Featured Posts
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Fire – Lamentations 1:13
Discussing the symbolism of fire in scripture, highlighting its dual nature as both a sign of divine acceptance and judgment. It reflects on personal suffering and God’s sovereignty, emphasizing that while God’s fire can refine and cleanse, it often accompanies lament and discomfort, aligning with the broader pursuit of righteousness.
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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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The Loom Moves
Carl Zimmer is a great science writer, and he will now be a columnist for Discover Magazine. Accordingly, his blog, The Loom, has moved there.
In Defense of Elitism
I was going to write a lengthy post with a great deal of substance, but then I spent the day working mostly on the Moderate Christian Blogroll and Blog Aggregator. I’ve already posted links to the new feeds I created, and will post the code for this tomorrow on my computer services blog, if all…
The Foreignness of the Bible
Richard Rhodes doesn’t think it’s all that foreign. Read about it at Better Bibles. I give this one 5 stars out of 5.
Continuing Moderate Christian Blogroll Saga
Since I believe there are still many Moderate Christian Blogroll members who watch this blog, but not the Moderate Christian Blogroll Blog, I’m going to link again to the current status. I have created new RSS feeds that should be including all sites properly. Go to this post to get details.
Donny Pauling on Jesus for President
There have been a number of articles on the book, the rallies, and the fact that evangelicals may no longer be a lock for either major party. As a long time independent (I switched from Republican to independent before the 1984 election after having been a Reagan activist in 1980), I am following the change…
Traveling through to Romans 8:1
So there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. — Romans 8:1 Oh how we long to get to this verse in studying the Bible. If we’re reading through, we may be tempted to rush it. It’s like working forward through a tragic book to the point at which we know…
Looking for a Good Sermon?
OK, I’m blogging on a Sunday morning before I go to church, but I will use as my excuse the fact that I get up substantially earlier than the world, or so it seems, and thus I do reading and such well before it’s time to go to church. I expect to hear an excellent…
What is the Best Bible Version?
There a teacher’s saying that there are no bad questions, except the ones you don’t ask. There’s another saying that says that once you know the right question, the right answer will follow. As with many one liners, these two seem to clash. On the front of my book What’s in a Version?, I have…
Flip-Flopping with Integrity
I an earlier post, Public Financing, Integrity, and Mixed Emotions I discussed my mixed emotions on Barack Obama’s flip-flop on public financing. I dislike public financing of campaigns, and it’s nice to see the system receive a body blow, but at the same time, I have a serious problem with Obama’s action. Before someone thinks…
Frank Hagan on Theistic Evolution
Closely related to my post today on theistic evolution is this post from Frank Hagan, also worth reading, and in response to the same pair of articles.
Evolution as God’s Tool
A post on the Panda’s Thumb today calls attention to this post from Uncommon Descent, which claims that theistic evolutionists must believe contradictory things: I would not have a problem understanding evolution as Gods creation tool, if TEs conceived of evolution as a tool in the strict sense. A tool in the strict sense is…
Moderate Christian Blogroll Feed Update
Read it here. While many people get there updates on this blog, I now post all moderate Christian blogroll data on the Moderate Christian Blogroll Blog.
A Simple Witness
The man was a good Christian. Any of us would be quite pleased to have his reputation for faith and Christian charity. He was part of a study group I led, and we were discussing witnessing. “I’m afraid to put a fish symbol on my car,” he said. “I might do something that’s not Christlike,…
Jody Neufeld on Popular Bible Stories
My wife Jody is basing her week’s series of devotionals on well-known stories of the Bible. She began yesterday with Daniel in the Lion’s Den, and today talked about Moses in the Basket on the River. She’s practical where I’m theoretical.
Good News and Bad News on Religious Tolerance
. . . but which is which? MSNBC.com reports on a study of religious attitudes that shows that Americans are still very religious (92% believe in God, for example), but that they are much more tolerant of other faiths. Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on…
Example of Energy Innovation
An efficient solar collector that looks promising. Of course, no single technology is going to be a silver bullet.
David Ker is Underemployed
He did this.
More on Campaign Finance
While deploring the hypocrisy of Obama’s switch on the issue (though still preferring him to McCain), I will be very happy if his action is the death-knell of public campaign financing as suggested in this NYT article (via MSNBC).
Moderate Christian Blogroll Feed Problems
Read about them here. I am working to resolve these. They do not relate to the database problems I’ve been having, but rather to some software that has fallen behind the times.
Robert Reich on Offshore Exploration
One of my disappointments in John McCain is the amount of pandering he has done to various people. I regard his vacation from gas taxes as simple pandering. It solves no problems. It potentially creates many more. The only reason to favor it is that some people who don’t think beyond the next paycheck. Now…
Public Financing, Integrity, and Mixed Emotions
Barack Obama has opted out of public financing for his presidential campaign. I greet this event with mixed emotions. On the one hand, Obama said that he would accept public financing and the limits that go with it. He is a supporter (or so he says) of public financing. Thus there is a question of…
Database Problems
For those who may read others of my blogs, or some of the other blogs I manage, my hosting provider has been having database connection problems. It doesn’t appear to have impacted this site, but the Participatory Bible Study blog has been very slow and giving sporadic connection errors, and the Running Toward the Goal…
Gray Areas
Here’s a good post/discussion on complexity and the gray areas. HT: Kouya Chronicle.
Studying the Bible for Yourself
One of the key foundations of my participatory Bible study method is my firm belief that individual Christians can and should study the Bible for themselves. I believe this study will depend on the work of experts in many cases, and that it should be accountable within a church community, but the individual, under the…