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. Its possible that we generally feel that prayer isnt something that should be taught, but rather is something that just happens. Many pastors that Ive 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…
Note: This is a second excursus in my series on Biblical criticism. When I begin my next entry, dealing with the parable of the sower, I will begin by discussing textual issues and applying these principles. I was encouraged to make a few notes on textual criticism after I read the collection of essays The…
Note: This is a small excursus in my series giving an overview of Biblical criticism. In this entry I want to apply some of the material I discussed about authorship and dating to the book of Daniel. Next, I will write an additional entry on methods of textual criticism in general, and then I will…
Newsweek has an excellent interview with Billy Graham in their online edition. I think his response to the issue of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina was excellent. Very often we can only answer “I don’t know” to the “why” questions that people have in times of trouble. Graham provides an example and encouragement as…
Christianity Today reports in an article titled Too Inclusive that Pastor Carlton Pearson’s Higher Dimensions Worship Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma has now begun meeting in a neighboring Episcopal church, since membership has dropped by 90% from an initial 5,000. I discovered this story by reading the Wesley Daily blog, which titled the story Pastor Says…
“Grace gives us choices,” says Pastor Tom Sims in a blog entry entitled Paradoxical People. Good point. Tom is talking particularly about our ability to be ourselves. I like to call the alternative “putting on your faith face.” I see it primarily in churches. You can’t possibly go to church, after all, without making sure…
Brian McLaren, author of The Secret Message of Jesus and co-author of Adventures in Missing the Point with Tony Campolo, among many other books, has an article currently on the Sojourner web site entitled Found in Translation. I want to thank Shane Raynor of Wesley Blog for calling my attention to this article with his…