Florida Science Standards Petition
The proposed new Florida standards give evolution its proper place in science education. The petition is posted here, and you can find further information on it on the Florida Citizens for Science blog. Whether you are in the state of Florida or not, please go and sign. We will give separate counts for the in-state…
An Evangelist for Evolution
The Rev. Michael Dowd is preaching a surprising message: Evolution is real and science points to the existence of God. (Source: .) Rev. Dowd also joins the growing group who acknowledge that accepting evolution does impact one’s theology in some ways. I find his specific take interesting. One theme that seems to get someone entry…
Republicans for Obama
There’s an interesting article in Newsweek on Republicans supporting Obama. These are not people who are angry that it appears the nomination will not go to someone who is regarded as soundly conservative. They are inspired by Barack Obama.
God is not that Vulnerable
I had a short conversation with a friend and client the other day and I thought I’d share the key point. This man is a professional with a substantial scientific education, and also a devout Christian. On his desk was the book The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. That got us chatting about evolution, and…
Dynamically Wrong? Exodus 24:12 (NLT)
Exodus 24:12 in the NLT reads: And the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there while I give you the tablets of stone that I have inscribed with my instructions and commands. Then you will teach the people from them. The phrase I’m interested in here is “stay there…
Moderate Christian Blogroll Additions
The following have joined the Moderate Christian Blogroll: Living with “God Vision”, if i were a bell, i’d ring, Seeking After, and Adventures in Revland. Learn more about the blogroll here.
Christian Carnival #209 Posted
. . . at Everyday Liturgy.
NY NOW Groupthink
Ed Brayton has a post on the NY chapter of NOW, which claims that Ted Kennedy betrayed feminists by endorsing Obama. I had this on my list of topics for posts, but Ed already said it better.
Numbers and Context
This is way out of my field, but I want to link to it because it illustrates the way in which numbers can be used deceptively. I still heartily recommend the book How to Lie with Statistics from which the title is derived. I’m no economist, but I remember a fine discussion in a class…
CT Interviews Barack Obama
He’s a Christian and has been for 20 years. This quote struck me: I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly,…
Being a Christian Witness
I wrote some more thoughts for my wife’s devotional list on the same topic as my post Silent Witness. We are works in progress. Imperfection is a fact, but it shouldn’t be an excuse.
Israel and United Methodist Whoredom
I’ve always regarded myself as substantially pro-Israel, and often resolutions by the United Methodist Church on this issue trouble me a bit. (For those who don’t know, I am a member of a United Methodist congregation–quite a fine congregation too!) But apparently some people are troubled a great deal more than “a bit,” and can…
Theme for the First Sunday of Lent
Not too surprisingly, it’s not hard to find a common theme through the lectionary passages for February 10. This makes a second week in a row, as the Transfiguration texts also displayed many common themes. The texts are: Genesis 2:15-17 (the command about the tree in the midst of the garden), 3:1-7 (Temptation and Fall)….
Speaking from God – 2 Peter 1:16-21
This passage in 2 Peter is one of the most commonly cited in discussions of Biblical inspiration, along with 2 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 4:12 and Psalm 12:6. One of the interesting things that I notice about them all is that they are often used as though they obviously say something that, on closer examination, they…
Silent Witness?
Laura at Pursuing Holiness is concerned with the idea of a “silent witness,” as accomplished by wearing cheesy buttons. No, she’s not talking about the need to shout, but rather the need to be clear and Biblical in the way in which one witnesses. Her particular target is the AFA’s program of Easter buttons which…
Witherington: What Have They Done with Jesus?
I have two books on my “to be read” shelf that I also intend to blog through. Since I just completed Random Designer, by Dr. Richard Colling, and I have Francis Collins, The Language of God which also deals with evolution, I decided to take Ben Witherington III, What Have They Done with Jesus? next….
Abuse of Authority or Church Discipline?
Someone on the Compuserve Religion Forum has posted a reference to an article about churches starting to try to discipline their congregations. I’m not going to try to summarize the article. Suffice it to say that the most extreme example involves a pastor calling the police to arrest a woman for trespassing. Her crime? She…
1 Corinthians 1:13-16 and Verbal Dictation
13Has Christ been divided? Surely it wasn’t Paul who was crucified for you, or into Paul’s name that you were baptized! 14I thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you except for Crispus and Gaius, 15So that nobody could say that you were baptized into my name. 16Well, I did baptize the household of…
Are you Reading the White Space?
I’m frequently struck by how often we deal with trivia in our Bible study. In some cases we might not call it “trivia” but we certainly are dealing with something other than the main message of the text–the stuff that is in black and white. We imagine what the characters might have said, we fill…
Perfective of Confidence or Prophetic Perfect
One of the lectionary passages for this week is Isaiah 9:1-4. Those who don’t know Hebrew may miss out on an interest fact about this passage. It is one of the best examples of what is called the “prophetic perfect” or the “perfectum propheticum” for those who really like Latin titles. I got used to…
Hope as an Anchor – Hebrews 6:19-20
19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, steadfast and firm and entering the inner side of the veil. 20Jesus entered there as a forerunner for us, becoming a high priest eternally according to the order of Melchizedek. — Hebrews 6:19-20 When I joined the Air Force, my mother made me a quilt…
New AmazonConnect Blog
I’ve created an AmazonConnect blog. I won’t be creating new posts, but they now allow authors to syndicate posts from elsewhere which then show up on book detail pages on Amazon.com. I created the category “Author Related” for posts that I want to syndicate, and I’m using the category feed. Generally administrative announcements such as…
Prosperity Gospel is not Good News
In the various RSS feeds I track there were two related posts this morning, both of which touch on the issue of the prosperity gospel. Those who know the language will recognize the bit of irony in saying that a “gospel” is not “good news,” since gospel (at the least the Greek word which it…
Dr. Richard Colling Comments on Random Designer Review
I wanted to call attention to a few of these, as Dr. Colling’s response to elements of my posts on his book is very important. He also makes some substantial points in his comments. I’m going to quote and link to two of these so that they are not missed. Chapter 14 almost did not…