Last week, a friend, ally and pastor, Ryan Bell, was let go from the Hollywood Adventist Church. One of the core reasons was because of his radical approach to LGBT members.

God is love, but love is not God. Oft-vilified Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle has been riding this pony for a while now.

It was hard for me to love these characters. More than once, I thought of putting the book down because these characters are so real, so raw, that they become dislikable and at the same time, curiously familiar. They remind me of the neighbors Jesus calls me to love.

Why do so few Christians sign up for this Christ-like preemptive love in protracted foreign affairs? When the war drums start banging, why do so many fall in line?

The face of Christianity that many see today is not an accurate picture of a compassionate Christ. If I and other Christians want to better represent our faith, we can only do so in a world where opinions are based on real relationships, not viral bigotry.

I've been asked why I'm passionate about teaching forgiveness. It's because all religious, spiritual and metaphysical roads I've traveled have led me here, to this one Truth.

The other violence inherent with such an ideology is the claim that sharing the gospel is done in love. But, I think this is where the ideological assumptions fall flat, because love is not present in such tactics.

That's the image of Mom that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. She was a woman who bore up through terrible pain, who was damaged by that pain and lived through it.

I entertained the illusion that I was free of my grandfather altogether - free of his religion, free of his politics, free of his culture, free of his belief in God, and free, almost, of my family.

By Kim Lawton Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) For millennia, people have been trying to imagine what happens after death. I...

Jesus once said, "I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."

We should choose to stay in the Church while embracing Christ's guidance -- ask questions, seek answers and never stop knocking -- because one day the door will be opened.

At the age of 39, after my Gram's funeral, I took my grandmother into my heart. What would my life be like if I showed other people the same unconditional love she showed me?

The controversial actions of both Terry Jones and Lady Gaga have succeeded in generating attention. But have they achieved the results intended?

How are we supposed to love our enemies sincerely? Are we really supposed to pray for people who hate us? It seems almost masochistic -- a surefire recipe for psychological disaster.