by Patrik Olterman | Jun 19, 2015 | Christian life
As I was browsing the interwebs I came upon this cartoon depicting how the secular society looks at christianity. It is true to a large degree. In todays society it is ok to quote Buddha, the Dalai Lama or Ghandi but to quote Jesus or the bible is somehow offensive....
by Patrik Olterman | Jun 3, 2015 | Theological reflection
When you read fantasy (as I do) there are many different races. In classical fantasy the elves are gracefull and artistic, the dwarves are tough and inventive and all the races live long. But what about humans, humans are mortal. In the fantasy setting the great...
by Patrik Olterman | May 21, 2015 | Book review
I just finished reading “Redeeming Sex” by Debra Hirsch. I was so excited when I picked this one up and I was hopeful that someone had finally published a book that dared to deconstruct and reconstruct sex from a biblical perspective. And it started out...
by Patrik Olterman | May 18, 2015 | Church
This Sunday I talked about the sacramental life at the corps. It was a nice service with good worship (Thanks Boris) and the teaching flowed nicely. As I am preaching my way through my “Life is my religion” teaching we where talking about life as a spiritual practice...
by Patrik Olterman | May 16, 2015 | Blogging, Theological reflection
After a sorely needed hiatus, I have decided to reopen my blogs. I write these blogs because I need to work through my journey in writing and because I really need the feedback I get from doing this in public. Some people think I like to provoke on purpose (to a...
by Patrik Olterman | Mar 8, 2015 | Uncategorized
Today I want to talk about transfiguration, it is a big religious word that ranks right up there with eschatology and soteriology and yet, I think, should be part of our daily practice as Christians. Transfiguration, from Latin transfiguratio, is primarily a religious...
by Patrik Olterman | Jan 7, 2015 | Christian life
We live in a society that has for centuries prioritised the mind. We have listened to Descartes who said Cogito Ergo Sum, I think therefore I am and so we believe that we are the sum of our thoughts rather than the sum of our being. God gave us the mind to protect...
by Patrik Olterman | Jan 4, 2015 | Christian life
In the Christian world we continuously repeat the mantra: Jesus is the answer, Jesus is the truth! Vi repate it over and over again and it most often seems to mean that outside the person of Jesus there is no truth. We seem to believe that Jesus statement means that...
by Patrik Olterman | Nov 25, 2014 | Christian life, Church
If you have been raised in church or spent a longer time as a member of some sort of church, then I am sure you have been told not to trust your feelings. I was certainly told time and time again that feelings are a roller coaster, they come and go and cannot be...
by Patrik Olterman | Nov 24, 2014 | Christian life, Church, Sex
A while ago I wrote about the importance of self love and how self love is the first step to loving others since you can only love others as much as you love yourself. Now we know we should love ourselves, and we hopefully feel that it is ok to love oneself. The...
by Patrik Olterman | Nov 20, 2014 | Christian life
“For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self … Therefore there is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace and my happiness depend:...
by Patrik Olterman | Nov 14, 2014 | Christian life
Look around you, what do you see? Are you not surrounded by grace? By walking talking miracles gifted with the gift of life and love? How is it that within the Christian church, it has become heretical to see and to point out the divine outside of the confines of our...
by Patrik Olterman | Nov 11, 2014 | Christian life
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your...
by Patrik Olterman | Oct 22, 2014 | Christian life, Poetry
In the beginning when god began creating the heavens and the earths manifestations of god’s self of gods love, and god saw that it was good. And god created humans as embodied manifestations of gods consciousness, god’s glory and god’s love. God...
by Patrik Olterman | Sep 25, 2014 | Christian life
It is funny how a single verse in the bible can become so important to some people, important enough not to read or understand the context. You shall not eat anything with its blood. You shall not practice augury or witchcraft. 27 You shall not round off the hair on...
by Patrik Olterman | Aug 20, 2014 | Christian life, Church, LGBTQ
Someone once told me that all dichotomies are false dichotomies. And maybe this is the most sinister but also the most widespread of them all. The very idea that there is us and them, the idea that we are somehow different *better” that them, whomever they are....
by Patrik Olterman | Aug 7, 2014 | Christian life
I don’t know about you but I hear a lot of hopelessness out there when I put my ear on the wire. The internet is buzzing with naysayers and doomsday prophets telling us that it is too late, that there is no hope left. We might as well just hold on and enjoy the...
