Welcome to Ref21!
Welcome to Ref21! It probably sounds strange to be welcomed to a page that you have read for nearly twenty years! Ref21 has been a staple of daily Christian reading for literally thousands of believers. So, why act as if…
Tag Christianity and Culture
Slavery for Our Time
“You shall not murder.” Death. It happens every day, everywhere across the world, and yet there is something about death that sets it apart from other common events in the world. We approach it with a mixture of contradictory feelings,…
I’ve Never Killed Anyone… Right?
“You shall not murder” “Have you lived a good life?” “Well, I’ve never killed anyone.” Christians know that line won’t stand up in God’s courtroom. We quickly pivot away from murder to press the sin issue from other angles. “Have…
No Easy Answers
If someone says to you, “The solution to poverty is…,” and finishes that sentence with a single word, or a single phrase that doesn’t include ‘Jesus,’ then it’s probably safe to stop listening. Our hunger for tweet-length solutions, for snackable,…
Pervasive Injustice
Every so often, atrocities rise to the level of global attention in a way that triggers and disturbs our conscience, and evokes a collective outcry of “No! This isn’t right! This needs to stop.” These instances are sadly rare, not…
Was the Nuclear Family a Mistake?
Last month, the Atlantic published a provocative and fascinating article which, given its title, could not have come at a more poignantly ironic moment: “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake”. The article classifies the American obsession with nuclear families as a chronological aberration…
Truth vs. Consensus
Postmodernism has produced an heir, and its name is Consensus. Four years ago, the Oxford Dictionary announced that “post-truth” was its word of the year. Post-truth refers to our contemporary sense of justice, in which objective reality and facts bow…
Trumpism, Radicalism, and the Dangers of the Movement Mentality
The Preacher wisely said that “there is nothing new under the sun,” and however aghast our pundits may be at the sudden rise of Trumpism, we really have seen it all before. The radicalization and fragmentation of the Republican Party…
Race and the American Church-Part VI-Sin, Slavery, Silence and ‘Separate but Equal’
Before reading this article, please consider reading through the first five pieces as this article is best understood in the context of the others and reading the first five articles will enhance your reading of this one as each article…
Race and the American Church – Part V
Before starting down the road of narrative history, we have to understand a few things. First, if you have not already done so, please read my first four posts about the heart and experiences God has given me, how He…