional loyalty to their ideological "ism"s. I affirm traditional creedal orthodoxy, but distance myself from conservatism. I'm fond of the Anglican tradition, but want no part of the bureaucracy that is Anglicanism. I support nonviolence, but am leery of pacifism. I believe in gender equality, but am tentative about latching onto … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Minimizes the Use of “Ism”s As Pre-Packaged Ideologies
Beatnik Christianity Believes the Meaning of Life Is Best Captured By Connection
People pursue the ultimate meaning by many pathways. A sampling of the more well-known trails are bolstering the well-being of one's ancestral tribe, maximizing pleasureful experiences, serving others self-sacrificially, submitting to God's will, rejoining the Oneness of the universe, living in harmony with the natural world, achieving autonomy from the constraints imposed by … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Believes the Meaning of Life Is Best Captured By Connection
