Keeping The Faith

Jesus never described the gospel as an escape hatch, whereby we can exchange his current world for a spiritual retreat far away. Never. Rather, his gospel was: “God’s kingdom is here! It is now! Heaven has come to earth!” So when Jesus invited his first disciples to “Follow me,” he was inviting them to get…

It all began in 1980 when the executives of the one of the largest companies in the world, secretly commissioned a scheme named “Project Kansas.” The commission had the most daunting task any group of business people could be given: Re-engineer a product, re-package it, and successfully market it to re-gain the falling market share…

“God said it, I believe it, and that settles it.” This slogan is one of today’s all too common bumper sticker defenses of the Bible. The phrase is sometimes amended to read, “God said it…and that settles it,” to reflect that personal belief is inconsequential in the matter. Proponents of this view caricaturize the Bible…

The word “servanthood” is not recognized by my computer’s word processing program. Whenever I type the word it shows up with little red underline marks and a half-dozen other suggested words to put in its place. I don’t think we recognize “servanthood” either. It’s certainly not visible in the world in which we live; a…

It was extremely important for the church of my youth to prove that every single miracle in the Bible be proven as an historical and scientific fact. A literal seven day creation, the plagues on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, Joshua making the sun stand still, the Hebrew children surviving the fiery furnace,…

There were four rabbis who had a series of ongoing theological arguments, and three were always in alignment against the fourth. One day, the odd rabbi out, after the usual “Three to One” vote, decided to appeal to a higher authority. “Oh, God!” he cried, “I know in my heart that I am right and…

English scholar N.T. Wright uses a powerful example of how our lives fit into the big picture of what God is doing in the world: It is that of a stonemason working on a great cathedral. When these architectural wonders were built during medieval times, the construction process lasted for decades, even centuries. It would…

Our dryer was in a thousand pieces scattered across the laundry room floor, and I had a huge lump on the back of my head the size of grapefruit. Yes, I am ashamed to report these two seemingly unconnected things were very much related. It all began a few days ago when our dryer began…

There’s an old joke about a man who arrives at the gates of Heaven. St. Peter asks, “What is your denomination?” The man says, “Methodist.” St. Peter says, “Okay, go to Room 24, but be very quiet as you pass Room 8.” Another man arrives. Peter asks, “What is your denomination?” The man answers, “Catholic.”…

The following was sent to me by my friend Felton Floyd who lives in a beautiful place called Sugar Valley, Georgia. He holds an amateur radio license, and it was in that amateur radio world that this story originated: “The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes…

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Ronnie McBrayer

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, blogger, and author. His books include “Leaving Religion, Following Jesus” and “The Jesus Tribe.” Visit his website at www.ronniemcbrayer.me.

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