by Patrik Olterman | Aug 3, 2014 | Christian life
The whole idea of heaven, while hope inspiring, often corrodes and hollows out our everyday life. It is interesting to note that Jesus rarely spoke about heaven. To him, it seemed much more important and urgent to deal with life here and now. Heaven in the here and...
by Patrik Olterman | Aug 1, 2014 | Christian life, Church, Sex, Theological reflection
IT’S TRUE!! Not even when it’s really good! Not even when it’s long or loud, wet and rowdy. Sex is not even filthy when it is public or outside or taped. Sex is not filthy when it is between two men or two women. It is not filthy no matter what...
by Patrik Olterman | Jul 23, 2014 | Christian life, Church
So this week we are talking about sin. It doesn’t happen a lot around here. I abhor the notion of sin, not because of what it means but because of the cultural baggage that we have attached to the idea. Let me just say outright that the whole concept of a...
by Patrik Olterman | Jul 22, 2014 | Christian life, Church, Theological reflection, Uncategorized
We live in a secular society, which for most people means separation of church and state. We have this idea that church simply should not be political or involve itself in matters of state. In the same way we have this notion that church has nothing to do with science...
by Patrik Olterman | Jun 17, 2014 | Christian life, Sex
So let’s talk about love. What could be easier, love is after all the foundation of the Christian faith right! Love is the cornerstone, Love is the air that we breathe, all you need is love! Then again for as long as humans have walked the earth we have tried to...
by Patrik Olterman | May 22, 2014 | Uncategorized
The text was supposed to read: I Love you! But in It’s infinite wisdom my smart phone decided to autocorrect it to: I live you! At first it frustrated me, it happened over and over again in all kinds of texts, updates, blog posts, the word love corrected to...
by Patrik Olterman | May 19, 2014 | Christian life
I have been a Christian on and off since I was 14 years old. I have prayed thousands upon thousands of prayers. Some deep and heartfelt, some pleading, some angry and demanding answers and some, I must confess, simply by routine. I think that is why I stopped saying...
by Patrik Olterman | May 15, 2014 | Christian life, Church
Those of you who have heard me teach have probably heard me say that joy is the Christian trademark, well that and or grace. While there are a lot of really awesome teaching in most of the world religions, the idea of grace, the completely undeserved, unconditional...
by Patrik Olterman | May 14, 2014 | Christian life
Most people have had this thought, I know I have, If I could just find some peace and quiet, then I could sort out my issues and get on with it. Most people wait for the circumstances to be right, or work frantically to make the circumstances right to achieve peace....
by Patrik Olterman | May 13, 2014 | Christian life, Sex
We talk about love a lot, we say that: God is love! The scriptures say it over and over again, they even say that unless you are in love, saturated with love, bubbling over with love, you are not with god. And so we realise that love is necessary, it’s a...
by Patrik Olterman | May 9, 2014 | Christian life, Church, LGBTQ
So I was looking at one of my favourite geeky webpages when I found this T-Shirt that said: “Kiss me I’m elvish”. Which of course is a rip-off of the old “Kiss me I’m Irish” slogan. And it got me thinking… Today Christians are...
by Patrik Olterman | May 5, 2014 | Christian life
I have heard it often spoken in churches, you are a sinner! We most often base this on a handful of verses out of scripture like the famous “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of god”. And so we fall into the trap where we think that we are...
