James Pence - James Pence

A Deconstruction Observed: Deconstruction and the Providence of God

January 25, 2023

Link to last week’s post: Lone Ranger Christian All posts in this series: A Deconstruction Observed Image generated by author using Stable Diffusion (Invoke AI) I Never Walked Alone Deconstruction is a mixed bag. Some people walk away from Christianity and change to a different religion. Some become atheists. Others pass through with their Christian faith intact, albeit changed in some way. I’m one of the latter. But it begs the question, “Why didn’t I fall into one of the other groups. Why am I still a Christian? Why do I still believe and affirm that Jesus is the Son …

Lone Ranger Christian

January 19, 2023

A Solitary Christian Life is Not Ideal. Note: I intended this to be a fairly short series on deconstruction, based on my own experience. But I’ve found that it’s difficult to explain the process I went through later in life without fully understanding what happened earlier. So, this is probably going to take a bit longer than I’d planned. I hope not to write a memoir-length tome, but I’ve decided just to continue this journey of discovery and let it take me where it will. Thanks for coming along for the ride. — Jim I was a lone-ranger Christian. Hokey …

Deconstruction: Good or Bad? Right or Wrong?

January 10, 2023

Why Some Christians Are Deconstructing Their Faith Image generated with Midjourney AI I started a series on faith deconstruction/reconstruction a while back and then got sidetracked by a shiny object (can’t remember what!) and the series ground to a halt. This post is intended to jump start the series and get me back into the writing process. Rather than go back to the beginning, I thought I’d post this Twitter thread I found the other day that pretty much nails the reasons people deconstruct their faith. You might not be on Twitter (and lately there are a lot of good …

Surviving Cardiac Arrest and Reflections on Damar Hamil

January 3, 2023

Image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay Thoughts from a Cardiac Arrest Survivor I wasn’t watching the football game last night, so I didn’t see Damar Hamil collapse on the field. I don’t intend to watch the video but even reading about it on Facebook and Twitter brought back memories I’d rather leave buried. I’m coming up on the second anniversary of my own cardiac arrest experience. In my case, it was triggered by a massive heart attack, not a football hit. I don’t remember anything yet whenever something like this happens I relive my own experience. I don’t relive the …

Prophecy, Cults, and Cassettes

September 17, 2022

Prophecy, Cults, and Cassettes 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Soooo, what should a new Christian who knows absolutely nothing about the Bible start studying? How about end-times prophecy and religious cults? Yeah, I know. Not a great place to start, but I didn’t know any better. Something had changed in me. I just didn’t understand what it was. What I did know is that I was hungry. I wanted to learn everything I could about my newfound faith. …

Veterinarians, FBI Agents, and Preachers, Oh My!

September 10, 2022

Veterinarians, FBI agents, and Preachers, (Oh, my!) “I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard the deposit I have entrusted to him (2 Timothy 1:12b NRSV). I never planned to be an altar boy. It just happened. After I survived catechism and my confirmation service, I was standing around at the reception when a man I’d never met came up to me and congratulated me on my confirmation. Then he said, “Altar server training starts in a couple of weeks. Saturdays at 10 a.m.” Nonplussed, I paused …

Childish Faith

September 3, 2022

Photo by David Beale on Unsplash A Childish Faith (A Deconstruction Observed, Part 3)by James Pence 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17 NIV). The details are fuzzy (it was 56 years ago after all), but something changed in me the day our priest, Father Clarke, put his hand on my head and blessed me. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say something awakened in me. Before then, prayers were something I recited from rote before bed every night. And church was just …

Sneaking Communion, and Priestly Blessings

August 27, 2022

Image by Robert Cheaib from Pixabay August 26, 2022 – Sneaking Communion and Priestly Blessings 13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them (Mark …

If You Feel Politically Homeless…

August 13, 2022

Best Tweet of the week. Maybe ever! It’s rare that I see something on Twitter that really inspires me, but this tweet did just that. I’ve felt politically homeless since about 2016, about the time I decided that the Republican party no longer reflected my values, but that I also couldn’t fully embrace the Democrats. This tweet reminded me that it’s okay. I’m a citizen of a much different kingdom. I needed to hear that this week. If you feel politically homeless, take heart. You are feeling the tug of your heavenly citizenship, the *normality* of feeling like aliens and …

The Problem with Prayer at the 50-yard Line

June 29, 2022

Image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay Over the last few days, many Evangelical Christians have rejoiced in two landmark Supreme Court decisions. The most notable, of course, is the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. I plan to write my reflections on that decision soon, but I’m still sorting through my very mixed emotions about it and prefer to take a bit more time to think. However, the second decision, released on Monday July 27th is also significant, and I don’t need as much time to think about it, so I’ll comment on it first. Most readers will be …