Justin Berkobien
@JustinBerkobien
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pastor | speaker | writer | creative | academic | advocate for justice & inclusion
Los Angeles he/him
Joined July 2011
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A blessing for my newest friends here:
May the Lord bless you and keep you
May the Lord’s face shine upon you
and may the force be with you 🙏
💛💛💛
ABOUT ME: trying to go the way of Jesus with an authentic, thoughtful faith. Here to learn & connect, not here to argue.
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Husbands are never entitled to have sex with their wives
I don’t care if it’s your wedding night, your anniversary, or your birthday
Love is patient.
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If Jesus is your savior then the people on the other side of that razor wire are your neighbors
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As we celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary, my wife and I would like to thank all of you who affirm our marriage even though it’s not aligned with the traditional biblical model in which I would be a polygamist and she would be my property.
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Maybe we should stop assuming the Bible has answers to questions no one was asking 2000+ years ago
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Not that religious trauma is a competition or anything but I wasn’t allowed to watch the Smurfs
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Before you can be a Christian who has to decide whether or not to attend a gay wedding you have to be the kind of Christian a gay couple would actually want to invite to their wedding
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It was so crazy how Reformed Theology got knocked out in the first round yesterday
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Jesus is a 30 year old black man
riding the subway
hungry, thirsty,
fed up.
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Following Jesus persuaded me to explore faith outside conservative evangelicalism.
The backlash I received for asking honest questions persuaded me to never go back.
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I’m unequivocally here for the rapture jokes, but it’s simultaneously true that end times alarmism & opportunism have done a great deal of harm
1 example—I know an older couple who racked up a ton of credit card debt bc they were confident they’d be raptured & never have to pay
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One of the catalysts of my deconstruction was when my missionary friend unironically described her baby as sinful bc he wasn’t obeying a sleep schedule
Count me all the way out of any Christian cult that views infants as sinners in need of discipline
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The rise of the unchurched in America has everything to do with a Christianity that loves to find flaws in others but hates to look honestly in the mirror
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When Jesus said, “I have overcome the world,”
he didn’t mean yoga pants and R rated movies and women in upper management.
He was referring to the systems of oppressive power upheld by corrupt humans who rule in a manner that is entirely antithetical to the reign of God.
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I didn’t leave the faith
I left a branch of Christianity that puts its trust in worldly power
I left a church that left the faith
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The audacity of the Holy Spirit to call women and queer people to ministry without asking the theobros for permission
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Separation of church and state is good for the church and good for the state
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If my faith was based on the majority of Christians in the public sphere I would be the most atheisty atheist who ever atheisted
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First I deconstructed, then I became an ordained Christian minister
Maybe we can chill out with the deconstruction = leaving the faith rhetoric
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Helped officiate a memorial service today. It was my job to carry the urn. Inside were the ashes of a twelve year old boy. I held it so carefully, so intentionally, as if my whole body had the singular job of carrying him where he needed to go.
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Everyone I know who is deconstructing still loves Jesus and still longs for community
they’re just done with toxic churches that misrepresent Jesus and gatekeep community
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If you want to see Christianity at its worst
give Christians power.
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Let’s talk about that American flag some of us still have in the church sanctuary
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If I actually worked for satan, as some suggest,
the first thing I’d do is make an idol out of the Bible.
I’d encourage Christians to worship their interpretations of scripture with such devotion that the church would have no choice but to fracture into irreparable pieces.
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Being a Christian in America doesn’t mean you’re automatically one of the good guys
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I can’t help but question the competency of any pastor who—in a world of injustice, inequity and inhospitality—prioritizes telling women how they ought to dress.
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The Holy Spirit doesn’t ask men for permission to call women to pastoral ministry.
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I’ll be hanging out with the people of color who are apparently excluded from the Christian Nationalist future
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Maybe the real rapture was the friends we made along the way
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I used to be a rigid “I do not permit a woman to teach” complementarian
Seeing the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of women in ministry changed my mind about women in ministry
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The case for not Christian Nationalism in one short thread.
Jesus said his kingdom is not from this world (Jn 18:36).
END
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Christians who are unwilling to study affirming theology are unfit to make proclamations about the LGBTQ+ community.
Serious matters should be handled by serious people.
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If everyone in the world is your neighbor the word enemy loses all meaning
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but it’s also beautiful. It’s also redemptive. Bc if I’m honest I live most days not caring this hard. I live most days comfortably NOT stretching my heart, not growing.
Today I committed my whole self to love. And it hurt. And I’d gladly do it all over again tomorrow.
