Theology, opinion, fiction, and the occasional limerick.
Recently, in one of my largely ill-advised descents into Twitter-land, I came across the following tweet: Which three letters get white Christians more uptight? Which three letters have been most preached against? KKK or BLM? — Brian Dye (@visionnehemiah) July 15, 2020 Now, there’s a lot to unpack here, but the part that got my…
It was somewhere towards the end of 1995, and I was sitting in the dorm room at the Cariri Baptist Seminary in Crato, Brazil, shooting the breeze with my college roommate. Inevitably, our conversation turned towards marriage. My friend, a studious individual with an accomplished academic career ahead of him, said “If I were to…
People and societies act on presuppositions – basic facts that are held to be self-evident and thus immune to questioning. And while presuppositions vary from culture to culture, there seems to be at least one universal, foundational principle in this modern world: that God, if He exists, is not at all interested in what we…
The following story is an embellished retelling of something that actually happened to me. Enjoy! “Never walk the streets of old São Luís alone at night.” This piece of advice, frequently given, came to my mind late one Friday as I walked the streets of old São Luís. Alone. At night. I had been invited…
Rebecca is a sweet ten-year-old girl in our church who was so looking forward to her birthday party, scheduled for last Saturday. Unfortunately, the Corona Virus stepped in and changed those plans. Needless to say, she was very disappointed. Unable to visit, I decided to send this letter instead. Perhaps it will help others dealing…
As a missionary with a vital stake in the trends that periodically sweep the Western theological and ecclesiastical landscape, I have been following with interest the growth of a “woke” or “diversity” or “critical race” discussion that has taken place over the past several years. If I can be allowed to summarize a very complex…
Roman Province of Judea, ca 30 AD The Twitter-sphere erupted in outrage yesterday due to inflammatory remarks made by a popular Bible teacher from Nazareth. Jesus, referred to by some of his more radical followers as “the Christ”, reportedly used the terms “brood of vipers”, “whitewashed sepulchers” and “blind leaders of the blind” in reference…
Our co-worker Francivaldo and his beautiful bride Géssica officially tied the knot in a lovely ceremony on Saturday – a ceremony at which I had the privilege of bringing a challenge from the Word to the young couple. Here, with some adaptation…and memes…are my remarks to them. Francivaldo and Géssica, you need to be aware…
The first I heard of the Netflix documentary The Edge of Democracy (Democracia em Vertigem in Portuguese, trailer here) was when several of my left-leaning Brazilian friends enthusiastically recommended it on social media. As I am always interested in how Brazil is portrayed in the US, my interest was immediately piqued. After watching it, I…
In the course of a recent online discussion on the merits of a pluralistic society, particularly where Christianity is concerned, a good friend recommended that I read up on eminent sociologist and theologian Peter Berger (1929-2017). Selecting his last work, The Many Altars of Modernity: Toward a Paradigm for Religion in a Pluralist Age, I…