Welcome to Crucible of Thought! I'm Brandon, and I was a member of conservative evangelical congregations for 45 years. This blog is about things that I've learned since 2020, as I've been undergoing a process of "deprogramming," "deconstruction," "reconstruction"... pick whatever term you want, but basically a process carefully examining many different aspects of my social, political, and religious beliefs to see what really actually aligns with the Bible and specifically the teachings of Jesus, more than what aligns with the host of dogmatic statements I inherited in years of church training. I'm not trying to persuade anyone: I'm sharing my process, in the hopes that it inspires and enlightens others. I welcome you to join me as we move forward in our faith together.
For 45 years I’ve been taught some version of “Hebrews 10:25 says don’t skip Sunday church services.” I’m certainly not the first to exegete Hebrews 10:25, and I won’t be the last, and I don’t claim this is definitive, but I have some observations. In context, Hebrews 10 says “23Let us hold fast the confession […]
Forsake Not… Go Beyond Sunday Read More »
Intellectual honesty is important, and I’m seeing shockingly little of it in recent right-leaning Christian dialog. As a conservative at heart, I’m feeling betrayed by my fellow conservatives. In an Epoch Times article that I was sent today, the headline read “NIH Director Admits School Mask Mandates Are Not Based on Data of COVID-19’s Effect
How to Lie while Telling the Truth Read More »
Reading news stories about what’s wrong with America is like eating spicy food. It hurts so good. We’ll keep returning to that pepper just to get another adrenaline hit.
One of the responses I hear most often to things like CRT, or welfare, or Black Lives Matter, is that they will lead to socialism or Marxism in America. Fear is increasingly being used as a political tactic by both parties. In this case, it’s being used by both the Republican party and the evangelical
How to Cause a Revolution Read More »
The wider the distribution of my words, the more careful I must be about their accuracy. Sharing and liking are also a form of speaking.
The 9th Commandment (or, The Dangers of Sharing on Social Media) Read More »
My pastor sent me a paper to read about racism in the church. It is not short but I believe is worth your time (it took me under an hour to read). It states with scholarly approach, careful clarity, and supporting data some of the problems that I’ve been struggling to verbalize in various conversations
Critical Evangelical Theory Read More »
Part 1 Recently, I was driving to church on a Sunday morning when I passed a Black woman jogging along the road, and I had an immediate and visceral reaction to her face. I puzzled about that for a moment, and realized that I’ve always reacted that way to a very specific facial structure in
A Story of Forgiveness Read More »
It is not necessarily racist to treat people differently because of their skin color or ethnicity.
Affirmative or Racist? Read More »
Probably every Christian with any history of reading the Bible has heard the story of the woman at the well. And most Christians have also heard the phrase “the fields are white” (or ripe) “unto harvest.” That story and that phrase are intimately linked in a surprising way.
I was having trouble sleeping last night because my arm kept falling asleep; I was trying to find a position where the tingling in my arm wasn’t bothering my brain, and I heard the Lord say to me “That’s my point, listen to it.“ I then heard Him tell me: In order to truly be