by Patrik Olterman | May 2, 2014 | Christian life
It’s been around for a long time, the notion that the problem we have as humans is that we are in fact human. We call it the human condition. And so we aspire to be more than human, to be ‘spiritual’, to somehow leave our human existence and become...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 29, 2014 | Christian life, Church
The title should be enough, that should be the end of discussion. However, since we are prone to get stuck in patterns based on fragmented readings of scripture we have to go deeper than just this statement. We have gotten stuck on a handful of bible verses about...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 28, 2014 | Christian life, Marriage & Relationships
I posted a short update to Facebook a few days ago that was accused of being to new agey. Why? Because instead of thanking god for what is happening in my life right now I said: isn’t it great when the universe conspires to give you your deepest desire. Have I...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 23, 2014 | Christian life
This is a blog post that should not need to be written. Art and artistic expression has been part of the church since it’s inception. And while art often is a physical expression (but not always, for example poetry) it is not carnal as defined by the false...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 22, 2014 | Christian life, Church
Ministry is an interesting word for many reasons, the most important reason is that it does not mean what most people assume it means. For me as a Swede it has double significance as it is one of the Christian buzzwords that do not exist in the Swedish language. The...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 17, 2014 | Christian life
Grace, it’s such a beautiful concept. Grace an (undeserved) gift freely given. We read in the scriptures that god loved us before we knew about god, before we saw god, before we had our first god experience. God’s grace is scandalous, outrageous and...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 15, 2014 | Christian life, Church
The holy grail of church planting in my opinion is the building of a community. The way we traditionally do this is by planning activities in our church buildings and we put on meetings. That is we create structured environments in which people can meet and greet. I...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 14, 2014 | Uncategorized
Anyone who has seriously read their bible knows this is true. There are no clear doctrines found in the bible. If this was the case then all churches would adhere to the same set of doctrines but as we all know the universal Christian church has split into countless...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 13, 2014 | Christian life, Church
In evangelical circles we keep saying this, Church is the people not the building, but do we really understand it? The word church comes from the german kirche which in turn comes from the greek word kurios meaning lord. So the word church means “those who...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 11, 2014 | Christian life
It’s not! Ask yourself this, are you a Christian? If so, why are you a christian? Is it because you believe certain things? The right things? Is it because you do certain things? Or are you a Christian because there is a divine reality of love and you live or at...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 8, 2014 | Christian life
While one can assume that Jesus may have been a religious man, Jesus himself is not a religion. He did not come to start a religion, he did not found a church and he did not write a sacred text nor did he ask anyone else to do so. I think if Jesus had intended for his...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 3, 2014 | Church
It is a simple truth really: god is god. God is not what we believe of god. God is not our theology or our doctrines. Since the dawn of time humans have had various ideas, religions, doctrines, theologies about god. God has remained god all that time. I will not say...
by Patrik Olterman | Jan 13, 2014 | Christian life
I have been returning to thoughts about this the last couple of days in several conversations with friends. As an officer of the Salvation Army I think it is an important question that needs to be contemplated often. For many people Salvation is a word that is not...
by Patrik Olterman | Jan 7, 2014 | Christian life, Church, Theological reflection
The last couple of days there has been a post circulating on the internet with a bunch of statements allegedly made by the current Pope. People are upset that a pope would say such things (although he didn´t) and what it would mean for Christianity at large. Other...
by Patrik Olterman | Dec 18, 2013 | Christian life, Church
It may seem an obvious statement for anyone who, like me, have studied the scriptures at any depth. Jesus was a Jew and most Christians would readily admit this fact. But as obvious as it may be we still tend to think of Jesus as a Christian, because, lets face it...
by Patrik Olterman | Dec 13, 2013 | Poetry
That you would embrace me That you would surround me your divine light That is bliss to me That you would surrender to my embrace That you would allow me to lead you in our dance That is to wondrous for words That you would look at me and smile That you would accept...
by Patrik Olterman | Dec 11, 2013 | Christian life
So this last week I have been reading the long anticipated book: Notes from (over) the edge by Jim Palmer. This is a very different book than Jim’s other work. It feels like Jim lifted the curtain and let us peak behind into his mind and his thinking that has...
by Patrik Olterman | Dec 9, 2013 | Christian life, Church, Uncategorized
We all know we need closeness, connection and human touch, here are ten reasons why we should intentionally introduce embracing, hugging and cuddling as a practice in our lives. After you read this post of why, think about how you will implement the art of long...
by Patrik Olterman | Dec 4, 2013 | Uncategorized
I am guessing that when one is turning forty it is normal to look back and evaluate, how far one has come and what has prompted ones development thus far. In one sense I don’t think that my fortieth is any different from any other birthday, it simply is another...
by Patrik Olterman | Dec 3, 2013 | Uncategorized
I don’t know how it happened, but it did. Suddenly I was forty and the numbers on the cake do not lie. It is strange to wake up and realise that my body is forty even though on the inside I still feel like seventeen. I have had a great week, last tuesday (my...
by Patrik Olterman | Nov 8, 2013 | Christian life, Marriage & Relationships, Sex
In recent conversations the topic of pleasure has come up time and time again. It seems that from a Christian point of view we are as a community ambivalent about god’s view on pleasure. It seems that somewhere deep down we do believe that although god is good...
by Patrik Olterman | Oct 3, 2013 | Christian life, Church
A depressing title I know, but please bear with me and hear me out. After four years in a church plant where we desperately are trying to model and live out an authentic Christianity at the same time as we are trying to build a church community, I have come to realise...
