The other day, I was thinking about Christian conversion testimonies. In a lot of ways, they function as narrative stories. However, their similarity to well-told tales mostly ends at having a general three-act structure. They can’t actually stand as good stories because they don’t reflect anything real in the human situation — and they’d be bad that way even if their tellers didn’t try to work miracles into them so often.
Lying for Jesus
Posted inLeaving Religion
Testimonies: Why false stories backfire spectacularly
With the base cunning of a narcissist, Biff recognized — probably very quickly — that boring testimonies don’t exactly open doors in evangelicalism.
Posted inHistory, Religion
Tim Keller pushes the myth of ‘Original Christianity’ for a reason
Every so often, I’m convinced, Tim Keller starts feeling like the conversation has begun to meander away from his favorite topic (himself), so he blurts out something ridiculously fatuous to get everyone looking his way again. This time, his attention-seeking took the form of lies about Original Christianity.
Posted inGeneral
Ronnie Floyd Just Quit His Powerful Role With the SBC
Ronnie Floyd tried his darndest, bless his li’l cotton socks, to pretend that the EC totally cared about the literal hundreds of victims that we knew about so far, thanks to secular journalists’ refusal to let the story die.
Posted inGeneral
Why Christian Dishonesty Matters
Hi and welcome back! Yesterday, we covered the so-called Testimony of Josephus. Many Christians think that Josephus provides PROOF YES PROOF that their historical claims are true. However, we discovered that the entire Testimony was inserted centuries later by a pious Christian fraud. The situation got me thinking. Christians’ dishonesty around their lack of evidence […]
Posted inGeneral
Bethlehem Church: Interpreting Churches’ Success Claims
Bethlehem Church, a megachurch in a small town in Georgia, reported 114 baptisms on one Sunday. That’s a pretty big boast, considering the SBC’s in a major decline and has been for generations now. This claim intrigued me, so today let’s look at some
Posted inReligion
Why A Redemption Arc Mattered More Than Atrocity Apologetics
Hi and welcome back! Yesterday, we talked about a romance novel by Karen Witemeyer, At Love’s Command. In it, a genocidal war criminal finds peace, healing, and redemption thanks to Jesus Power and the love of a good woman. Many Christians loved this story, but a lot of other folks got very upset with it. […]
Posted inGeneral
Karen Witemeyer and the Fuss Over Her Romance Novel
Recently, a Christian romance novelist, Karen Witemeyer, wrote a book called At Love’s Command. On July 31st, the Romance Writers of America (RWA) awarded this book the win for ‘best romance with religious/spiritual elements.’ It’s a deeply disturbing book due to its racism toward Native Americans — and its casual revisionist treatment of real-world events like the slaughter of Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee. Karen Witemeyer and her professional organization don’t understand all the fuss here at all! Today, I’ll show you that fuss — and then why these Christians are just soooooo mystified.
Posted inReligion
Manga Messiah: Another Bait and Switch Evangelism Attempt in Japan
Out of everywhere evangelicals seek to make sales, Japan might be one of their most resistant evangelism markets. But three dishonest evangelical couples have recently decided to use some beloved Japanese art forms to lure in unsuspecting marks: cosplay, fake collectibles, and a manga-style comic book called Manga Messiah.
Posted inReligion
Beach Reach: Training the Ingroup to Hate the Outgroup
So, what is the goal of Beach Reach? Today, I’ll show you. I’ll warn you, too: it’s dark, even by evangelical standards.