Change is a feature of the modern world. This has practically become a cliche. We have become used to technological change, though we’re still not certain how to deal with it. But there is political change as well, and transportation and communications together tend to speed political change. Newsweek calls attention to one aspect of…
My wife and I often approach things differently. I know that’s a really shocking admission, likely to stun our family, friends, and neighbors. 🙂 We even like different styles of worship services. She tends to embrace new things quickly. I’m rather conservative. I can be persuaded, but you need to prepare a good case first!…
This is a very different sort of blog entry for me. I’m used to writing heavy and sometimes obscure entries on religion, Biblical studies, or politics for this blog. So bear with me . . . My wife Jody and I spent a couple of hours today at the Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival in…
We’ll begin our discussion of specific tools within the historical-critical method by looking at form criticism. I’m going to try to present this in a way that will be useful to lay students of the Bible, so note that I will be ignoring the more obscure forms and some technicalities of the method. The general…
Eleanor Clift in Newsweek has a new column, Dem Feingold Tosses GOP a Life Raft, in which she points out that Feingold’s bid to censure Bush is not good political strategy. It certainly is not, and especially for any politician or political party that is trying to reach out to the center. I’m a passionate…
Anderson cooper is blogging over on CNN getting ready for a program on a case that’s being called “Roe v. Wade for men.” The idea is that a man should have a choice about having a child, and about whether he should have to pay child support. I suppose there’s going to be a long…
The following chart is designed to allow persons who are not skilled in Greek to work with the parallel accounts of the parable of the sower, Matthew 13:1-9, Mark 4:1-9, and Luke 8:4-8. Notes cover very basic cocepts of textual criticism, form criticism, source criticism, and redaction criticism. In future entries I will expand on…
Over on the Pacesetters Bible School News blog I have posted an entry on prayer teams and prayer training. Prayer training seems to be quite rare in churches. ItÂ’s possible that we generally feel that prayer isnÂ’t something that should be taught, but rather is something that just happens. Many pastors that IÂ’ve talked to…
In my pamphlet God the Creator I briefly answer the following question: What are some broad essentials of the Biblical doctrine of creation? In my answer I listed the following six points. I will list the points below and expand on them, below. But first, what am I trying to do here? One thing that…
As reported in various newspapers and summarized on the Florida Citizens for Science web site, (Textbook Debate Still Evolving, Letter to Brevard County School Board, and Textbooks Changed under Pressure) a school board member in Brevard County wants to adopt a science textbook including two paragraphs about intelligent design. I find the introduction of these…