by Patrik Olterman | Oct 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
I have been asked over and over again why I joined TSA (the Salvation Army) and why I insist on remaining in TSA. I remember sitting at WBC (William Booth College in London) at a lecture given by the leader of the methodists of England, he said that the only thing...
by Patrik Olterman | Sep 29, 2013 | Theological reflection, Uncategorized
During the last couple of years many friends and people I do not yet know have told me to beware the slippery slope. They have in no uncertain terms let me know that if I start questioning the tradition bound given truths of the church that I would eventually loose my...
by Patrik Olterman | Sep 17, 2013 | Uncategorized
So, here we are. Many words have been written and countless comments have been made on and off site. Many topics have been discussed and now I find myself a bit lost. where do we go from here? So dear reader, what do you think. If you read this blog, what would you...
by Patrik Olterman | Sep 3, 2013 | Christian life
The last week I have been contemplating this question: What does it mean to be a Salvationist? A Salvationist (for those of you who are not in the Salvation Army), is a soldier in the Salvation Army, but what does that mean? Is being a Salvationist believing certain...
by Patrik Olterman | Jun 27, 2013 | Sex, Theological reflection
The primary focus of the Song is the passion and the desire between the two lovers yet there seem to be something deeper underneath the surface. Rob Bell astutely asserts that: “You can’t talk about sexuality without talking about how we are made. And that will...
by Patrik Olterman | Jun 26, 2013 | Christian life, LGBTQ, Uncategorized
I am watching a fellow Salvationist lament on the LGBTQ oppressive teaching they are getting at a Salvation Army event. I grieve with here and cringe inwardly at the damage being done in yet another Bible study where no consideration is being given to the possibility...
by Patrik Olterman | Jun 20, 2013 | Sex, Theological reflection
It should be very clear at this point that the Song is unashamedly and explicitly sexual. Describing the growing love and passion between two individuals. While It remains uncertain if they are married (what the Song has to say about marriage will be considered later...
by Patrik Olterman | Jun 13, 2013 | Sex, Theological reflection
Before looking at the Song’s message and theology, some of the Song’s symbols and images must be decoded. It is important to not get carried away in doing this. While the Song is rife with sensual images appealing to all five senses, it is easy to take this decoding...
by Patrik Olterman | Jun 7, 2013 | Christian life
In John 3.16 we read that god so loved the world (kosmos) that he gave his only begotten son…. And it seems to me that all through scripture we are reminded again and again that kosmos, that is all of creation, is longing for redemption. When god creates the...
by Patrik Olterman | Jun 6, 2013 | Sex
Song of Songs have been read and interpreted in several different ways, the predominant interpretation is some form of allegorical interpretation (Estes, 2005: 396). Most scholars throughout history have approached the Song this way. Starting with Theogenes who...
by Patrik Olterman | Jun 1, 2013 | Christian life, Theological reflection
The Church is in trouble every time it instructs us to disregards our hearts or tell us that our hearts are evil/wicked. If Life is to be our religion and being alive is our spiritual practice; If the church is build by authentic relationships and if becoming and...
by Patrik Olterman | May 30, 2013 | Sex, Theological reflection, Uncategorized
The Song of songs is a much debated and unique book in the Old Testament. It is near impossible to find consensus on any statement about the book except that it is unique. The book has no parallel in the rest of the Jewish or Christian Canon. It becomes difficult to...
by Patrik Olterman | May 24, 2013 | Christian life
If my calling is becoming and being all that I am then it falls naturally that my ministry, my service to god is to, within the scope of an authentic relationship, help you to become and be all that you are. This is not first and foremost a call to spiritual...
by Patrik Olterman | May 21, 2013 | Christian life
Holiness and calling are two central points of a Salvationist theology. Many books have been written on holiness, most of them describing holiness as a tool to get rid of/become sin free and while many of these books describe holiness as an internal process the result...
by Patrik Olterman | May 16, 2013 | Christian life, Church, Family
It may seem like an obvious thing to say, if god is our father then Jesus is our brother. There are some people (in the past myself included) who may have a problem thinking of themselves on the same level as Jesus. It seems disrespectful towards the son of god and...
by Patrik Olterman | May 8, 2013 | Christian life, Theological reflection
I was approached last week by a Soldier that was concerned about my reading and quoting philosophical works in my blogs and my sermons. He quoted the oft quoted: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you...
