I think the problem I'm having with your arguments Richard is they have an air of confident arrogance. Different translations of the bible have literally started whole denominations and practically started wars. Your approach to translations and the significance of their differences seems dangerously dismissive if your goal is to understand and commune with other believers.

Which is the other issue I have with your arguments--the stance you hold that "it's a simple message." 2,000 years of in-fighting and disagreements to this day prove that completely to be false. It's hardly a "simple" message. …

To be clear, the topic I was referencing when commenting on whether Jesus taught it was homosexuality specifically, not sexual immorality generally.

And unless you have evidence to the contrary, everywhere I've studied about Jesus's life, it's mentioned he spoke Aramaic.

With regards to me an others getting "riled" up, I think it's safe to say, it cuts both ways. A gay Christian posts about their life and history in church, conservative Christian "gets riled up" and attacks them online. Conservative Christian posts a comment or article about the sin of homosexuality, more progressive Christians get riled up. …

Since the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president, the U.S. has undergone a renaissance of racial reconciliation and a fight for civil rights. The murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin last May 2020, threw accelerant on the fire of racial justice reform.

In the midst of this resurgence for righteousness, we’ve also seen a new form of insidiousness that aims to keep racial justice at bay. It’s a form of post-modern racism. It’s subtle. In fact, the committers of it will go to their grave claiming that “they don’t have a racist bone in their body.”

There…

Imagine if you will, a maximum-security prison built in Germany that was the largest of its kind in the country. Imagine if that prison was made up of predominantly Jewish men, where German officers in uniforms patrolled them like cowboys overseeing cattle. And imagine if said prison was built upon the site of an old concentration camp.

I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch to say the international community would be livid. And rightfully so. …

Last year when I signed up for my WaPo subscription, I was offered a special discount rate of $29 for the year (instead of $100+). I said “Hell yeah! I’ll take that.”

A year later, when the subscription was up, my rate was going to quintuple. I was like “Hell no! I like WaPo, but I already have a subscription to NYT and Medium.” So I went to cancel. Their system automatically offered me a renewal of the original discount — I would get another year for just $29. I thought “Sure. Why not?” The whole process took about five…

The most recent excursions and upheaval in Gaza between Israelis and Hamas had me in a bit of a quandary. I despise the fact that Hamas launched rockets into Jeruselum. But the empirically imbalanced response by the Israeli government, particularly since it affected so many people who are not Hamas, seems just wrong.

I wanted to speak out against it. But to be honest, I wasn’t sure what the protocol is for criticizing Israel. I have a number of Jewish friends and I frankly don’t know what the general feeling is among them regarding Israel. …

Today, after overwhelming evidence that convinced a majority of the Senate, (including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell) that Donald J. Trump was guilty of inciting a seditious insurrection, nonetheless, with a 57–43 vote, the Senate failed to convict him during his historic second impeachment trial.

Today, any notion of what you thought America stood for, died. We as a country officially abdicated any semblance of moral authority on the global stage.

I believe there are millions of Americans today who feel a certain level of disgust and frustration at what happened in the Senate today that POC have been feeling…

Hey there. If you’re new to this publication, welcome. This is an online version of my political satire/memoir, Dungeons ’n’ Durags: One Black Nerd’s Epic Quest of Self-discovery, Racial Identity, and Crisis of Faith in Trump’s America. Books typically start with chapter 1. But Medium does not make it easy to put posts in chronological order (and I sure as hell ain’t gonna take the time to manually re-organize all this sh*t.) Soooo, if you are new to this book (i.e. you’re arriving here for the first time) start at chapter 1.

Or, just buy the damn book

I would be remiss if I did not…