Just about every great religious and philosophical tradition has some version of the Golden Rule. It's an ethical framework dating back some 4,000 years to ancient Egypt. 2,000 years ago, at a time when common Jewish thinking was "an eye for an eye" retributive justice, the Sermon on the Mount upped the standard. In the context of explaining our heavenly Father giving good … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Extends the Trajectory from the Golden Rule to the Platinum Rule
Judaism
Beatnik Christianity Ain’t Afraid of Influence from Other World Religions
Alan Race first articulated the exclusivist-inclusivist-pluralist trichotomy model in 1982. This framework proposes three broad outlooks for how Jesus followers perceive other world religions. Each model contains nuanced permutations, but in the streamlined sense Exclusivism maintains there's no salvation possible in other religions, Inclusivism holds open the possibility that … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Ain’t Afraid of Influence from Other World Religions
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 Merges House Church Community with High Church Worship
Over the last two decades, I've felt a steady pull towards the house church movement. My soul longs for its slow pace, warmth of hospitality, depth of community, and conscious removal of all the bureaucratic crap that usually dominates church life. I've quietly read books by its leading authors. Not gonna lie, there are times when I feel like Frank Viola and Neil Cole are … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Merges House Church Community with High Church Worship
Beatnik Christianity Supports Gender Equality Because of the Bible
According to Wikipedia, "Complementarianism is a theological view in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam that men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family life, and religious leadership." It's a worldview with traditional gender norms and roles. In most complementarian American marriages, the husband is the head of the household. … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Supports Gender Equality Because of the Bible
