I live with the understanding that truth is bigger than any religion and the world is God's and everything in it.

Any time someone makes you feel guilty about how you are living, that is part of the old system (pre-Christ).

Sociologically, large groups of people don't generally have massive changes in their belief instantaneously.

For Jesus, heaven and hell were present realities. Ways of living we can enter into here and now. He talked very little of the life beyond this one.

My experience is that lots of people go to church, sing the songs, tell the story, etc but have profound ambivalence about God.

Our tendency in the midst of suffering is to turn on God. To get angry and bitter and shake our fist at the sky and say, "God, you don't know what it's like! You don't understand! You have no idea what I'm going through. You don't have a clue how much this hurts." The cross is God's way of taking away all of our accusations, excuses, and arguments. The cross is God taking on flesh and blood and saying, "Me too.

You turn the light on, you get all kinds of bugs.