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Some Christians really want you to have a personal relationship with Jesus, but not an especially meaningful one—not the kind of transformative relationship that shapes you into someone who is radically hospitable and inclusive… you know, like Jesus.
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You will never prove how much you love Jesus by demonstrating how much you hate
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& now that I no longer have to put on a brave face for the family I gotta say I’m kind of a wreck & pretty thoroughly exhausted bc it takes a lot of energy to care that much. It inevitably involves pain to give a damn. It’s uncomfortably costly to dignify the worth of others
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Turns out the ones most offended by the gospel are other Christians.
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I’m about to officiate a funeral service for a man who didn’t believe in God.
I suspect he’ll be surprised when he finds himself resurrected one day, standing before Jesus.
And I suspect a great many Christians will be surprised when Jesus tells this man he’s welcome to stay.
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So, honestly, I don’t deviate from Christian traditional casually.
That said, don’t tell me the same people that oppressed women, upheld the institution of slavery, and corrupted themselves with power for the better part of 2k years somehow got a cumulative 4.0 on theology.
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@MallardReborn
If it’s a grind to give your wife emotional support, stop wasting your time on social media and get thee to a therapist
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Shoutout to the Christians who were instrumental in the early days of my spiritual formation, who now think I’m a backsliding deconstructed woke heretic, but once showed me a glimpse of the Jesus I now love more than ever 💛💛💛
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Queer people don’t need to ask cishet straight pastors for permission to be part of the church.
Jesus is already holding the door open.
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Whether affirming or non-affirming—every pastor, theologian and Christian thought leader should decry violence against the LGBTQIA community
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Jesus is not the Bible.
Jesus did not write the Bible.
Jesus did not tell us we should love the Bible.
— guy who really really likes the Bible
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evangelicals when they see Mason Mennenga in heaven too
evangelicals when they see LGBTQ people in heaven too
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I know this might sound crazy but it’s actually possible to have a high view of the Bible without worshipping it as God
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Better to be compassionate and confused
than soulless and certain
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It’s the end of the church as we know it
… and I feel fine
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Tonight I pray for my trans Christian siblings
I pray you are kept safe
I pray you are granted rest
I pray you will breath out the poison of the cruel world and breathe in the life-giving Spirit of God
I pray this in the name of Jesus
Amen.
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Abraham, Jacob, Moses, the psalmists and the prophets would like a word
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The Bible is only clear about something if EVERYONE says it’s clear.
Otherwise one can say, “it’s clear to ME”
But to insist something is objectively clear despite objections is to overly-centralize one’s own perspective.
In theology circles, this is called being an ass.
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I don’t seek social justice bc I want to be more progressive
I seek social justice bc I want to be more like Jesus
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Pastors need pastoral care too.
Last night, my eyes welled up with tears as I watched dozens of you risk harassment to offer me support and contend for the whole gospel—good news for ALL people.
I’m so incredibly honored to call you friends.
💛💛💛
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Introducing Rev. Justin Berkobien, Doctoral Candidate 🤓
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The gatekeepers aren’t worried about who’s losing their faith,
they’re worried about who’s losing their power.
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First I drove an elderly woman to the bus stop so she wouldn’t have to walk in the rain
Then Starbucks was out of sugar plum cheese danishes
The prosperity gospel is a lie.
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I have no enemies here.
I will break bread with you. I’ll even buy you a drink—
so long as we’re seated at a table where everyone is welcome.
END
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@megbasham
Megan,
I’m a nobody. It’s easy to make fun of me and my bio. It costs you nothing to deny my calling as a pastor,
but do you also deny that Jesus identifies with the marginalized?
Are those outside your cultural bubble of acceptance beyond the reach of God’s love?
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At the start of our youth group conversation last night a teen rather dogmatically stated that a Christian CAN NOT believe in evolution
By the end of our conversation she confessed that she had changed her mind
There’s hope for the future.
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If your definition of a pastor is an authoritarian at the top of a pyramid-shaped church hierarchy, then no, women shouldn’t be pastors.
*No one* should be that kind of pastor.
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Hang in there, friends—PRIDE month is almost over & then it will just be 6 or 7 wks of Christian Nationalism followed by an inevitably prolonged yoga pants/David & Bathsheba cycle & before you know it we’ll be enjoying one of the most intense US presidential campaigns in history.
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True Christian hospitality in America would mean giving the descendants of enslaved people monetary reparations and returning land to indigenous peoples
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So thank you to all my queer friends for accepting me for who I really am.
