Editor Scott Coleman wants to know what the Christmas Season means to me. The best way I can express that is by telling you what I’m going to be doing on the morning of Wednesday, December 26.

Like all Orthodox priests, I go to work on Christmas Day, but on the Day After Christmas, I get up while everyone else is still asleep. I go into the kitchen; I fire up the oven and one of the burners on the stove; I pull a cookie sheet and a frying pan out of the cabinets, then I reach into the refrigerator and get a pound of thick-sliced, super-smoked applewood-seasoned bacon, a tube of those ready-made biscuits, and a big tub of butter.

“Fact is, I had no reason to do it, and I just thought…(expletive deleted), life is boring so why not?”

That’s what the 1000 Oaks shooter posted on Instagram, when he paused in the midst of his stunning crime. The twenty-eight year old had already killed eleven people; he would go on to gun down a policeman and then take his own life.

We used to spend a good deal of time and energy wondering why someone would do something so terrible. We don’t do that much anymore, and that may be a sign that we’re actually getting used to this kind of random violence.

I finally figured it out. Y’know how a lot of times one person will remind you of someone else, but you just can’t quite put your finger on who that someone else is? That’s the way it’s been with me and our current president, Donald Trump. Of course, The Donald has been around for a long time. I never paid much attention to him until he started his presidential campaign; however, ever since then, I’ve been dogged by the thought that he just reminds me of someone else.

This time around Editor Scott Coleman wants to know whether the perspective of ‘once saved, always saved’ can be reconciled with the belief that we must repent and seek forgiveness on a regular basis. This is an issue that Protestants have been arguing about ever since that movement first got started 500 years ago.

We sat across the banquet table from each other. He was a popular priest at the very pinnacle of his career. I was a brand new clergyman. At some point, I think, we shook hands, and he congratulated me on my recent ordination, but that was the extent of our interaction

Let’s take a look at some more Bad Theology. Bad Theology happens when we say dumb things about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For example, many folks maintain that our understanding of how the Most Holy Trinity wants us to behave—what we call our morals—can, and even should, change over time.

In his question for this roundtable, Editor Scott Coleman asks why “so many Christians” consider some parts of the Old Testament to be “valid” and other parts “invalid”. There are quite a few Protestant Christians who make that sort of distinction, but, in Orthodox Christianity, we affirm the importance of the entire Old Testament.

Greetings in the Name of the Lord. I’m the guy in the black dress that was tapping on the window of your car at 5:45am. And, yeah, I know: when you’re sitting in your car with nothing on but your underwear, a priest is pretty much the last person you want to see. But, in the future, if you refrain from parking behind churches, you’ll significantly lower the odds of that kind of encounter.

This time around, Editor Scott Coleman has asked us to select, from the Bible, the specific teaching of Christ Jesus that we believe is “most important today”. The question suggests that our Lord and Master is someone like Albert Einstein or Blaise Pascal or Aristotle—a great thinker or teacher or philosopher who has left behind a body of writing from which we can draw insights or principles that apply to our current cultural situation. That’s certainly the way a lot of folks think of Christ Jesus. But it’s a mistaken approach.

It’s time for another round of Bad Theology. Bad Theology happens when we say ridiculous things about the Most Holy Trinity. And, a lot of times, that ridiculous talk comes from pastors and preachers. For example, the Reverend Joel Osteen, one of the most high profile religious figures in North America, often says things like this: ‘God wants you to be successful in every area of your life. God wants you to prosper in your career, in your relationships, in your health, and in your finances’.