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Interpreting the Bible VIII: Biblical Literalism, Attitude, and Avoidance

Byhenry

This is a continuation of my series on interpreting the Bible. The first post in the series is Interpreting the Bible I: Obvious Exegesis, while the most recent one was Interpreting the Bible VII: Christians Contribute to Confusion. As a reminder, my starting point was a number of comments that suggested that those who take…

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Fulfilling Needs or Catering to Wants

Byhenry

The Internet Monk recommends a couple of books in a post titled Recommended: Wicker and Duin on The End of Evangelicalism, and I’m not going to gainsay his recommendation, considering I have read neither. But one comment he made caught my attention: Despite being an interesting read and passing along many good pieces of information…

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Book Notes: Live to Tell

Byhenry

Kallenberg, Brad J. Live to Tell: Evangelism for a Postmodern Age. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2002. ISBN 1-58743-050-9. 138 pages. One of our pastors handed this book to my wife because of her interest particularly in discipleship. You may ask why one should give a book on evangelism to someone primarily concerned with discipleship, but…

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Forgiving or Excusing

Byhenry

I’ve noticed in recent discussions both online and offline that there seems to be some fuzziness about the difference between these two concepts. I think that perhaps our human tendency is to either excuse or condemn. By “excusing” I mean either minimizing a transgression or perhaps even claiming it’s not a transgression at all. When…

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Experiencing the (Baptism of the) Holy Spirit

Byhenry

This is a topic where I tend to make just about everyone uncomfortable. Long time readers may recall a previous discussion of speaking in tongues, and my own experience of it. Those who expect me to be intellectually oriented and rational are uncomfortable with mystical experiences, and many who are comfortable with the mystical experiences…

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Legislating Morality

Byhenry

Have you ever heard a conversation like this? “You can’t legislate morality,” says one person. “Oh yes you can! We do it all the time. Murder is immoral and we legislate against it.” Interesting, no? For me, this gets combined with separation of church and state. I’m an advocate of separation. People will frequently ask…