Author Archives: Mark Williams

About Mark Williams

I was raised in the conservative non-institutional churches of Christ and attended Florida College in Tampa, Florida. I served as a minister for 8 years in the non-institutional churches of Christ, and 4 years at a mainline church of Christ in Vermont.

Similarity between the Catholic Church and the Churches of Christ

Posted on January 13, 2024 by Mark Williams

In the 1500s Ulrich Zwingli devised the three basic methods of establishing authority for church work and worship: Command, Apostolic Example, and Necessary Inference. Ulrich Zwingli, possibly more influential than Luther in the long run, and much more influential on … Continue reading →

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AI and the Conservative Christian

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Mark Williams

Artificial Intelligence is all over the news right now. Fear of AI taking over our lives has made the world think in existential and spiritual terms.  But when conservative Christians speak about AI, or any current issue today, their audience … Continue reading →

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Why we are Gullible

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Mark Williams

Because we want to believe that what we belong to is working. As we become evangelical believers we are swept up in a love affair with God, an expansive mountaintop experience that must be shared. But the people we try … Continue reading →

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Why we will Never have Universal Healthcare

Posted on February 5, 2023 by Mark Williams

95% of the world thinks universal healthcare is a great idea. Having Medicare for all in the USA is championed by the Democrats and the Progressives, but not the Republican Party.  The reason the Democrats will never win on this … Continue reading →

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The Pilgrim Fathers and the Churches of Christ

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Mark Williams

A webpage explored the similarity in singing practices between the Pilgrims who settled in the American Colonies beginning in 1620, and the a capella Churches of Christ (Restoration Movement). Another post explored how Calvinist the Churches of Christ are. In … Continue reading →

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The Churches of Christ are the most Calvinist

Posted on June 20, 2021 by Mark Williams

The Pilgrim Fathers and the Puritans were ardent Calvinists. As Great Britain swung back and forth between Catholic and Protestantism, as each monarch dictated, the British Calvinists moved back and forth to Holland and Geneva, Switzerland, to practise their Calvinism … Continue reading →

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Evangelicals and Sex before Marriage

Posted on April 11, 2021 by Mark Williams

Old Joke: Why does your church ban sex standing up? Because it might lead to dancing.  For those too young to get that joke: Many churches considered dancing a sin that would lead to promiscuous sex.  A recent NYT article … Continue reading →

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Acapella Singing by the Pilgrims and the Puritans

Posted on April 4, 2021 by Mark Williams

I grew up in the Churches of Christ, which traces their history through the Cane Ridge Revival of 1801 in Kentucky and back through Alexander Campbell to the schisms of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, and the Reformations of Ulrich … Continue reading →

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Why Evangelicals don’t know they are Racist

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Mark Williams

​Evangelicalism as an offshoot of slave society “You got niggers in your church?” the woman asked me after I showed her my wedding photo album (1980, Churches of Christ, rural Alabama).  Historians have noted that the South has been particularly … Continue reading →

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Racial Humor in the Religious South

Posted on June 21, 2020 by Mark Williams

As Black Lives Matter becomes mainstream it is interesting to me to see my religious relatives’ anger rising. Where did this come from? My parents were less racist than most as I was growing up, but we grew up in … Continue reading →

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