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My Imaginary Conversation with Oprah

September 18, 2025/in Discipleship, Muscular Christianity, Self-Improvement/by Bruce Gust

Oprah has been quoted as having said that her view of God was changed after hearing her pastor refer to God as “jealous.” This is an imaginary conversation between Oprah and myself where I suggest that “jealousy,” when processed from a perspective that accommodates the Hebrew language, isn’t a reason to doubt the Character of […]

Why Can’t I Share My Opinion?

September 16, 2025/in Apologetics, Discipleship, Muscular Christianity/by Bruce Gust

On occasion, I’ll see a question posted in Quora and I’ll feel compelled to respond, just because the comments and responses are often devoid of any real attempt to push back against what amounts to a bogus conclusion. Here’s an example… Why can’t I share my opinion as a Christian about your sin when it […]

My Imaginary Conversation with Oprah

September 18, 2025/in Discipleship, Muscular Christianity, Self-Improvement/by Bruce Gust

Why Can’t I Share My Opinion?

September 16, 2025/in Apologetics, Discipleship, Muscular Christianity/by Bruce Gust

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My Imaginary Conversation with Oprah

September 18, 2025/in Discipleship, Muscular Christianity, Self-Improvement/by Bruce Gust

Bruce: Oprah! How are you doing? Man, it’s a treat to be talking with you.

Oprah: Bruce, I’m doing great! What’s on your mind?

Bruce: I wanted to ask you about something I saw on the internet where you were apparently put off a little bit by your pastor referring to God as a “jealous” God. Here’s what I heard:

Years ago I went faithfully, 8 o’clock service, 12 o’clock service. I was a tither. I was making 227 dollars a week, and I tithed 22 dollars and 70 cents every week. But after Jim Jones led the mass suicide in Guyana, I started to feel differently. The church I went to had a really charismatic pastor—you had to show up early to get a seat—and I remember sitting there one Sunday while he was preaching about how “the Lord thy God is a jealous God, the Lord thy God will punish you for your sins.” I looked around and thought, “Why would God be jealous? What does that even mean?” And I’m looking at the people in the church, and everybody’s up, shouting. And I started wondering how many of these people—including myself—would be led to do whatever this preacher said. That’s when I started exploring taking God out of the box, out of the pew. And eventually I got to where I was able to see God in other people and in all things—in graciousness and kindness and generosity and the spirit of things¹. Read more

Why Can’t I Share My Opinion?

September 16, 2025/in Apologetics, Discipleship, Muscular Christianity/by Bruce Gust

Here’s an example…

Why can’t I share my opinion as a Christian about your sin when it is what I believe?

That was the question. Here’s one of the answers that got a number of positive “upvotes…”

No one is stopping you. Now lets talk about your sin. Yup we can do that.

Your problem is that you believe as a Christian you get to lecture other people and no one can respond in kind. Sorry it doesn’t work that way.

I would add sin is a religious concept, I don’t believe in religious concepts and I sure as heck am not required to follow your faiths views.

My response…

This, right here…

“I would add sin is a religious concept, I don’t believe in religious concepts and I sure as heck am not required to follow your faiths views.”

And what makes you think that I need to dismiss every historical reference to Christ, God, Providence, and the Supreme Judge of the Universe just because you want to be your own bottom line and you’re offended by the prospect of being accountable to something greater than yourself?

Anytime you hear someone say, “You can’t force your beliefs on me…” you’re hearing someone who wants to pretend that the world is nothing more than a collection of personal preferences and truth is whatever it is you want to believe.

Is the tomb empty?

If it isn’t, than it doesn’t matter. But if it is…

Then nothing else matters.

All your whinin’ about Christians being hypocrites – they didn’t die for your sins.

And stop looking at distortions of Christianity and labeling them expressions of Christ when you know that they’re not.

And drop that garbage about all religions being the same. They’re not. Every religion gives you the ability to earn your “salvation,” however you want to define it. Christianity says you’re a spiritual corpse and the only thing you contribute to your salvation is the sin that makes it necessary.

And stop thinking you’re making your point by being vulgar or sarcastic. Look, however the Resurrection resonates with you, you need to remember that when you sneer at it, you’re not just rolling your eyes at the church down the street or some posts you saw on social media. You’re spitting on the single greatest act of compassion in human history – God loving you so much that they actually invented a word to capture the physical, emotional, and psychological agony of the cross – excruciating (literally “of the cross”).

That’s what He did for you.

If you want to believe yourself to be a lucky accident just so you make up your own rules and insist that you’re a victim of a totalitarian system anytime someone points to the Bible or the Declaration of Independence or the motto on the back of our currency – that’s your baggage.

You’re not looking for the Truth, you’re looking for an excuse. And remember this: Anytime you say something stupid like, “What’s true for you isn’t true for me,” if that’s the case, according to your own logic, I can call you a liar and not be wrong.

Bottom line: In your mind, truth is what you want to believe, no one can force their beliefs on you, and you don’t want people to be fair, you want them to be quiet.

But…

That’s not the way the universe works, that’s not the testimony of history, and you don’t have a point, you have a problem.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

My Imaginary Conversation with Oprah

Why Can’t I Share My Opinion?

My Imaginary Conversation with Oprah

Why Can’t I Share My Opinion?

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

My Imaginary Conversation with Oprah

Why Can’t I Share My Opinion?

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