Featured Posts
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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…
Social Notes (see all)
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New Display Option for Moderate Christian Blogroll
I write about it here.
Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God?
When I teach people about how to study the Bible, and especially when I talk to them about handling difficult passages, there is one category of passage that dominates: Violent and sometimes difficult to understand passages from the Old Testament. How can a God of love command the slaughter of thousands, even women and children?…
Christian Carnival CCLIX Posted
. . . at Parableman. Check it out!
Proving the Virgin Birth
. . . or not. Bruce Alderman has a good post about Tipler’s efforts in this regard. (Peter Kirk has also discussed this, and both articles are well worth reading. Physicists seem to look at the world a bit differently than I do, and I often don’t understand what they’re up to, but for me…
Now Rick Warren is in REAL Trouble
According to OneNewsNow, an organization only slightly less paranoid than WorldNetDaily, Rick Warren is praising President-Elect Obama for inviting Bishop Gene Robinson to pray at the inauguration as well. After supporting Proposition 8 in California and then accepting the President-Elect’s invitation, it’s possible that nobody will be happy with Rick Warren any more. They note…
Christian Carnival CCLIX Posted
. . . at Parableman. Check it out! My post this week was not from this blog, but this one from my Threads blog.
Interpreting the Bible IV – Scientific Statements
In my daily reading I encounter many different types of literature, each of which relates to the science I know in a different way. For example, I might read a newspaper, in which case the question is just what is an article about. Is it about art? I will look at it through one set…
Bill Arnold on the Composition of Genesis
I have written quite a bit about this topic on this blog, and am also doing a series related to it on my Threads blog, so I was glad to see another summary article (HT: Dr. Platypus). Most lay people are not well acquainted with critical theories about the Pentateuch, as they get the briefest…
Some Thoughts on a Methodist Experiment
Kevin Watson has provided an update on his social media experiment with a YouTube video, which I posted here, and frankly I’m a bit disappointed. Now I know that many of us in the blogosphere, and similarly in the methoblogosphere, are wary of getting roped in to publicize something, such as Kevin Watson’s book. I…
Let Them Pray Together
Bruce Alderman has a wonderful suggestion for Bishop Gene Robinson and Rev. Rick Warren: Personally, what I’d like to see is for Robinson and Warren to sit down and say a prayer together. This issue shouldn’t tear the church apart, regardless of who is right. If nothing else, we could call it loving enemies and…
Interpreting the Bible III – The Impact of Inerrancy
Update (1/15/09): For those in the habit of reading posts and skipping comments, I want to note that there is an important and substantial exchange of comments between Peter Kirk (Gentle Wisdom), Jeremy Pierce (Parableman), and myself that helps clarify this issue substantially. In my first post in this series, I made the following comment…
Cleaning Blogroll
One more administrative post for the day–I’m cleaning my blogroll. I am removing many links that are duplicated with the external blogrolls I display (Moderate Christian Blogroll, Unright Christian Blogs, Philophronos Blogroll, and the Methoblog). I am also removing defunct blogs. If your blog disappeared from the roll completely, and it’s not defunct, please let…
Broad Category Feeds
For those who may be interested only in part of the subject matter of this blog, I have created three broad category feeds: Politics Religion Science I will include posts that cross the boundaries of two of these in both of the tags so you’ll get them if you subscribe to that feed.
Moving to Feedburner
. . . or I might say feedproxy from Google. Many of you may not be aware, but I do make part of my income from writing, and I wanted to have the opportunity to show just a small ad with my posts. I earlier had a post in which I asked whether people preferred…
First UMC ICON Service
A few days ago I posted a video about the new service being offered at my home church, First United Methodist Church of Pensacola. Yesterday I attended the first service. We ran out of standing room and about 80 people had to be sent to the other service. I am very interested in the concept…
Baptism and the Water Metaphor
Baptism of our Lord, Cycle B When we hear the word “water” in our modern world we generally think of nice things–a thirst-quenching drink, a nice shower or bath, fun in a swimming pool, or perhaps a fine ocean cruse. Thus when we think about baptism we tend to think mostly about cleansing or even…
Why I Like the Gospel of Mark
For many Christians, especially those who love theology, the Gospel of John is a favorite. There’s a good reason why it is used in the lectionary on high holy days–it reflects on the meaning of the events in the life of Jesus. For me, however, the gospel of Mark has always had a special place. …
Gospel of John: Baptism to Ministry
This is the relevant presentation from my audio series on the gospel of John for Epiphany 1B. Though the scripture reading ends at verse 41, the presentation covers the transition from the baptism to the wedding feast at Cana. {audio}2-1-baptism_to_ministry.mp3{/audio}
Seat Roland Burris
Why would I suggest this? Is it because I don’t think Governor Blagojevich is not corrupt? Do I think he’s “worthy”? Is it because I think Roland Burris is particularly well-suited to the job and somehow has a “right” to be in the Senate? In fact, I have a very low regard for Governor Blagojevich,…
And Yet Again, Rick Warren
If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. Now he says that physical abuse is not a sufficient reason for divorce, according to this Christian Post story. I feel his pain, in a sense, as he says that he wishes the Bible included such a reason for divorce, but that in fact, it does not. He…
Back in Action – 2009
Well, I fell behind during the Christmas break and didn’t keep up with posting. I did keep up with reading, and I may even post some of my thoughts on the older passages as I have time. I hope you won’t mind finding those in the feed. Today I will post some overviews of the…
Experimenting Methodists
OK, as this is an experiment, and it involves the United Methodist Church and Wesleyan theology, I’m going to play along. I have serious doubts about the validity of the results. The question is this: If some agency of the UM church put out a video and it wasn’t an experiment, would I be on…
The Great Akkadian Final Exam
While I was writing about my mother reading Hebrew yesterday, I recalled another person who was substantially involved in my Biblical Languages training, Dr. Leona Glidden Running. She was a Biblical Languages professor at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary when I took my MA from the Andrews University graduate school and was my academic advisor….
My Movie Rating
. . . and it is to laugh Created by OnePlusYou – Free Dating Site What’s to laugh about? It says this rating is based on the presence of the words “dead” (2x) and “torture” (1x). Hat Tip: C.Orthodoxy and a crowd of others.