Here are some interesting blogs and websites I visit from time to time. I like to read works by authors who think outside the box, those who search for what is right and true, rather than what is "accepted" and "approved".

Websites

Bible Gateway

Search and read the Bible in many translations.

No 2 Religion, Yes 2 Faith

"To give all religions due respect, but give none the power to control our connection with God, nor allow any middleman to restrict our freedom to articulate personal faith that is divinely ordained with a free will to choose, change or contemplate"

Christian-Bible.com

"Website created by Robert Traer. "The love of family and friends continues to convince me that love is life's greatest gift. I am grateful for all those who have shared with me this wonderful gift, and I bear witness that these loving persons include Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Unitarian Universalists, agnostics, and atheists, as well as Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

I am a secular Christian. I am secular because I believe all human knowledge is limited and must be tested by experience and reasoning. This includes religious wisdom as well as scientific theories. I support secular government rather than religious government, because history reveals that secular governments are more likely to protect our freedom to pursue the truth through open debate and the rule of law."

Not The Religious Type: A Different Conversation About Faith

(Our....) "...goal is to foster a spiritual awakening among our friends and neighbors in secular cities and towns in the western world. We believe that anyone can connect with God from wherever they’re at—within their own culture, race, and religion (or lack thereof)—and that this is best done in community through genuine give-and-take dialogues about faith."

Religious Tolernace

"Everyone should find their beliefs & practices accurately described here. Almost all other religious web sites explain only the beliefs of the webmaster or sponsoring faith group. We are different: we try to explain accurately the full diversity of religious beliefs, world views, and systems of morality, ethics, and values."

The BioLogos Forum: Science and Faith in Dialogue

"Who We Are: Science enjoys more power and prominence in our culture than ever before, but confusion and suspicion abound, especially when it comes to implications for Christian faith and doctrine. Old controversies continue to divide: is the earth young or old? Is evolution true or just a creation story for atheists? If evolution were true, what would that mean for our understanding of creation?"

Science & the Sacred Blog (of the BioLogos Forum)

"Leaders of BioLogos and invited guests discuss the latest ideas in science, Christianity, and their integration. BioLogos welcomes contributions from a range of positions; views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation."

Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

"The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University is one of the preeminent centers for research and dialogue on ethical issues in critical areas of American life. The center works with faculty, staff, students, community leaders, and the public to address ethical issues more effectively in teaching, research, and action."

Center for Character and Social Responsibility

"The mission of the Center for Character and Social Responsibility is to support the professional development of individuals and institutions which seek to expand their awareness, knowledge, and skills in the areas of character development and social responsibility consistent with principles of healthy personal development."

Biblican Unitarian

"Biblical Unitarianism is not to be confused with Unitarian Universalism. Biblical Unitarians believe in God, Jesus Christ, and the gift of holy spirit. It is our intention to promote the truth of one God and one Lord with this website."

Diglotting

About: "The name is Kevin Brown and I was born and bred in the utopian paradise of New Zealand. Now I reside in the midwestern United States with my wonderful wife. My main field of study is early Christianity and its corollaries. I also enjoy studying world religions and contemporary Christian theologies."

Confessions: "While I do believe in a Deity, it’s not exactly the Thomistic god of Christian orthodoxy. I find panentheism to be quite intriguing. Don’t really have a clue about the Trinity. Even on the days when I could sincerely sign my name at the bottom of the Athanasian creed, I still don’t consider the doctrine to be immensely important to Christianity, at least, insofar as it impacts one in living a righteous life of mercy, love, faithfulness, etc. To be honest, most days I consider it to be a pretty useless and antiquated obstacle to the Christian faith. It is only because I am such a fan of the theologian Jürgen Moltmann (for whom the importance of the Trinity shows through in his social trinitarianism) that I have not entirely jettisoned the doctrine of the Trinity from my repertoire of half-hearted theological beliefs."

Bart D. Ehrman

Biography of Bart D. Ehrman
Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He came to UNC in 1988, after four years of teaching at Rutgers University. At UNC he has served as both the Director of Graduate Studies and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies. Read more.

In regards to Bart Ehrman, here is a link to him being interviewed about his life. "Conversations With History - Bart D. Ehrman" I found it very interesting, and very helpful to see how his thinking, his "theology" and his life evolved.

Listen to some of his audio lectures free here: Archive.org/audio

Read some his books and writings  online free here: Archive.org/texts

Life Stream

"Relationship Not Religion!

We are passionately committed to help people discover the joy and freedom of relational Christianity. It is our firm conviction that Jesus' death on the cross was to prepare for each of us a dwelling place in the heart of a loving Father and to free us to the kinds of relationships that can share his life with other believers and with the world."

Please enjoy this welcome message from Wayne:

 

 

 

This page is designed to help first-time visitors find their way around our web site. After reviewing any of the features below, please hit your BACK button to return to this page and continue the tour.

- See more at: http://www.lifestream.org/content/welcome-lifestream#sthash.Ysp1ni33.dpuf

Patheos

"Hosting the conversation on faith" A large website hosting many blogs and discussions about faith and spirituality. Includes many religions and other spiritual ideas.

