Pope Francis, Doctor Who and Fanboy Theology

Everybody wants to be an iconoclast. There's just something so satisfying in tearing out the fixtures of the way you "used to think"; and that's not a bad thing. How do we behave, though, in someone else's house after renovating our own?

Is Hell the Fire at the Heart of Missions?

"It is not always wrong even to go, like Dante, to the brink of the lowest promontory and look down at hell. It is when you look up at hell that a serious miscalculation has probably been made." - G.K. Chesterton 

Hell. Imagery of fire and torture are so interwoven into the western consciousness that it is hard to tell the difference between fantasy and theology. For readers who don't draw that distinction on any subject :) please feel free to come along for the ride but I'm aware that I am dipping into a topic specific to faith-based mission work.

The World is Our Ballot Box

With the upcoming Canadian election my social media feeds have been saturated with political messages. However far apart they may be ideologically, there is one underlying tenet they all share: "Your vote will determine the future of our country." Though it is seemingly the sole point of unity in all of the rhetoric, and though I risk the ire of every side in saying so, I respectfully disagree.

Your vote, while arguably important, might just be one of the least significant things you can contribute to the future of your country.

The World is Our In-Box

When I start to talk about "Church" and "mission" I tend to ramble. More often than not, I end up sounding like a crazy person. What follows is a modest attempt to open a door to conversation about the nature of the church and her mission by way of a grossly oversimplified metaphor: the world is our in-box.

"Oops, We Did it Again": Zwingli, Luther and World Vision

"Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair." - G.K. Chesterton

In 1529, in the face of rising hostilities between Catholic and Protestant forces, the great reformers Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli sat down together at the behest of Phillip I of Hesse who wanted to unify the Protestant lands. What followed is a mistake we still don't seem to have learned from.

The "S" Word

"You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it." - G.K. Chesterton

Some of you do not share my faith, some of you do. To all of you, though, I want to say that I am deeply sorry. I am sorry for the times that the "S" word, sin, has been levelled at you like a weapon. I am sorry for the times it has been used to make you feel dirty or unworthy or small. I can't apologize on behalf of all who follow Jesus, but also know that as I write this I am pained by what has been done to you.