Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Good Friday

    It’s the evening of Good Friday and I find myself a bit too tired to blog coherently or to come up with some uplifting words. I generally try not to write when I feel this way. No use spreading the weariness around.

    But of course Good Friday was a day that made something like my weariness of the moment trivial and insignificant.

    On the other hand, perhaps, as God participated through the incarnation in our human activities, it has all been elevated to a new importance. It’s a matter of perspective.

    I did find some good reading today. Dave Black talks about looking for what’s real. In Good Friday and Easter God’s integrity and completeness in giving to us calls for such integrity also from us. I was reminded by Dave’s post of a question I was asked shortly after returning to the church. I’d been away for 12 years following graduate school and most people were inclined to think this was because I had found out something about the Bible I just couldn’t live with. So I was asked what was the most important apologetics tool one could have. I said, “A church that is truly following Jesus.” Not the intellectual key to certainty the questioner wanted, but I stick with the answer.

    Then Steve Kindle, editor of our Energion Discussion Network, posted On Warming Ourselves by the Fire. You owe it to yourself to read that and then prayerfully think about what God’s call might be for your life.

    I suspect a bit of weariness truly is a small matter.

     

  • Eschatology: Daniel 7, Symbols, and Visions

    I’ll be addressing some additional points about dating and prediction as well, while emphasizing the symbols and imagery and what the book would have sounded like to those who first read it.

    Google+ Event Page

    YouTube:

  • Abusing Polls

    Abusing Polls

    pollI suspect that most of the times numbers are used in the media, people are being misinformed in some way. Frequently it’s by ignoring the margin of error. I’m going to discuss this with others on this afternoon’s Global Christian Perspectives. I’m providing a couple of links:

    Polling Fundamentals: Total Survey Error – explanation of the various elements that might cause a poll to be off.

    Margin of Error (Langer Research) – Allows you to calculate the margin of error for a poll provided you have the data.

    Why the Polls Missed Bernie Sanders’ Michigan Upset – Important in explaining in some detail what elements of various polls were off in this particular case.

    Bottom line, however, is that a poll is not the election, i.e., it shows what people think when it is taken, not at the time of the election. It doesn’t predict; prediction is the result of analyzing the data.

     

     

     

  • Thursday Night Study: Paul’s Eschatology with Dr. Herold Weiss

    Thursday Night Study: Paul’s Eschatology with Dr. Herold Weiss

    9781631992223

    On Thursday night I’ll be interviewing Dr. Herold Weiss, author of Meditations on According to John and the forthcoming Meditations on the Letters of Paul, to be released this week. We’ll be talking about Paul’s eschatology and how critical it is to understanding Paul’s theology.

    Google+ Event Link

    YouTube Viewer:

  • Tonight on the Energion Hangout: The Cross and the Resurrection

    I’ll be interviewing Bill Tuck and Bob McKibben. Details at Energion News. Time: 7 pm central.

  • Eschatology: Daniel Passage-by-Passage

    I’ll be looking at chapters 6 & 7 tonight, though 7 will doubtless stay in focus as we go through 8 & 9.

    Google+ Event Page

    YouTube:

  • No Thursday Night Study Tonight

    No Thursday Night Study Tonight

    I’m fighting a cold and will not try to talk for an hour on the hangout on air. I’ll announce one for next week when we’ll continue the study of Daniel.

    Also, Dr. Herold Weiss has agreed to join me again for an interview on Paul’s eschatology. We will shortly be releasing his new book Meditations on the Letters of Paul.

    Meditations on the Letters of Paul

  • Hangout on Air Tonight: Salvation (Universalism, Pluralism, Inclusivism, Exclusivism)

    On the Energion Hangout tonight I’ll be hosting Dr. Bruce Epperly and Dr. Allan Bevere to discuss salvation in Christian theology and the terms I’ve listed. Doubtless many others will come up.

    The Energion Discussion Network resource page for this discussion is Soteriology. Click here for the Google+ Event Page.

     

  • Caring about Credibility

    Caring about Credibility

    9781631992230mI’m sometimes disappointed with posts that don’t attract comments compared to those that do. I’m not talking about my site, where comments are few and far between. Right now I’m looking at a post on the Energion Discussion Network, titled Credible Christians for a Credible Gospel. It was written by Allan Bevere, and makes an important point.

    The gospel is credible in and of itself, but it only gains credibility as it is demonstrated by individual saints and the church collectively in the good works that bear witness to God’s kingdom.

    We talk about grace, and that’s good, but grace accomplishes something in us. Do our beliefs make a difference? Can people see that?

    I invite your comments over on EDN.

  • Why I Believe in Courtesy

    Why I Believe in Courtesy

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    Louder Is Not Truer

    (Image Credit: OpenClipart, )

    It seems that many people believe that in order to be firm in one’s convictions, one must be arrogant, loud, and generally rude. Rude and angry speech is praised as telling it like it is. Courtesy is often ridiculed with the incredibly overused term “political correctness.”

    I object to political correctness when it is politically enforced, when the law mandates the use of one term over another. Let’s see, perhaps like Florida state employees being ordered not to use the term “climate change.” Not what you were thinking of? I believe it’s the same principle.

    I believe in referring to people as courteously as possible, not because I am unsure of my beliefs, though I think uncertainty is certainly appropriate in many cases, but because I believe that is the best way to communicate what I believe. Shouting loudly may impress people who already agree with me, but it turns off those who are in opposition.

    If you truly care about communicating your ideas and about persuading others, you need to learn to practice a firm sort of courtesy. This may involve using labels for others that they can accept. It may require you to drop cute one-liners that impress you.

    One of my objections to speech codes is that by forcing people to be courteous (sort of) when they would not do so on their own initiative, it’s harder to identify those who can safely be ignored, i.e., all those folks who think their point is to be made by loud, obnoxious presentation.

    Courtesy, friendship, and openness to dialogue are not enemies of the truth. Rather, they are essential to communicating it.