By Beth Demme I’ve heard a rising refrain lately about “ALL Muslims” this or that. I’m tempted to respond with two words the next time I hear it: Westboro Baptist. Any time someone says ALL Muslims are the same, Christians should understand that’s like saying we are ALL like the members of Westboro Baptist Church. Westboro Baptist is a “church” but …
The Real Reason Loving Others Is Hard
Is Loving Myself a Prerequisite to Loving Others? By Beth Demme I know I am supposed to love my neighbors. After all, it’s in red in the Bible! So why is it hard with certain people? Maybe it’s hard to love some people because I don’t really believe God loves me. When Jesus was asked which commandment was “the Greatest,” he boiled the law …
Is Technology Messing With My Theology?
Are Google, Siri, and Alexa Making Answers Too Easy? By Beth Demme I’m smart, but I don’t know everything. Think about the smartest person you know. Guess what? They don’t know everything either. This is one of those plain and obvious truths that still needs to be said. More and more these days I find I need to say it …
Why I Love The Fall of Humanity
By Beth Demme If you’ve spent any time reading the Bible, you’ve probably noticed there are a lot of ups and downs throughout its sixty-six books. In its ups and downs, the Bible mirrors life. Literally, this mirrors life. A normal heart rhythm is composed of ups and downs, peaks and valleys. Something like this: We’ve probably all seen, either …
Why We Try To Sell God
By Beth Demme God is not a product or commodity, but I have to admit I have, at times, treated him like one. A commodity is something people want that is available in limited supply. I do not believe God is limited, but I am guilty of sometimes acting like my way of being in a relationship with God is …
Three Words For When God Feels Absent
Three Words For When God Feels Absent: Psalms, Palms, and Perspective By Beth Demme Sometimes it feels like God is as real, and as close, as my breath. Other times, it feels like God is absent. It’s easy to have faith when I feel God’s presence, but what do I do the rest of the time? I have found three …
Doubts at Easter are Okay
By Beth Demme I went to church and saw a dead finger. It wasn’t my church and, luckily, the finger wasn’t just sitting there. I was in a church in Rome called the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. We wound our way through the church to a special room with several reliquaries (containers for holy objects). One of the …
Maybe You Shouldn’t Try to Read the Bible This Year
By Beth Demme Have you ever decided to read the Bible in a year? How did it go? Did you start at Genesis 1:1 and work your way through to Revelation 22:21? Maybe you’ve intended to read through the Bible in a year but never quite made it. It’s February. Have you already fallen behind in your plan? I have …
The Old Testament is the Story of My Life
By Beth Demme Plenty of people today dismiss the Old Testament as a collection of ancient writings with unknown provenance. I think that’s a mistake. I don’t think we should idolize the Bible, but there’s a lot of room between dismissal and idolatry. I fall somewhere in between, where reverence and belief intersect faith and hope. One of the reasons …
Praying Smaller
By Beth Demme You know how in the Lord’s Prayer we pray: thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. I wonder if, for me, this is too big. I wonder if I should pray smaller. It’s not that I don’t think God can accomplish big things. This isn’t an indictment on the power …