Exploring the role of faith in our lives through personal narrative and critical reflection
By Stephen L. Flowers
The biblical command to “love your neighbor as yourself” comes from the Old Testament law in Leviticus 19:18. The entire chapter deals with being holy. Jewish scholars have noted that for humans, holiness doesn’t “refer to (striving for) superior moral qualities” but “is the state of (showing we belong) to (God)” (endnote 1).
Continue reading “Jesus Did Not Call Us to Love Our Neighbor”
By Stephen L. Flowers
Introduction
This is the second of two essays that actually began as separate testimonial self-reflections I’ve had over the past year or so. I came to realize that each represents a season of challenge (at times knowingly and other times unknowingly) that covered many years before experiencing some moments of clarity.
Continue reading “Seasons of Challenge, Moments of Clarity: The Last Lee”
By Stephen L. Flowers
Introduction
This is the first of two essays that actually began as separate testimonial self-reflections I’ve had over the past year or so. I came to realize that each represents a season of challenge (at times knowingly and other times unknowingly) that covered many years before experiencing some moments of clarity. There is also a third season of challenge for me that was previously documented online– the story of how I came to affirm LGBTQ Christians. You can listen to it on Ivy Lamb’s podcast (also available on Apple Podcasts) or read the full story here.
Continue reading “Seasons of Challenge, Moments of Clarity: Visit From A Past Demon”
The Chaos Ladder is a podcast by Steve Flowers that explores how the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder for us to climb.
Episode 10 — Working out our own summary of the Bible can help us better understand how isolated verses fit into the Bible. We don’t begin by copying someone else’s summary but by asking big-picture questions like, “How does this verse fit into the author’s purpose?” We won’t know the answers a lot of the time. But if we stay aware there is a bigger picture and work to find those answers as we can, it’ll help keep us centered and eventually give us a better understanding of the Bible as a whole. An example summary of the Bible is included.
The Chaos Ladder is a podcast by Steve Flowers that explores how the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder for us to climb.
Episode 9 (Part 3 of answering “What makes the Bible inspired?”) — The first two answers (ancient believers’ reframing of scripture and Jesus as the greatest revelation of God) are traits of the Bible that create a trajectory which Christians are to further. Scripture has been reframed by Christianity over its history. We reframe scripture today when we look at it through the lens of Jesus in a new or different way to change the focus or perspective of what scripture has to say in light of our own experiences of God. This continues the trajectory created by the Bible’s own reinterpretations and Jesus’ re-centering of scripture to more fully reveal who God is and what God desires.
TCL e09 – When inspiration is fully unleashed – essay transcript
The Chaos Ladder is a podcast by Steve Flowers that explores how the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder for us to climb.
Episode 8 (Part 2 of answering “What makes the Bible inspired?”) — We can find God being revealed throughout the books of both the Old and New Testaments but the greatest revelation of God is in the person of Jesus. This means that where Jesus reinterprets scripture, He is not only reframing it, as is done by other biblical writers, but He is re-centering it to reflect how God was meant to be revealed in scripture (i.e., who God is and what God desires).
The Chaos Ladder is a podcast by Steve Flowers that explores how the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder for us to climb.
Episode 7 (Part 1 of answering “What makes the Bible inspired?”) — The ancient biblical writers and people in the Bible often reframed their understanding of God after finding themselves between two stories— the first one being the stories of how God was promised by those who came before them and second one being the very different way God was experienced in their own lives. This caused them to reassess how they viewed God and then express that in their reinterpretation of scripture.
TCL e07 – Walking in the company of those who came before us – essay transcript
The Chaos Ladder is a podcast by Steve Flowers that explores how the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder for us to climb.
Episode 6 — An introduction and background on the Bible being inspired is shared, but that belief is complicated. So biblical inspiration is compared to a bank robbery to provide the shocking twist we might need to help rethink the nature of an inspired Bible.
TCL e06 – And then God said Everybody down on the floor Now – essay transcript
The Chaos Ladder is a podcast by Steve Flowers that explores how the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder for us to climb.
