Why I'm Not

It’s a strange thing to hear about people talking about your convictions—not just challenging them, but labeling them. Lately, I’ve found myself placed into a couple boxes by some have been critical of things I’ve shared: Let’s call them drifting and grifting. Then there’s a label I would use of my process, which is shifting.

One of the most common discussions points I’ve had about the podcast is about what I mean when I use the term fundamentalism. I unpack what I mean by fundamentalism – and why I’m trying not to be one – in episode two. But it seems a bit more clarification might be helpful. In a recent conversation about the podcast with a Southern Baptist leader, I used a metaphor from C.S. Lewis that seemed usefu...

Welcome to the Flip Side. If you rode along for Why I'm Not — my experiment in verbal processing and theological reflection on my journey in, and through Christian fundamentalism — then buckle up, because like any good vinyl record, there's always a Side B. Side B is filled with some reflections on the journey.

Rumors of my deconversion are greatly exaggerated. I’ve had some folks I’ve worked with in the past speculate I’m walking away from faith. I heard it through the grapevine. Trust me, it’s not true. As if. Some of y’all need to take a chill pill. They’ve said that’s me in the corner, that’s me in the spotlight, losing my religion. I’m not. I’m losing their fundamentalist version of it. And I’m glad...

Dr. John Stott on annihilationism: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1232&context=pd Three Christion Views of Hell (Dr. Preston Sprinkle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-DfzRSLFP8 Conditional Immortality (Dr. Preston Sprinkle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nemKBJoCoKI Debate between Dr. Albert Mohler and Chris Date on annihilationism. Link: https://www.premie...

Some doctrinal positions require so much cherry-picking you’d think we were baking a pie. We’re all capable of it. That’s why sensitive topics deserve honest engagement with all the relevant texts—not just our favorites. Because of the complexity of the biblical texts, and the theological whack-a-mole way conservatives handle it, I'm really not big mad about people who might disagree with me. SHOW...

I still have nightmares about a movie my fundamentalist church made me watch as a kid: A Thief in the Night. It was a groovy 1970s horror film built on bad theology—and a lot of fear. That theology was dispensationalism, a system invented in the 1800s by John Nelson Darby and later popularized in the 1900s in America by C. I. Scofield through his reference Bible. Scofield didn’t just explain the t...

I've heard people bark in the Spirit. I've seen people roll in the Spirit. I've also sat in Baptist churches that might not know the Spirit if He slapped them in the face. What's a Christian to think? In this episode, I unpack why I no longer buy into arguments that the gifts of prophecy and tongues have ceased. While avoiding extremes and spectacles, we should expect these gifts to function until...

Some people try to put God in a box. In this episode, I try to put him in a bucket. Listen all the way through, and you'll figure out what I mean. I’m sharing this episode, not just because I’m not a young earth creationist and want to explain why. It’s really more than that. I think this issue has become needlessly divisive among certain Christian tribes in the United States—my tribe included. NO...

In 2006, Calvinism was making a comeback. Evangelicalism was buzzing, and Christianity Today gave the moment a name: “Young, Restless, and Reformed.” Southern Seminary was given the label “ground zero.” I was there—fresh PhD, junior faculty member, associate dean, newly minted Vice President for Communications. I had a book contract, expanding opportunities, and a front-row seat to the resurgence....

Did you know one of the most influential figures in American fundamentalism was a con artist who ditched his family, did time in jail, and then got rich selling a study Bible? In this episode, I get personal—sharing about my own years in Bible college and how I was shaped by a system built on shaky foundations. I expose the scandal behind the Scofield Study Bible, a book that quietly molded the cu...

Was Jonathan Edwards a heretic for believing he could own other humans? How can we give him a pass for being a product of the spirit of his age, and then critique others today for views we believe are too influenced by our times? These are some of the points I'll hit as I introduce "Why I'm Not," a journey of verbal processing and theological reflection on my journey in and through Christian funda...