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Sorrow Like My Sorrow – Lamentations 1:12
Can we really understand the suffering of another person or they ours?
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What Is Biblical Literacy?
We complain about it, write about it, claim it’s important or even critical, design programs to create it, but what is it? I don’t mean that none of us know what we mean when we say “biblically literate” or “biblically illiterate,” but do we all mean the same thing? I don’t think we do, and…
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Fences: Mending or Rending
The following is a sermon I presented at the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Pensacola on September 11,2005 and originally posted here on September 13, 2005. I’m reposting it because when I went to look for it, I found that the original post had somehow been truncated, and also because there is a one word at a…
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Experiencing the (Baptism of the) Holy Spirit
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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Moving Bright Kids Forward
The U. S. News Blog reports that schools in some states, including my home state of Florida, are making it possible for Middle School students to take advanced courses that might normally only be available in High School. My reaction to this is positive. Anything that improves education is a good thing. As I remember…
I Don’t Understand This
From CBS News: Eighty percent of speech watchers approve of President Obamas plans for dealing with the economic crisis. Before the speech, 63 percent approved. Fifty-one percent of speech watchers think the president’s economic plans will help them personally. Thirty-six thought so before the speech. I have mixed emotions about President Obama’s economic policies, and…
Christian Carnival CCLXV Posted
… at Chasing the Wind.
100 Enlightening Bible Study Blogs
According to ChristianColleges.com (link removed due to odd request by linked site), and since they include this blog, how could I argue? Well, besides including me, there are a number of others on the list that are on my blogroll, and several other sites that I use regularly in study. If I have time, I’ll…
Thoughts on Leviticus 1
I’ve now read through the first chapter of Leviticus using the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I want to caution readers that I’m reflecting on and responding to the text of the commentary, and not just repeating it. If I don’t identify a thought as coming from Baker (David W. Baker, author…
Rewarding Incompetence
There was quite a stir recently over a rant by Rick Santelli of CNBC on the mortgage plan produced by the Obama administration. One of the claims made was that this plan was “rewarding incompetence.” Now without regard to context, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. Where I do have a problem is with…
Speaking the Truth is News
… when the Secretary of State does it. I thought many of these things were so obvious they hardly needed said, but apparently the obvious can be offensive. Perhaps a little truth will help diplomacy. Or not…
Starting Leviticus in the Tyndale Cornerstone Biblical Commentary
I recently received my copy of this good looking volume from Tyndale for review, and I have summarized its features here. I noted there that this is not a book I will read once and then write a short review. Rather, I’m going to blog through it, which also means that I will be blogging…
But Did It Help?
Read: Mark 9:2-9 Reading the gospel lesson for today–and I’m writing this on Sunday morning before going to teach Sunday School–I was struck by the parallel to a question I commonly get from Bible study classes. “Why can’t God just make it clearer, unmistakable? Why all this variety and human stuff?” I can imagine the…
Ten Beliefs of (some) Progressive Christians
John Shuck (Shuck and Jive) found this list here, and as I’m teaching a Sunday School class this morning precisely on who will be saved and how, I find it rather interesting. I would suggest that a group has to have something substantial that is both distinctive and held in common to be cohesive and…
Dan Wallace Reposts on Post Cartoon
You can find his further thoughts again at Reclaiming the Mind. If you read the first one, you should read this one as well.
Cornerstone Biblical Commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy: A First Look
This is a first look, before I have read or used the book extensively. I have simply looked through it, read the preface and some introductions, and laid out a plan for reading and study using the volume. I intend to “blog through” rather than simply read and review this volume. See the end of…
The Osteens New Bible
This headline caught my attention: Osteens offer hope for today with new Bible. Obviously the headline doesn’t mean what one could construe it to mean; it’s a study Bible, not a rewritten Bible, but the headline still struck me as funny. I do have problems with single themed study Bibles, but that’s another post.
The Extras in your Bible Edition
David Ker is concerned about section titles in your Bible. And well he should be. I frequently talk about avoiding reading the “lower half” of your Bible when you study. What I mean by the “lower half” is the study notes that so many editions put at the bottom of the page. Now this is…
The Shocking Nature of Grace?
Grace is shocking, if you think about it, because by definition someone gets something unearned. But in Calvinism, it seems, grace becomes even more shocking. Adrian Warnock posts a quote from Jonathan Edwards that expresses predestination quite well. You are saved by grace, someone else isn’t. Edwards notes that “although all things are exactly equal…
Dan Wallace is Angry
… about the New York Post “chimp” cartoon. While he and I wouldn’t see eye to eye on many things (though his Greek Grammar beyond the Basics is brilliant!) I particularly appreciate this coming from him. I don’t regard printing this cartoon as responsible, but I want to make sure to note that I think…
The Value and Danger of Forensics
The value, of course, is that they provide us with more objective views than eyewitness testimony, for example. There’s a bit of a forensics craze running the country with shows like CSI making the idea of forensic evidence popular and fun. But such shows tend to distort the picture in various ways. To make an…
Psalm 50:3 in The Message
One of my criticisms of The Message is that it tends to blunt the force of many scriptures, making them more palatable than they are. Now don’t get the idea that I’m a critic of The Message in general. In fact, I think it makes a great contribution to the literature available for rapid reading…
2 Kings 2:1-12 (Transfiguration B)
I used this translation as the basis for a devotional today, 2/18/09, for my wife’s devotional list. Here is the translation with a few additional notes. Translation Notes 1This is what happened when YHWH took Elijah in the whirlwind up to heaven. Elijah and Elisha left Gilgal. 2Elijah said to Elisha, “Please…
Obama Administration Opposes Fairness Doctrine
… or so a spokesman told Fox News (HT: Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire). This is good news considering the number of people who are inclined to revive it. (The Fox News report even includes the claim that Congressman Henry Waxman is interested in an internet fairness doctrine, for which idea he is being quite justifiably…
Christian Carnival CCLXIV Posted
… at Thoughts and Confessions of a Girl Who Loves Jesus.
Christian Carnival CCLXIV Posted
… at Thoughts from a Girl Who Loves Jesus. I have also updated the archive.
Bible in Literature Quiz
Literary allusions. Quiz is here. HT: Alan Mann. I made 10/10, but a comment in the HT post may have helped. On the other hand, I haven’t read half of the literary works referenced–just the Biblical side!
Rachel Maddow Identifies the Religious Right
I was watching Rachel Maddow last night and she commented on the “rejection of religious right” candidates during the last election and gave examples: Alan Keyes and Mike Huckabee. Now there are a couple of problems with this, some of which could be identified by right wing opponents of Mike Huckabee who don’t think he’s…