Top Ten Posts for 2013

Here are the posts that got the most hits this year. Scroll down to the links that I wished had received more, too! The tags or categories in the right-hand column might intrigue you, as well.

Thanks for coming by. And thanks for reading and thinking/feeling alongside me in 2013. I am honored by your partnership.

1) Let’s look at this again — You’re married, right?
Posted on July 1, 2013
Aren’t people who “cohabit” essentially married?

2) Jesus and RBF — the Savior and the Fake Syndrome.
Posted on August 5, 2013
It is hard to move with Jesus into these things. But where else would he be but with the bitches and assholes?

3) The Difference between Acceptance and Agreement
Posted on December 9, 2013
 I encourage Christians who invest too much time in defining their opponents to apply the difference between acceptance and agreement.

4) Trayvon and Jesus Lost in the Verbiage Grinder
Posted on July 15, 2013
We Jesus-followers keep trying to make points that support Jesus in a system that has nothing to do with him.

5) David Bazan and the Dialogue about Lost Faith
Posted on March 11, 2013
I find Bazan’s journey fascinating because I have travelled it with his peers since they first loved Pedro the Lion. Now they are part of the dialogue about the loss they feel about their dissolving faith.

6) Would God send Gandhi to hell? — redux
Posted on June 3, 2013
They think, “While I am not as good as Gandhi, I am sure not as bad a Hitler, and I am about as good as most people I meet, so is God going to send us all to burn forever with Hitler?”

7) Why people might not care to be radical Christians
Posted on May 20, 2013
Being a radical is tough, over the long haul. And these days, it seems like finding more radicals is even harder than it was to begin with.

8) America Bashing in the Movies for the Fourth
Posted on July 8, 2013
Being complicit, grief-stricken, guilty, cast out and a bit lone are all appropriate ways to spend the national holiday, at least if Jesus is  any example. And He is.

9) Don’t let the loneliness organize you.
Posted on September 23, 2013
We can experience deep togetherness with God, and experiencing that togetherness often frees us to connect to others.

10) Blessings and Curses from Perky Christian Radio
Posted on July 29, 2013
I don’t think Jesus wants me to live like “there’s no tomorrow,” as if today were all I have. Isn’t that the condition from which I was rescued? I think he wants me to ease right into eternity and fearlessly be eternal. Yeah.

Five posts I wish more people had read:

We’re Getting Schooled to Relate without Jesus
Posted on October 21, 2013
It just dawned on me that any number of people begin their relationship with me with an “only if.”

Endless Love Chooses Limits
Posted on April 8, 2013
God-with-us, who knows the heights and depths and every possibility of our creation, put endless love in limited flesh and made limited flesh full of endless love.

Damn the spiritual torpor!
Posted on June 24, 2013
Whenever we are just on “off” because we’ve let ourselves drift into torpor, we’re in trouble.

It is OK NOT to be WEIRD — the Bible’s many “rights”
Posted on October 28, 2013
If you see a world full of individuals, like WEIRD people do, then you’ll want a morality that protects those individuals and their individual rights. Concerns about harm and fairness will be emphasized.

Six foundations for being good: let’s stand on all of them
Posted on November 4, 2013
I think Jesus followers need to be aware that the Bible also lays out these six foundational ways to be moral lest we choose one that’s ascendant in our territory and start arguing some skewed political position instead of being faithful to the fullness in Jesus.