Wade Poe

Earlier this year, it was announced that Philip Yancey, popular and successful Christian author, had confessed to a long term affair and was stepping away from public ministry.   Not only was he given much grief over his confession, but was also accused by some of just trying to make sure his wife didn't leave him since he'd been recently diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Here was the guy who wrote the very impactful book, "Disappointment with God", many years back, and now many people were experiencing great disappointment with Philip Yancey.  The online reaction was surprisingly brutal. _______________ It's a hard thing to be disappointed.  It does something to you.  I remember other popular authors or influencers over the years having a public fall from grace and the weird times when you'd later want to quote them or refer to one of their previous works and, all of a sudden, you felt like you either could not use them anymore or had to qualify what yo...

Well, well, well...if it isn't the consequences of my choices. I've seen that on t-shirts and memes and it's often an overlooked thing.  Our choices do have consequences.  Benefits too!  But consequences for sure.  And other people's choices have both benefits and consequences for us. It all rolls together over time to great where we are and what we're experiencing.  We all play a part or a role in what's going on. Oddly enough, the most recent sighting of the meme made me think of the time that Israel was sent off into exile - taken over by other countries and made to be subservient and no longer independent. When you read through the prophets who were warning Israel about the behaviors and the potential (or coming) consequences, it's often spoke of as "God's judgment" and that's probably fair. God told them, way back in the day, that they had a code to live by, some laws to follow, and that there would be benefits for following them and s...

In the 70's and 80's, there was this thing called "the Satanic Panic".  A minister or two began claiming that if you played certain rock music backwards, you'd hear messages encouraging devil or Satan worship and your subconscious would pick up on it and you'd become possessed or influenced by the devil. I remember hearing about it "at church" and at school.  People would talk about it with comments ranging from, "That's so cool!" to "That's a load of BS." to "We've got to stop all you all from listening to that devil music!" People were genuinely terrified. Horror movies were just beginning to be popular, from my memory at least, and the fear of the devil coming through rock music fit right into it all.  Anything associated with hard rock music was opening you up to the influence of the devil. I remember watching an instructional/educational video about it with church people and, as the video ended with ever...

Over the past couple of years as more people began to be open about deconstruction and changing how they feel or believe about faith issues, a pushback came from some insiders saying that those going through deconstruction are criticizing Jesus' bride, the church. Usually the push back included the assumption that any kind of criticism of "church" is a criticism of their specific church and that people ought not to say anything that would cause anyone to think negatively in any way about "church"; only positive things are allowed. When specific instances of why someone would offer critique of something happening "in a church" or about the faith group they were from, the response is usually something like... "Well, the church is full of imperfect people. Of course they make mistakes. You can't expect perfection.  Being part of a church assumes you'll put up with pain, doubts, disagreements, etc.  God expects you do stick it out and honor hi...

Most people are born into belief.   You don't have to decide about a lot of things, you're just "given" those things and you assume that is how things are and how the world works. As you grow and develop, you begin to run into and/or pick up different ideas and experiences.  At some point, you have to begin defending what you already believe or  begin considering the different ideas and experiences as possibly something to take into your world or belief system. Safety, trust, the possibility of loss or benefit, and a whole host of unspoken but strongly felt thoughts and considerations begin unfolding inside a person IF and when they begin to take other things inside their heart and mind. _______________ When I was a child, my family moved from the country and into a small town. One of my first memories of meeting other people around my age was after a church gathering on a Wednesday night. I don't remember why we got on the topic, but me and another boy got into a...

Is deconstruction the same thing as “being woke”? No, they *can* overlap, but one does not mean the other is present - at least in the way that the word “woke” is used in our culture today. For me, deconstruction simply means that I changed my thinking on a lot of big picture issues when it came to what I believe about faith in God, what scripture is and what it’s for, and what “church” is supposed to be in my life and what it is “supposed to be” in real life for those who believe. To an outsider who comes from another Christian religious tribal background or tradition, they would probably just see me as someone who changed a few of my beliefs about Christianity. To an outsider who does not come from a Christian religious background, they also would possibly see me as someone who changed a few of my beliefs about Christianity. To many from my religious tribe of origin, they would probably see me as someone who has abandoned my faith entirely, but that’s not how I see it at all. In our ...