I’m proud of you and I love you and for what it’s worth I think you check all of the right boxes and none of the wrong ones.
#HappyPrideMonth2023
♥️🧡💛💚💙💜🩵🩷🤍🤎🖤
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Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Every color, gender, size
They are precious in his eyes
Jesus loves the little children of the world
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One of my favorite things about life after Evangelicalism is that I no longer have to pretend I’m okay when I’m not
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If Christian culture warmongers were actually taking their cues from the Bible they’d be attacking wealthy hoarders instead of women and queer people.
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I wonder if we Christians could maybe grow up and stop playing my god could beat up your god
The whole exceptionalism thing doesn’t make disciples, just supremacists
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Let America mourn with ashes that we love weapons more than our neighbors
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On this day sixteen years ago I became a father… I was twelve.
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It’s been a tough month as a minister
But last night a 90 year old man, who has leaned on our church quite a bit since his wife’s passing, told me that he is evidence the Holy Spirit is moving in and through our faith community,
and just like that I love being a pastor again.
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🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 PRIDE 🧵
Growing up I had a tough time fitting in. I had a high voice & a baby face & started puberty about 100 years after my friends. I never felt like 1 of the guys—just wasn’t bro enough. I was also a Christian kid who didn’t swear or smoke or drink or enjoy life.
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Sure, Sunday services are great, but have you tried following Jesus Monday thru Saturday?
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Christians are facing persecution in America
Sorry—
*Trans* Christians are facing persecution in America
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Me: The church has, at times, benefited from redirection toward a more faithful representation of Christ
Bro: Liar! Ingrate! Blasphemer! The church is historically inerrant!
Bro’s Bio: Reformy Reforming Reformer from Reformed church of the Reformation
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So in the last 24 hours I’ve received about a thousand “insults”
Half of them from strangers who deem me a heretic (the go-to invective for people who think they can contain an infinitely mysterious God within a domesticated theological frame)
From the other half,
+
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If you have to explain why what you’re doing is actually loving,
you’re probably not actually loving.
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Give us your biblical insights on pride once you’ve fully repented of patriarchy, white supremacy and Christian exceptionalism.
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The Bible is an important tool in the follow-Jesus tool belt,
but there are Christians who use/abuse the Bible to justify misogyny, racism, queer erasure, ableism, violence & more.
If we intend to go the way of Jesus we need to be guided by more than scripture alone.
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Tbh I worry about a theology that suggests people *deserve* to be consciously tormented for all eternity—
that this theology necessitates psychological distance from those who suffer, so much so that adherents even begin to fantasize about becoming God’s executioners on earth.
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I don’t know who needs to hear this but boys can be into sports AND musical theatre, girls can be into dance AND super heroes
Kids have range
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Happy Sunday to women pastors everywhere—you are a gift to the church!!
Anyone who weaponizes Scripture in an attempt to undermine your calling DISGRACES the unity Christ prayed for.
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Two or three people gathered in Jesus’ name have as much spiritual authority as any Christian denomination or institution
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No hint of racism, no shred of sexism, no fragment of classism, ableism or any form of bigotry will ever enter the kingdom of heaven
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Just to be clear, if Joe Biden pulled this stunt I would call him a shameless grifting antichrist too
But I’m getting ahead of myself—Donald J. Trump is a shameless grifting antichrist
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Does the Bible *really* say that?
TIPS for INTERPRETATION: 🧵
Sometimes a Bible bully says something bananas & it inspires you to search the scriptures for yourself—here’s a little guide for a smoother ride on the Bible bus!
(Feel free to add your own tips to the list)
1/
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Seeking a Christian community that’s more passionate about defending modern day human rights than defending ancient biblical atrocities
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@spanglermt
Wow this is horrifying.
Where’s the button for ‘distance self as much as possible’ ?
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I believe Jesus Christ was victorious over sin and death when he was crucified by humans and resurrected by God.
I also believe the radical hospitality Jesus demonstrated (and wants us to demonstrate as his church) involves identifying with “the least of these” (Matthew 25).
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I’m just sad. I think Jesus is sad too.
I think we need spaces to be sad and not have all the answers and not have to defend our sadness.
I think if Jesus was willing to die in solidarity with the likes of Jordan Neely, the least we can do
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There are 2 kinds of Christians:
Those who prioritize making their cultural preferences more visible
and those who prioritize making the way of Jesus more visible
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Today I visited my friend, an older man from church with dementia. He doesn’t remember that an aggressive brain tumor is weeks or even days away from taking his life. He said, “when I get better we’re going out for Chinese food.”
I like the way he thinks.
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