Ernesto Tinajero is a freelance writer in Spokane, Washington, who earned his master’s degree in theology from Fuller Seminary. Visit his blog at beingandfaith.blogspot.com.

Posts By This Author

Who is the Messiah of Evangelical Politicians?

by Ernesto Tinajero 08-31-2011

The evangelical world expands to a far-off horizon and the topographical valleys and peaks cover landscapes that are both long and wide. Many in the media seem to have little knowledge of how large of a space the evangelical map covers. So, with this said, I welcomed Ross Douthat's thoughts in Monday's New York Times. His column, "American Theocracy Revisited," places good markers on the fears that Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann's presidential runs are nothing more than an attempt at theocracy.

In much of the coverage of these two campaigns, the evangelical world gets flatten, stereotyped, and portrayed as only coming from one narrow point. Whether or not you agree with this view, the fact remains that any group that includes Miroslav Wolf, Jim Wallis, RC Sproul, Rick Warren, Joyce Meyers, Philip Yancy, Chuck Missler, Rob Bell, Albert Mohler Jr, TD Jakes, Amy Grant, Tony Campolo, Lucy Swindoll, Debrah Joy Winans, and so many more hues and colors of evangelicalism should not be placed in one bag and shaken into one lumpy mess, while saying that any one of their diverse views politically are the one true color. I know many will view this list and say who should or should not belong, and then justify their choices. A coherent political agenda could not be drawn from such a list of people. But following Jesus and making Jesus known in the world is at the core of each of these people's identity. Many on the list may disagree as to the best way to provide for the widows and orphans, but all would agree that we must care for them.

Choosing Between Ayn Rand and Jesus

by Ernesto Tinajero 07-12-2011

In one of the most-viewed articles on FoxNews.com several weeks ago, writer Onkar Ghate presents a choice of competing moralities between Ayn Rand and Jesus. While his exegetical powers leave much to be desired, he is correct in noting that the choice many Americans will have to make, as far as political philosophies go, is between Ayn Rand and Jesus.

A Family Vacation Gone Awry: The Pain of Child Abuse

by Ernesto Tinajero 05-31-2011
I was on the verge of my tenth year of life. My stepfather rented a big cabin next to Lake Mead and several families joined us for a week of vacation together.

Ayn Rand, Manichaeism, and Christianity

by Ernesto Tinajero 04-25-2011
Ah, the voice of Ayn Rand from St. Petersburg, Russia rises again with the opening of a new movie based on her novel, Atlas Shrugged.

Single Pastors, The Church, and Community

by Ernesto Tinajero 03-25-2011
Recently I found a story about a friend from seminary in New York Times.

The Spiritual Power of Imagination

by Ernesto Tinajero 02-07-2011
Being blind in one eye has made me forever see in just two. While playing basketball, tennis, and hiking, I have always tried to imagine what it must be like to see in 3-D.

In Wake of Shooting, Love is the Better Portion

by Ernesto Tinajero 01-14-2011
A bullet discharged. Then another. And another. And another. And suddenly, a grocery store is transformed from the mundane to the horrible, hell on earth. People lay dead.

One Year Later, I Remain Against Football

by Ernesto Tinajero 11-19-2010

Posting an unpopular position in a blog post online can be a bone jarring hit to your ego. Many people will come out of the woodwork to claim you have brain damage. Such was the result of my post last year about no longer supporting football on Christian grounds. I stopped watching football because of the new research that shows that playing the game will, in most cases, lead to brain damage. I could not, in good Christian conscience, support such suffering simply for my watching pleasure.

Justice in the Hole: A New Way to Educate

by Ernesto Tinajero 09-22-2010
I think about the gospel as being a new way of seeing the world. Jesus would empower people that usually did not have power in their normal day to day life.

In Honor of Women's Equality Day

by Ernesto Tinajero 08-26-2010
It took more than 70 years of blood, work, and persistence, but the movement prevailed and on August 18, 1920, women were given the right to both vote and run for office.

Suffer the Little Children

by Ernesto Tinajero 06-17-2010
Fictional character Miss Jean Brodie from Muriel Spark's novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, famously quipped, "Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life!"

Is Google Making Us Ignore God?

by Ernesto Tinajero 06-07-2010
God calls on us to meditate on God and God's word. However, does the fast intake of information from TV, film, and especially the Internet make us less likely to experience God?

Synthetic Life: The Final Frontier?

by Ernesto Tinajero 06-01-2010
There are long stories and short stories. Stories that people in a hundred years will be talking about, and stories that will fade in a few months.

Drugs, Guns, and Immigration: An Unholy Trinity of Failed Policy

by Ernesto Tinajero 05-26-2010
The reports out of Juarez, Mexico, are depressing, doubly so for me.

My Emergent Experience: 'Stories Can Close Humans as Much as Open Them'

by Ernesto Tinajero 05-06-2010

by Ernesto Tinajero 05-05-2010

Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns are a fun team to root for. They score a lot of points in an open style of basketball. Assists, points, and cheers abound in most of their games. Now it is even better. They are wearing their "Los Suns" jerseys tonight in game two of their series with the San Antonio Spurs to show support for the Latino community in Arizona.

What Gamblers Anonymous Can Teach Us About Wall Street

by Ernesto Tinajero 04-30-2010
The defenses that Goldman Sachs execs gave to this week's Senate hearings for their actions were full of emotion and denial. They claimed shock that anyone could question their actions.

Goldman Sachs Scandal: Immoral? Yes. Illegal? Should Be.

by Ernesto Tinajero 04-28-2010
Listening the chatter defending

The Darkness of Easy Hate and the Light of Easter's Love

by Ernesto Tinajero 04-02-2010

Hate is easy and the domain of the lazy. This insight came in the darkness of the early morning. I wish I could say that it was due to a Lenten meditation that pierced my own darkness, but alas, it rose as I got up too late to do my study.

The Cross, Easter, and the 'They' Narrative

by Ernesto Tinajero 03-30-2010
The other has been a philosophical idea with a rich history.