by Patrik Olterman | May 3, 2013 | Christian life
Jesus main message, according to most bible scholars, was that of the kingdom of god, or life eternal (aionos zoe). In most churches this has degenerated into an oversimplified message of “pie in the sky when you die”. When Jesus very clearly describes the...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 28, 2013 | Poetry
Recently at “Subverting the norm II” I was challenged by Katherine Sara Moody who took the platform together with some heavy hitters in radical theology and opened up with “as a woman and a theologian I am still looking to find my voice”. She...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 26, 2013 | Christian life, Church
If life is the religion what are we then to make of church? The English word for church comes from the greek kurios which is best translated as the Lord’s or those that belong to the Lord. In the context of this then maybe the simplest way to express this is...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 18, 2013 | Christian life, Church, Theological reflection
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” Jesus asks in Mark 3.33. It is a poignant question, one worthy to ponder as we face this turbulent life. It seems to me that while the biblical narrative in some cases puts an emphasis on family, it also deconstructs...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 16, 2013 | Christian life, Theological reflection
It may seem to some the most logical place to start: God is love! This it is what I was taught as I took my first stumbling steps as a Christian. I was also taught that the bible is a love letter from god. This, however, struck me as a bit odd given the strangeness of...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 12, 2013 | Theological reflection
Since I attended the conference on Radical Theology – Subvert the norm II, I have been asking myself what would a Radical Salvationism look like? Then I stumbled across the following quote by Cadet Christopher Footer in JAC Issue #45: There is only one God, and...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 11, 2013 | Christian life
I am sittning at the Salvation Army leadership conference in Örebro, listening to Tommy Hellsten talking about finding your true self and how the ego must be crucified, taken apart, gotten rid of. I think of Eddie Izzard that stated last night during his “Force...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 9, 2013 | Theological reflection
I often end up in conversations about deconstruction. Is it wise, they ask to deconstruct doctrinal and creedal statements, bible texts and above all is it wise to deconstruct god? In the question, I find, there is a fear that deconstruction will somhow damage or...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 9, 2013 | Uncategorized
The last couple of days I have spent at Subverting the norm II, a conference about radical theology, postmodernism and the church. It has been three days of deconstruction, radical thought and repentance. It has been such a privilege and honour to spend three days...
by Patrik Olterman | Apr 5, 2013 | Christian life, Church, Theological reflection
What is a spiritual practice, or a spiritual discipline? Most people I know would place a spiritual practice within the confines of what you do on a Sunday in church or possibly in your daily prayer session at home. A subset of my friends would also extend it to their...
by Patrik Olterman | Mar 29, 2013 | Christian life, Church, Theological reflection
It is a grand statement: Life is my religion! But what does it mean? Let’s start with the end, religion, what is religion? The word religion comes from latin and means to re/connect (ligare is the same root word that gives us the english word ligament). What is...
by Patrik Olterman | Mar 27, 2013 | Christian life, Poetry
After a long hiatus in blogging I have decided to warm up the keyboard and start blogging again. Any long term reader will immediately notice that the name of the blog has changed and with that maybe the direction of the blog as well. Personally I think the new name...
by Patrik Olterman | Jan 17, 2013 | Uncategorized
Steve Chalke, theologian, author and leader of Oasis Church has decided to break the silence and believe out loud. It is encouraging to see that more and more evangelical leaders are stepping up to the plate, ready to take a stand for christlike inclusion and justice....
by Patrik Olterman | Jan 7, 2013 | Christian life, Theological reflection
This week has been full of questions and reflection. And as I was reading “The idolatry of God” I was reflecting on Jesus asking us to pray in his name. I think in our traditional thinking we connect this with John 4.6 (No one comes to the father but...
by Patrik Olterman | Jan 3, 2013 | Christian life
It’s a whole new year, we need to learn how to write 2013 instead of 2012, Oh and the world ended so here we are in the aftermath of the end of the world or at least the end of the year. New years eve is a traditional time of repentance, maybe not in the...
by Patrik Olterman | Dec 5, 2012 | Christian life, Theological reflection, Uncategorized
The conversation goes on and on, and we toss around words that are loaded with presuppositions, the verb “to believe” is not the least of them. I have written extensively about this, but it seems it’s a topic worth another go. What does it mean to...
by Patrik Olterman | Nov 23, 2012 | Chivalric values, Christian life, Theological reflection
The trinity of love consists, according to Christian Schwartz book “The 3 colors of love”, of truth grace and justice. The scriptures rarely mention truth or grace without mentioning justice, but what if any is the relationship between the three? Grace is...
