Thoughts from Mark Farmer

 Just posted this article on FB in response to a Franklin Graham post asserting that gender is totally binary. This article addresses the so...

  I've had several interesting experiences this week interacting about Trump and the election with people with whom I have long-standing...

This article from Medium would be considered optimistic in light of others I’ve read that expect the collapse to unfold by 2030. Or, from an...

I haven’t posted much about Christianity lately. But this post by Neil Carter deserves a wide readership. If Christianity isn’t working out ...

http://witsendnj.blogspot.com/2019/07/in-praise-of-themis.html

The basic idea, then, Near Term Human Extinction (NTHE), is that there is a strong likelihood that humanity may be gone from Earth as early ...

Last April, I came across scientist Guy McPherson's argument that global warming's feedback loops  will cause a snowballing of disas...

Earlier this year, I came across a reference to Dr. Guy McPherson in the end notes of a book I was reading (Barbara Ehrenreich’s Natural Ca...

We humans are not broken, we are in process of developing, as persons, as communities, and as a community of communities.  In our course ...

Neil Carter's Godless in Dixie is my current favorite blog. A fellow member of The Clergy Project, Neil writes thoughtfully and incisive...

The author of this post, LeRon Shults, taught in the early 2000s at my alma mater, Bethel Theological Seminary. (See bio at the end of the a...

In my way of seeing things for four decades of my life, I would have regarded my current self either as having lost my faith, or as never ha...

The central tenet of traditional Christian faith is the physical resurrection of the body of Jesus after his crucifixion. The idea is that ...

This may have first occurred to me, in a rudimentary version, in 1992-93 when I was doing a graduate program in missiology and world relig...

I remarked in Part 2 that the Bible doesn't give one clear teaching on any subject, including God. It speaks with many voices over many ...

Jesus Changes His Mind Matthew 15:21-28 recounts a story of Jesus taking a side-trip to the cities of Tyre and Sidon. There a woman of Cana...

I continue to respond to my Minnesota friend Dan's interest in how I got to where I am today spiritually. Simply aiming to follow Jesu...

From the comments on Facebook, I see that this is going to be a bit of a delicate exercise! So I reiterate that my only aim is to tell my ow...

In response to a request from my longtime Minnesota friend Dan, I shall attempt to relate as succinctly as possible how I mutated or evolved...

I would love to be part of a group that functioned like this! But, as Jean points out, it would be very demanding. But think of the good suc...

Sermon notes from October 13, 2013, on Christianity AND Evolution: A Pastoral Approach to Christianity AND Evolution Mark 4:26-29; John 1...

Peter Enns captures my concern for much Sunday School curriculum used in churches. His six-year-old son opened his eyes. Pete took it from t...

Pete Enns provides a helpful introduction to the first Christian Bible. Important stuff for all Christians to know. http://www.patheos.com...

The Moore, Oklahoma, Tornado and God Events such as this don't sit well with the idea of an almighty God who is also love. Can these...

Jonathan Haidt, in The Righteous Mind , indicates five criteria which people use to make ethical decisions: 1. Whether a given course of ...

Last summer at the memorable Wild Goose Festival, Jean and I met Kevin Miller, producer of the movie Hellbound?  Kevin impressed me with his...

Yes, it was Talk of the Nation on NPR, not All Things Considered, to which yesterday's post referred.   The discussion led by Neil Conan...

Yesterday on NPR's All Things Considered, there was an excellent discussion on disagreements among Christians on the importance of there...

Our friend Rachel has lived in a Muslim society for years. She knows Muslims as friends and loves them and they love her. She is worth liste...

The September 5, 2012, issue of Christian Century has an interesting article in which contributors are invited to put the gospel message in ...

The "slippery slope" may not be so bad after all!  http://rachelheldevans.com/they-were-right-about-slippery-slope Many of the c...

This is the title of my Easter season sermon series, borrowed from the book of the same name by Rob Bell. (I added the exclamation mark.) Be...

Wisdom from Rachel Held Evans as she encourages Christians to give each other space to each other to differ in our readings of the Bible. No...

TIME has brought an in-house conversation among Evangelicals onto the public square. I am delighted, not only because I believe that Bell is...