Monday Office Hours | 4/14/25

🎉🎉🎉 Thorny questions considered: is the institution of the church the same as God's kingdom, why is college so wearying, and will all of Israel be saved?

Welcome to Monday Office Hours! Thanks for being a sustaining contributor to the Low-Level Theologian community. Below are some fun questions I received this week. I’ve been getting a lot of great questions. But I welcome even more. Keep them coming, friends, in the comments section below, or send them to me by responding to this post.

I was deeply wounded by a church several years ago. This experience taught me to be skeptical of churches, especially those that lean more toward fundamentalism. Since then, I’ve found it challenging to return to church, let alone trust that it will (or can) confront its own sins. How can I move forward?

God’s immense grace to you as you navigate the pain of these experiences. Having walked with countless individuals in my circles through the pain that can come from the church, I will offer a prayer of deep and real healing in your soul from the wounds your soul bears from the church.

I’m a theologian, and I believe that part of a good response is to remind us of our theology. Many Christians have been taught that their church perfectly embodies the ideals of God’s Kingdom. In other words, many followers of Jesus today are being shaped in environments that instill in their members the belief that this community reflects the purest and most accurate image of God’s kingdom in the world.

Being part of a community that maintains an idealized view of itself can lead to significant harm. Why? Because if the church represents the ideal image of God’s vision, it appears incapable of causing harm. It embodies the full expression, suggesting that no problems can exist here. I believe this is likely why fundamentalist churches can become places where the sins of a pastor, leader, or individual in power are often quickly overlooked. We are given a view of the church that invites blind trust and naive commitment. And that blind trust can often set us up to be so hurt.