by Patrik Olterman | Nov 16, 2012 | Christian life, Theological reflection
It seems that most people are upset by uncertainty, and more specifically Christians get really upset if one where to say that we cannot know. I was taught when I first came into the church about this “blessed assurance”, to know that you know that you...
by Patrik Olterman | Nov 15, 2012 | Christian life, Theological reflection
Sitting here and mulling over my many impressions and conversations at this weeks conference (Piratkyrkan bibel – 2012). One conversation keep coming back. Saturday night we had a small conversation about Glossolalia, speaking in tongues. It is my belief that...
by Patrik Olterman | Oct 25, 2012 | Christian life
There where two trees in the garden. There was the tree that the first eikons (reflections of god) was told not to touch, you know the one with the “apple”. But there was also another tree the tree of life, it is interesting to note that god never told the...
by Patrik Olterman | Oct 22, 2012 | Christian life, Marriage & Relationships, Theological reflection
An unnamed ancient eastern mystic have penned that you “…should always stay at the beginning”. The beginning of a new relationship is sweet and filled with endorphin induced bliss. Equally when we first meet/fall in love with Jesus we are equally...
by Patrik Olterman | Oct 9, 2012 | Uncategorized
I was asked last week, why do I blog? Do I have a need to be heard, seen or is it something else? This has led me to reflect on why I am writing this blog, I have come up with a few answers to the question. I write because I need to see my thoughts on...
by Patrik Olterman | Oct 1, 2012 | Christian life
If you have heard me teach, chances are you have heard me teach on Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at...
by Patrik Olterman | Sep 20, 2012 | Christian life, LGBTQ, Theological reflection, Uncategorized
A dear friend and mentor wrote: You ask whether your post will make you an outcast from the Christian community. I hope it does not because we could do with a dose of clear thinking, careful theological reflection, and honesty on this subject, and others. Of course,...
by Patrik Olterman | Sep 19, 2012 | Christian life, LGBTQ, Theological reflection, Uncategorized
The biggest problem with wearing a mask is that as long as we wear it only the mask receives love. The psychology is as simple as it is diabolical, I know that what I am presenting is not real me, therefore I also know that the person you are loving is not really the...
by Patrik Olterman | Sep 18, 2012 | Christian life, Church
As soon as you say the words: god is love, some people make a face and sigh. The notion is that when you speak about god as love and when you talk about grace, it is a sign that you have gone soft. Implying that you have compromised the “high standards” of...
by Patrik Olterman | Sep 7, 2012 | Christian life, Family, Marriage & Relationships, Theological reflection
After years of deconstructing both my worldview, my faith, my theology, my sexuality and every other aspect of my faith I have come to this conclusion (among many others to be sure), marriage is meaningless. Marriage has meant many different things in many different...
by Patrik Olterman | Aug 30, 2012 | Christian life
Anyone that knows me knows that the last year has been a theological and emotional roller coaster of self discovery. I have been to the depths of me and re-examined my core beliefs and my standard scripts, realising that I live like most people behind the mask that I...
by Patrik Olterman | Aug 27, 2012 | Christian life, Theological reflection
I love my blog readers, they are not many but they are faithful. Recently a new but dear friend has been reading my blog from the beginning, charting the twists and turns of both my life and my faith. This has provoked more than a few very interesting questions. One...
by Patrik Olterman | Aug 14, 2012 | Theological reflection
I was listening to a Homebrewed Christianity – Theology Nerd Throwdown (TNT) when I was struck with this beautiful idea.It was Tripp Fuller who said (Not the exact quote, though these are his words) If you take the G out of Kingdom you get kindom with no cock...
by Patrik Olterman | Aug 7, 2012 | Christian life
Tolerance has long been a hobby horse of many within the evangelical movement (to make fun of and hate it) and the liberal movement (to advocate it). Recently my friend and former pastor Peter Baranowsky have been blogging about the book the new tolerance and it seems...
by Patrik Olterman | Jul 31, 2012 | Christian life, Theological reflection
Often in these theological conversations we are presented with a set of polar opposites. Monica Coleman states in a recent Homebrew podcast that when presented with polarities in conversation all you need is a bigger container. Think of the earth (or the Earth as...
by Patrik Olterman | Jul 24, 2012 | Chivalric values, Christian life, Sex
I have been putting of writing this post for nearly a week now, I get both uneasy and angry just by thinking about it. Stephen Court wrote the following in his blog the other day:Evangelicals Encouraging Contraception for Singles?http://t.co/w0Y29aLA It turns out that...