Divine Advanced human Beings

"My beloved teacher, J.S. Thompson, whose articles are posted on this site… is a foremost leading authority on the subject of life after death.  His purpose and goal is “Universal Unity” to inspire and to inject a philosophy utilizing logic which asks those that read them, to consider Eternal Life!

There are many who think we are sitting out on this big rock in space for no reason without any divine purpose or direction. However, there are also many that think, feel or believe that God exists as we have our own ideals, theories, or faith in the scriptures… which constitute nothing more than a belief system, not “Truth”! An astute person in search of truth remains open to any & all information that might solve our eternal quest for truth & knowledge."

Three Bible verses that say the Bible is NOT God’s word!

"Argument # 1: The Bible is the infallible word of God.

This is the first and most fundamental claim that Christians make when Evangelizing. It is just taken for granted that it is true, but if you analyze the weight of the evidence for this doctrine, you find that it is in actuality both weak and nearly non-existent. First of all, the first sentence of this argument, that the “Bible is the word of God” implies that the text in the Bible books are God’s words verbatim. However, we all know, including the Christians, that humans wrote those books. The only difference is that Christians believe that the humans (the identity of many of them are unknown) who wrote the Bible were guided by God the Holy Spirit, and therefore, they are God’s words verbatim and without flaw. The question then becomes, were they?"

Savior Of All

"Our mission is to proclaim the fullness of what Jesus Christ accomplished through His Cross and Resurrection.
May God set us free from the traditions and religion of men as we boldly declare Christ's victory with boldness and confidence to ALL men--for He truly is the Savior of ALL!"

Non Traditional Churches

The Refuge

"all are welcome. the refuge is a community of practice. a home for spiritual orphans. a place to gather hope. we gather saturday evenings at 6pm at the crescent grange hall at 7901 w. 120th avenue in broomfield and at various houses and places of refuge during the week."

Blogs

Rachel Evans Held

"Rachel Held Evans is an award-winning author and popular blogger from Dayton, Tennessee—home of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925...... Rachel is a skeptic, a creative, and a follower of Jesus."

Cathy Escobar

“pastor (of The Refuge), writer, advocate, mommy, rule-breaker, dreamer.”

"my life = wild & fun.

i co-pastor the refuge, an eclectic beautiful faith community in north denver, juggle 5 kids & an awesome husband who has a bunch of jobs, too. i’m an advocate for friends in hard places, a trained spiritual director (one who’s a little on the loud side) & love to teach and facilitate events, workshops, and groups. i write a little, hang out with people a lot, and teach college classes online because missional living doesn’t pay the bills.

these all blend together and make for one messy life in the trenches with people."

Pastor Chris Owens

"Not Necessarily Religious:  Some of you reading this blog may find yourselves uncomfortable. After all, this seems to be a religious blog, and you may not necessarily be religious. You might even think that in some underhanded way I’m trying to push religion on you in the vain hope of converting you to my religion.

 Well, let not your heart be troubled. For one thing, I hate the word “religion”, and frankly speaking, I never define myself as religious, or worse yet, a religious professional.

 So, this is a blog for everybody, no matter what you believe or disbelieve. I really look forward to reading your thoughts and learning from you, too!"

Michael Raburn

"I am a regular guy living quite an extraordinary life. I am husband to a wonderful wife, Amy and father to four daughters (two on each coast) and soon to be a son. I have had a handful of careers so far (some of them reasonably successful) and throughout them I have kept pursuing a quest to better understand and be able to communicate this thing called a Christian life. Three theology degrees in (and the last coming along) and I know less than I once thought I knew, but at least I have learned how to ask some of the questions better and how to recognize the falsehoods in some of our stock answers."

Students of Jesus - Taking the Yoke of Discipleship

"Let others argue over the state of the church at large or theologies of liberation and repression. Have you made the discovery of a calmed and quieted soul?

Jesus invited us to take his yoke and learn from him. The Students of Jesus blog is dedicated to spiritual formation and the steps toward that goal. The goal is to become conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Let's walk together toward our marvelous calling and destination: to become more and more like Jesus in this life--it's possible!"

Reflections of Tom Ryberg

"I’m a pastor of the United Church of Christ, presently serving a church in Battle Creek, MI, where I live with my wife, Andria, and our newborn daughter, Eleanor. Since graduating from college in 2005, I’ve lived in Las Vegas and Chicago. Andria and I served as Teach For America corps members in Las Vegas, and in 2007, moved to Chicago where I attended Chicago Theological Seminary. I’m originally from California.

 Prompted by the living Spirit of God – whose presence in my life has been tangible and unmistakable – I am very committed to aligning my life according to the call of God for me, and for my world. I see no need to separate out faith and activism, nor spiritual practice and social justice. While I am a fierce proponent of the separation of Church and State, I know that the way of living to which I am called by God will have certain social and political implications – if I respond faithfully. Faithful response to God’s call has always had social and political implications – just ask Jesus. I am a Christian, and I am also a pluralist who recognizes that different people are on different paths and journeys from mine. I see things through the lens of my whiteness, maleness, marriage and fatherhood status, and as one who lives comfortably within middle-class norms and means. I am also committed to being and becoming an ally in the work of justice, with particular emphasis on racial healing, queer inclusivity, and economic fairness."