Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Welcome 32 New Planets to the Known Universe

    They were obviously there before, but they’re more important because we know about them. I do love this sort of discovery. (See Greg Laden’s Blog for more.)

  • Facing Detours

    Having made plenty of detours in both my physical and spiritual life, I really appreciated this post from Pen of the Wayfarer.

  • If You Don’t Know Greek and Hebrew

    … you don’t know Greek and Hebrew, and there are certain things you cannot do, like, well, reading Greek and Hebrew.  I don’t think this means you can’t read the Bible, or that your opinions don’t matter, but it’s a simple fact.

    When people pretend to know the Biblical languages, as they often do using tools such as Strong’s Concordance and associated tools coded to Strong’s numbers, they tend to introduce many more errors than they would if they stuck to English, or whatever language it is that they actually do read.

    If they don’t know the languages, that doesn’t mean they are stupid or even ignorant.  There are simply some things they can’t do.  No big deal, right?

    Well, Douglas Mangum wrote a perfectly reasonable post on the topic, deploring some tools such as I’ve described, which are advertised in a way that is at least questionable, and it appears that he has been called an elitist.

    The only reason I jumped in here is that I’m a strong advocate of lay Bible study.  I don’t believe my knowledge of Biblical languages gives me an exclusive on Biblical interpretation.  I believe that anyone can get involved, and anyone can have valid opinions.  But that doesn’t make everyone’s opinion valid.  Use of Biblical languages tools without the proper training is one of the best ways to get nearly everything wrong.

    Let each use what knowledge and skill he or she has, and depend on the proper experts where such skill is lacking.

  • Halloween Book Burning and Barbecue

    OK, I’m very late on this one and you can find much more information at The Church of Jesus Christ where Polycarp has been following it.

    Here’s the video:

    I should, but can’t, resist posting my own YouTube video beside this one: Why I Hate the KJV:

    I guess you can tell what I think.

  • Of Church Signs and Breaking Legs

    I’m currently working on the final stages in the release process on two books, one of which is titled Megabelt (the other is Christian Archy by David Alan Black, but it doesn’t feature in this post), and is a fictional account of life in the Bible belt.  The lead character, Gil,  doesn’t much like the sayings on church signs:

    Gil was going to find the church marquee guy one day and break his legs so he could never make the trip to the top of the ladder ever again.

    I was driving home from buying groceries yesterday and encountered a church sign.  It annoyed me so much that I turned around and used my cell phone to take a picture of it.  When I turned around, however, I discovered that the other side of the sign had an equally annoying saying.

    Here’s the front:

    Church Sign - First Side
    Church Sign – First Side

    Now while there is a certain amount of truth here–faith without works is dead–I really don’t think any amount of faith will get me into heaven.  In fact, I’m not sure it’s faith that gets me to church.

    So here’s the second side:

    Church Sign Second Side
    Church Sign Second Side

    Sorry that I didn’t do too good a job getting the pictures.  It looks like the lens was dirty.  What bugs me about this side is the idea that getting to heaven is based on getting your facts right.  I call this “salvation by correct theology,” and I think it’s just a species of salvation by works.

    OK, have fun.  I’m sure there are some readers out there who will find something good about these signs.  Personally, I’m with Gil.

  • Is 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 an Interpolation?

    Well, somehow this post came out blank.  There really was something there.  Really!

    Here it is, rewritten:

    Philip Payne has written a post on the Koinonia blog defending the idea that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is an interpolation (HT: Evangelical Textual Criticism).  I have discussed this issue before (Does Gordon Fee Discard Part of the Bible), based on Gordon Fee’s comments in his commentary on 1 Corinthians.  Payne uses a different starting point–strictly manuscript evidence–than does Fee, but they come to the same conclusion.

    I confess that I am a fan of Gordon Fee.  I regard his commentary on 1 Corinthians (NICOT) to be the best single volume commentary on a New Testament book I have ever read.

  • A Devotional on Grace

    My wife chose to use an old devotional on grace that I wrote for today’s devotional on her list.  I don’t usually do this, but the devotional touched my heart again, as it did when I wrote it.  The devotionals I write always hit me first!

  • Blogging/Essay Contest

    My company is sponsoring a Christianity related blogging/essay contest, with prizes to include gift cards from Barnes & Noble. Detail are on the Energion Publications blog.

  • Christian Carnival CCXCVIII Posted

    … at Bible Archive.  Check it out!

  • Prayer in a Public Meeting

    If I were invited to offer the invocation at a government event at which people of any faith should be welcome, I would have to refuse. This is a stand that has been misunderstood by both supporters and opponents of separation of church and state. I have been told that I lack the courage of my convictions because I would not go and utter a purely Christian prayer under those circumstances. Of course, I must note that it is not the courage of my convictions that is lacking, but rather I don’t have the courage of someone else’s convictions. On the other hand I have been told that I am intolerant because I will not offer an interfaith prayer.

    I was reminded of this issue today when Wesley Elsberry linked to this story about a council member in Tampa who chides speakers for offering too sectarian of prayers, which she believes violates the separation of church and state.

    I have an initial issue that I’m not going to address in detail, and that is how it can be that a prayer in general doesn’t violate church and state separation, yet a prayer in the name of Jesus does. The first would seem to exclude all those who either do not believe in God at all or do not believe in a way that includes the validity of prayer.

    And that does relate to my problem a little bit. Personally I think prayer is largely personal. Now I don’t mean it can’t be public. Matthew 6:5-6 has been cited ad nauseum as a prohibition of all forms of public prayer, but I think that verse has been asked to bear an excessive weight. Jesus is addressing making a show of one’s piety. When might one pray publicly and not be making a show of one’s piety? In my view, that would be a case of corporate prayer, when a group of people join together in prayer.

    Corporate prayer involves a certain amount of agreement, a certain commonness of purpose in worship. When I am asked to pray publicly, I do not feel that I need to preach a sermon in prayer. I’m sometimes a bit amused when someone informs God of all the things that the congregation needs to know, normally while saying something like “you know Lord …”

    My conviction is that if I am offering my prayer publicly, but it is not a corporate prayer, it automatically becomes a show. I should not pray something corporately that I cannot fully invite everyone to participate in, as I would in a pastoral prayer, or an invocation in a Sunday School class, or in a group offering the blessing over a meal. I have even left out praying before a meal when meeting with non-believing friends. They know my convictions, and I don’t think God will miss the meal because I chose not to impose my beliefs on a group.

    I do think that invocations at governmental meetings are a public show. The council (or congress) as a whole is not going to seek God’s will. The meeting should be welcoming to all citizens, not just those who pray, and the prayer cannot be offered in real unity nor in any sort of expectation of obedience. I believe that a critical part of prayer is listening, something that should be included in our acts of prayer as congregations.

    Are there any ecumenical or interfaith circumstances under which I do believe I can pray? Yes, I believe so. I can do so in practically any ecumenical setting, though I will shape my prayer to the best of my ability so as to make it truly corporate. I can and have engaged in prayer in an interfaith setting where all believe in God and all believe in prayer.

    The latter is a bit difficult for me, as my view of both ecumenism and interfaith dialog is that it is a conversation between strongly held beliefs, not a least common denominator collection. I think that continuing constructive conversation is much more important than is some sort of structural unity.

    So I would say that the council member in the story is only half right. Were I invited to pray at that council, or any other, I would just say no. I’d pray for them at home or with others of like mind. I’d be happy if the individuals prayed according to their conscience and understanding of God.

    The public display? No.