James Pence

Deconstructing takes Time [Although this part of my story focuses on why I left the Charismatic Movement, it is in no way intended to disparage the beliefs of my charismatic brothers and sisters. These are my experiences to the best of my recollection; they are an early example of my thinking process where deconstruction is concerned and as such are important to understanding my story. I am sharing these recollections as honestly as I can but they don’t necessarily represent my views or feelings now.] I’d heard lots of tongues-speaking, but never anything like this. (See my previous post.) When …

You can create original work! Cardinal (Image created by author with Midjourney) Creating original work with AI art apps is a challenge, but it’s not impossible. Of course, it’s much easier to just type in a few words and let the AI produce a finished picture. But for me at least, that’s not satisfying. As an artist I wan’t to be part of the creative process. I want to work with the AI (or have the AI work with me)!  So, how do I do that? Here’s one way! I used the Procreate app and drew this abstract form on …

Scared out of the Movement [Although this part of my story focuses on why I left the Charismatic Movement, it is in no way intended to disparage the beliefs of my charismatic brothers and sisters. These are my experiences to the best of my recollection; they were an early example of my thinking process where deconstruction is concerned and as such are important to understanding my story. I am sharing these recollections as honestly as I can but they don’t necessarily represent my views or feelings now.] As I mentioned in my previous post, although the charismatic youth Bible study …

Layers of Beliefs — Seeds of Deconstruction I was deconstructing before deconstruction was cool. That’s assuming you define deconstruction as taking a hard look at what I believe and adjusting when something didn’t measure up. By that definition, I’ve been deconstructing and reconstructing most of my Christian life. It’s impossible to overstate the impact of my entry into the world of the Charismatic Movement. I leaped from a liturgical church full of reverence and awe and quietness to an exuberant faith overflowing with noise, activity, and unabashed joyfulness. (Praise the Lord was my new favorite expression.) I had discovered a …

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 …

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 …