Episode 5 (The Bible is not God part 2) — The Bible is not the problem. The problem is when Christians view ambiguous or objectionable passages as a problem, and then feel obligated to offset them. The Bible is like a bunch of different faith-journey jigsaw puzzles all dumped into the same box. God does not need us to make amends for anything in the Bible or re-shape it to fit our image of God but just to listen to its many voices.
The Chaos Ladder is a podcast by Steve Flowers that explores how the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder for us to climb.
Episode 4 (The Bible is not God part 1) — God inspired the biblical authors but did not control what they wrote. Failure to understand that an inspired Bible is not synonymous with God dictating the biblical texts to those authors in some fashion is often the biggest presumption hindering Christians from not only a better understanding of the Bible itself but from what God’s Spirit is actually speaking through it today.
The Chaos Ladder is a podcast by Steve Flowers that explores how the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder for us to climb.
Episode 3 — We all bring presumptions and preconceptions to the Bible. The problem is when we are blind to or deny them because that more than anything corrupts our ability to more fully hear what God is speaking through the Bible.
The Chaos Ladder is a podcast by Steve Flowers that explores how the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder for us to climb.
In this episode, Christianity’s history includes both favorable and unfavorable consequences in its application of the Bible. The Church has used it to help everyone but has also used it to alienate and hurt others. But only the side of this double-edged sword used to help everyone is the one inspired by God.
The Chaos Ladder is a new podcast series created by Steve Flowers.
In Steve’s words, the Bible is not a gaping pit waiting to swallow us but a ladder waiting for us to climb it. When the Bible sounds confusing or concerning, our reaction shouldn’t be distress or anger but seeing an opportunity to climb. And the ladders to climb out of our biblical chaos begin with the very questions and doubts we have about the Bible itself. It takes work to climb such a ladder, but the result will help us better hear what God has always been speaking through these sacred texts.
Fear Not! by Chad Johns
I have often wondered how we got from the angel described in this passage from Matthew to the American understanding of angels as beautiful women in gowns or naked babies, as neither of these appear in the Bible. I have often wondered how, but I think I know why.
Continue reading “Easter Sunday: Lenten Devotional Series 2020”
The Morning After by Pastor John
I am always struck by the contrast between this day, Holy Saturday, and the rest of Holy Week. The crowds and turmoil of Good Friday have given way to silence and stillness. There is no meal or intimacy like on Maundy Thursday. The excitement and hope of Palm Sunday’s triumphal entry have ended with two women seated before a sealed tomb.
Holy Saturday feels lifeless.
Continue reading “Holy Saturday: Lenten Devotional Series 2020”
God’s Plan by Christin Wallace
It’s crazy to think that Jesus knew what was coming and yet he still went through with it even though it was unwarranted and incredibly hard and painful. It’s truly wild to me. There are very few things that I would knowingly go through that are hard and painful.
Continue reading “Good Friday: Lenten Devotional Series 2020”
Serving One Another by Charlie Knerr
When the hour comes to depart this world, Jesus wants his disciples to know that they ought to be servants to each other. The will be blessed if they follow his example.
Continue reading “Holy Thursday: Lenten Devotional Series 2020”
The Paradox of Love by Pastor John
In his last days on earth, Jesus was betrayed by his beloved disciples whom he had walked closely with for the past three years.
Continue reading “Holy Wednesday – Lenten Devotional Series 2020”
Finding Our Strength by Hannah Elhard
Growing up Lutheran, we referred to the Trinity often. The pie chart of God in my childhood mind held three equal parts, each all-knowing and all-powerful.
Continue reading “Holy Tuesday – Lenten Devotional Series 2020”
A Poet’s Look at the Story of Jesus by Heather Monkmeyer
There is so much beautiful humanity in this passage and so much to wonder about. Can you imagine being at a dinner party with someone who had just been brought back from the grave? Perhaps you had attended the burial and now he is right in front of your eyes! What would that be like for you?
Continue reading “Holy Monday – Lenten Devotional Series 2020”