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.To Live and Die at Club Q
It’s instructive to evaluate our immediate, automatic, and unspoken response to dramatic news. It tells us a lot about our inner selves. What was your first response to the news about Club Q?
Counting the Cost of Change
How often do we cling to something not because we believe it, but because we can’t risk not believing it?
If We REALLY are a Christian Nation…
We should be doing the things that Jesus did and commanded. And we should accept the corrections that come with being imperfect representatives of a holy and righteous and just God.
Ruling America
“I want America to be a Christian nation” really means “I want America to be a nation of Christians that believe and practice like me.” It’s a nice goal. But there really isn’t just one definition of “Christian.”
What Revival Really Looks Like
“This IS the revival that you were praying for. And you’re calling it heresy.” What if revival looks nothing like we think?
Self-Appointed Gatekeepers
Self-appointed gatekeepers over our religious and moral systems are destroying the people’s ability to connect with the Lord’s Kingdom. What is our response supposed to be?
Coming Out on National Coming Out Day
The first “National Coming Out Day” was observed in 1988, to support people finally expressing their true identity to those in their circle of relationships. Today, I am coming out myself – not as LGBTQ, but as an ally, one who affirms such identities and relationships as wholesome and acceptable to me, and I fully …
Hanging On For Dear Life
The 4th commandment, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” uses the Hebrew words nasah, shem, and shav, and might equally be translated “Your life shall not demonstrate an inaccurate representation of the reputation and renown and fame of the Lord your God.”
Book reviews for September 2022
37 books and counting… if it’s not obvious, I’m on a determined hunt for broader, richer understanding of things I thought I knew, but about which I found that I was surprisingly uneducated. I’ve been compiling a list of the books, along with my own reviews and the Amazon blurb about the book. At any …
For Two Billion years…
Let me tell you a short story about a long eternity. I’m not so convinced any more about the doctrine of hell and eternal punishment which I grew up understanding it as an absolute certainty, and something that I was told orthodox Christians had believed since Jesus apparently taught the doctrine in the Gospels.