If by “Second Coming” we mean the appearance of Jesus on the clouds of heaven, supported by some sort of celestial army come to destroy all the evil people and preserve all the good, something of that sort, then no, I do not believe that will happen.

It has been most of three weeks since I returned from Bend, Ore. and the seminar presented by Marcus Borg and Dom Crossan on “Reading the Bible as a Christian.” My reaction to the three days remains very positive, even upon critical reflection, for though I didn’t hear much that was truly new to me, I got a lot out of the way Crossan in particular framed the issues, and the supporting evidence he developed for his basic arguments.

One of the things I have heard quite often over the past 31 years I have been in parish ministry, is that congregations are supposed to be places where everyone loves each other. Until very recently I have agreed with that; I have pictured that as an ideal toward which we all ought to work. These days I am not so sure that this is the goal of Christian community in general...

The entire Bible is full of “creative liberties.”

Take for example only the Gospels.

A further thought on God and violence. One of the common responses to the belief that God is not violent, especially among those who are not so religious, is that God must be violent because the whole universe is violent.

In another post on this website Eric Blauer has shared his struggle with the relationship between violence and faith. If you haven’t read it, please do; it is an important statement.  My own journey has led me to a conclusion that might or might not be different from Eric’s, but it feels to me like it is in the same neighborhood.