I believe that it’s easy to let our theology keep us from reading the Bible, especially the narrative parts. The Bible is filled with stories. One example is the story of the flood. When Genesis 6 says (using the KJV), “It repenteth me that I have made man,” the first reaction is to try to…
I think The Truth Is … Out There on the Wesley Bros. Blog did a good job of expressing this. To my liberal brothers and sisters: Yes, I do believe in penal substitution. To my conservative brothers and sisters: No, I don’t believe in it as the one and only way to believe in or…
Well, I am a non-partisan voter, i.e. I am not registered with either of the major parties, and today was primary day here in Florida. I had a grand total of two items to vote on: A county commission race that would be decided by the primary, and an issue to vote on. Whenever there…
Introduction #contextchangeseverything – yes, it does. But how? With the vast array of Bible study materials that are available in the English language comes a problem. How does one choose what materials are worth my time, shelf space (or HD space!), or money? If you search my blog for posts about study Bibles, you’ll find…
Probably as the result of the political correctness debate—well, perhaps not debate; more brouhaha—I hear or read frequent complaints about an expectation of courteous speech as though it’s an imposition. In order to cater to someone’s excessively fragile sensibilities, the argument goes, one is expected to deny the truth in favor of “political correctness.” In…
One of the points I have tried to make in my series regarding the books Seven Marks of a New Testament Church, Thrive: Spiritual Habits of Transforming Congregations, and Transforming Acts: Acts of the Apostles as a 21st Century Gospel is that one can follow these “Jesus principles” of church leadership under many different formal…
Outlining is a valuable practice in Bible study. It can Help you understand the relationship between sections of a passage Direct you to the key point Clarify ambiguities Give you a feel for the structure of an author’s argument Clearly some of these overlap. One of the common practices in teaching the Bible, however, is…
"Church" has become an organization that devours time and resources rather than a way of living that structures and empowers everything. — Henry Neufeld (@hneufeld) July 25, 2016
Frequently when there is a crisis or any form of trouble, Christians call for prayer. These calls can take many forms. In addition, a common comment from Christians is that we will pray about a situation. Now it’s quite possible that someone who says they will pray will limit their activities to just praying. It’s…
One of my favorite TV episodes of all time is the West Wing episode In Excelsis Deo. In it, Toby Ziegler arranges a funeral for a homeless veteran of the Korean War who died of exposure. Toward the end, President Bartlet is asking Toby about his use of the president’s name to arrange it. ”…
