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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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As Everyone Trades Scripts – Again
Immediately after the last election I wrote this. Please read it before you read this. I want to reiterate it today. I have meant it sincerely following every election in which I have been a voter, and I registered to vote at the first opportunity. Speaking with respect is not agreement. It is a way…
I’m Taking a COVID-19 Vaccine
I will get the COVID-19 vaccination when it becomes available to me. I could, of course, be wrong. But experience and mountains of data suggest that the best option is to follow the consensus opinion of those with the appropriate expertise.
The Value of Fact-Checkers
In their aim to express their anger at many things, sometimes even justified anger, people often rail at the MSM fact-checkers. Just using the MSM tag is an epithet indicating a lack of trust. On social media, especially Facebook, this anger goes against the efforts the company is making to correct false information. As an…
My Hippopotamus for Christmas
Several years ago our friend, Erin McClellan, found out that I like the song, “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” Don’t push on the reasons. I just like it. Since Erin has a well-developed sense of humor, she gave me a plastic hippo that Christmas. I was delighted. Jody and I are generally light on…
Numbers Need Context Too
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” — Mark Twain But I can paraphrase what supporters of gun rights say: Numbers don’t lie. People lie. People use numbers to lie. Sometimes it’s unconscious. I can say, “Most people believe X.” But that word “most” is imprecise, and sounds like I may…
Perspectives on Paul 11-18-20
I wrote a short story as a lead-in to this study and posted it on The Jevlir Caravansary. It is titled About the Jump in Safety Violations. It illustrates what I’m trying to say about the law in this discussion. Video PowerPoint This is an embedded Microsoft Office presentation, powered by Office. PDF (4 Pages)
Let Us Worship Other Gods
In my book When People Speak for God, I discuss testing messages that people claim are from God. There is a passage in Deuteronomy 18:21-22 that is commonly used in connection with this. In that passage the message is tested by whether the word from God comes to pass. There are some interesting questions this…
Perspectives on Paul 10-28-30
I recorded this on 10-21-30 because of the approach of Hurricane Zeta on the evening of the 28th. Video PowerPoint This is an embedded Microsoft Office presentation, powered by Office. PDF
Perspectives on Paul for 10-21-20
I’m a bit behind posting these, but here are the files from the last Perspectives video. Note we will be continuing the discussion this coming week, as I only completed about half of what I had planned. The key theme text will be Jeremiah 31:31-34. Remember that a good deal of the material I’m covering…
The NIV Study Bible (Fully Revised Edition
(I’m writing as a #BibleGatewayPartner and a member of the #BGBloggerGrid. See note at the end of this post.) When a book that I generally like undergoes a revision, I approach it with a bit of trepidation. Is it going to match the older edition? Will it be better? Or maybe it will lose all…
Perspectives on Paul for 10-14-20
PowerPoint This is an embedded Microsoft Office presentation, powered by Office. PDF Video
Fear and …
Perfect love, we know, casteth out fear [1 John 4:18]. But so do several other things — ignorance, alcohol, passion, presumption, and stupidity. C. S. Lewis, “The World’s Last Night” Lewis took this in another direction, but I like the words to point out that, in certain circumstances fear can be a very good thing,…
Who Was Paul? – Interview with Allan R. Bevere
Embedded below is the video of my interview with Dr. Allan R. Bevere in the series asking the same 10 questions of a variety of people. You can find all the interview videos at Resources for Studying Paul. Allan is a United Methodist pastor, and author of several Energion titles.
Who Was Paul? – Interview with Pat Badstibner
Embedded below is the video of my interview with Pat Badstibner in the series asking the same 10 questions of a variety of people. You can find all the interview videos at Resources for Studying Paul. Pat is president of World Prayr.
Perspectives on Paul for 10-07-20
Presentation Video: Power Point: This is an embedded Microsoft Office presentation, powered by Office. PDF: Remember: Resources for Studying Paul
Perspectives on Paul 09.30.2020
Law Through Scripture – I Here is the video (via YouTube) and the PowerPoint slides for my study of September 30, 2020. I am taking a look at the law through scripture and looking at how that impacts Paul and his message. First, the PowerPoint: This is an embedded Microsoft Office presentation, powered by Office….
Resuming Perspectives on Paul
I’m resuming my series, interrupted for three years. Here’s the first video: Each Wednesday night I’ll be live on Facebook with this posted to the Henry & Jody Neufeld page, and crossposted to my home church, Chumuckla Community Church. I’ll get the video to Facebook a couple of days later. This is an open-ended series…
Review: Simple Faith Bible
Subtitle: Following Jesus into a Life of Peace, Compassion & Wholeness I find it hard to fairly review study Bibles. On the one hand, I am a bit hesitant to have so much text combined with the text of scripture, because everything we do to add to the text, even arranging it into chapters and…
God the Creator Interview
I was recently interviewed by fellow Energion author Steve Kindle regarding my newly released book God the Creator: Toward a More Robust Doctrine of Creation. The video is below. Preview / Retailers
Link: The Temptation of Jesus and Intertextuality
Donald C. McIntyre is writing a series about the temptation of Jesus and the texts Jesus used. Do we understand this usage correctly? He titles this What If We Got the Temptation of Jesus Wrong?, and I’m calling attention to part II of the series. I am always interested in intertextuality and the way it…
Following Polls
One of the least accurate elements of the news, in my opinion, is the reporting of opinion polls. If you think this is always someone else, you may be part of the problem. Polls are not precise measurements and results vary. That’s why you have a probability (often 90% or 95%) that the results fall…
Link: Bible Criticism – A Common Sense Approach to the Bible
This article is quite helpful in understanding what biblical criticism is, how it is helpful, and also how it may be threatening to some. Here’s a quote: The basic point, however, is an important one: until we know what kind of material we are dealing with, we don’t know what questions it is sensible to…
Choose Your Shape!
Well, perhaps, “choosing” should be “recognizing.” Weird? Doesn’t make sense? Read on! In the late 1990s I participated in a program here in Escambia County called CommUNITY Dialogues, led by a creative and interesting communications specialist (and I had not, up to that time, used “creative” or “interesting” with regard to such people!) named Dr….
Changing Perspectives
From time to time during my work day I’ll stop and play a (hopefully) quick game of Sudoku. For this purpose I usually choose an easier puzzle, one I can do quickly. The purpose for a break like this is to unlock my brain, so to speak. When I’ve been working on a project too…