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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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Tracking Evolutionary Change
Evolutionary science is so much bigger, so much deeper, so much more interesting than its opponents (understandably) will admit. It’s more complicated than Michael Behe or Bill Dembski let on, and yet it’s not that hard to follow, for those who are willing to try. The best papers by evolutionary biologists are endlessly fascinating and…
Crossway ESV Literary Study Bible
Regular readers of this blog (that imaginary group every blogger hopes he has!) will know that I am not a fan of the [tag]ESV[/tag]. More precisely, I’m not a fan of the hype that surrounds it in certain circles. It’s not a bad translation in my view–it’s just not very special. Thus I was not…
Medical Conspiracy?
This is a good post. Not only is it true, but it’s fun. More of us should dissect certain advertising claims in this way.
Highlights from Christian Carnival CXCV
From The Peculiar Club, there is How to Know God, simple, practical, brief, down to earth–all the things my posts usually aren’t! This one would be worth putting into practice. After reading the book unChristian, Tom Gilson says “Christianity has a reality problem.” He then does a very thoughtful job of discussing just what is…
Christian Carnival CXCV
. . . has been posted at Everyday Liturgy. My submission for this carnival was one I wrote for wife’s devotional blog. Next week, I will be hosting the carnival here.
Different When WE Do It
As I’ve watched the debates about various aspects of our behavior as a nation (the United States), I am very concerned with the way we seem to be able to rationalize things that normally would be totally unacceptable. The same action can be acceptable when we do it and a gross violation of justice when…
Florida Science Standards Under Attack
The new draft science standards in the state of Florida are under attack for their forthright inclusion of evolution. You can read more about the state of the debate on the Florida Citizens for Science blog. Those of us who support sound science are acquainted with the style of argumentation involved. I want to help…
A Reason Not to Vote for Huckabee
Well, I wasn’t going to vote for [tag]Mike Huckabee[/tag] anyhow, and since I’m not Republican he’d have to get the Republican nomination before it would get on my horizon, but still here’s another reason: Chuck Norris has endorsed him. I last mentioned Chuck Norris in my post Sneaking God into Public Schools. On the other…
Burma/Myanmar Reminder
On October 4, 2007 I participated in Free Burma Day by posting just a banner reading Free Burma and nothing else all day. I received an e-mail today from the U. S. Campaign for Burma, asking that we not forget what’s going on there. They mentioned several avenues for action, one of which works well…
Taking Care of Veterans
I linked yesterday to a story about PTSD related discharges, and today I found this Newsweek article on problems with the [tag]Veterans Administration[/tag]. I believe people from all across the political spectrum should be able to agree that we must take good care of our troops and our veterans. But I want to point out…
New Florida Science Standards
New science standards for [tag]Florida[/tag] public schools are now available for review (HT: Florida Citizens for Science. These look very good, but there will inevitably be conflict about the issue of evolution. There was also a good article on this process in the Orlando Sentinel (again HT: Florida Citizens for Science. Interested parties should read…
Just What We Needed: The LOLCat Bible
Prowlog 1 In teh land of Uz wuz a man calded Job. Teh man wuz goodz, afraid of teh Ceiling Cat and evilz.2 Teh man hadz seven sunz and tree doters,3 And lots of sheepz and camlez and rinoceruseses and servnts, srsly.4 His sunz tok turns mading cookies, and they all eated them.5 And Job…
PTSS and Military Discharges
This is the sort of story that makes me so angry that I want to hope it’s not really true. Fortunately, it appears a couple of senators with some substance are on the case, and hopefully will get to the bottom of this and hold some people’s feet to the fire as appropriate. According to…
MBWR #134
. . . has been posted by Allan R. Bevere. I appreciate his efforts on this roundup–I regularly find thought provoking posts to read and/or respond to by that means.
Retelling and Rethinking the Unjust Judge
This week’s lectionary readings included Luke 18:1-8, the story of the unjust judge. One of the problems many people have with this story is relating the unjust judge to God, but as I pointed out in a devotional one thing we are supposed to hear from the story is how God is different from the…
Honourable Mention for Threads and Stuff to Read
This from An Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution. Of course I use the honourable spelling for honourable in honour of Canadian connections. He links to my post Theisms, Creationisms, and Evolutionisms: An Exercise in Definition. I appreciate the mention and link. Since I have been writing a good bit on Dawkins, and linking to other material…
Lawmakers Apologize
. . . and well they should. MSNBC has the story. One interesting paragraph was this one: Legal experts say the case shows the United States has violated a 1998 law that specifically prohibits the government from turning a suspect over to a foreign country where the suspect might be tortured. U.S. authorities say they…
God Reducing Machine
Check it out here. Reduce your God to a manageable size! HT: 42.
Interesting Response to 5 Lies the Church Tells Women
Dave Warnock has an interesting response to 5 Lies the Church Tells Women which he titles 5 Lies the Church Tells Women: does not go far enough. Working with some principles derived from Karl Barth’s writings, he responds point by point, except to a couple of them that he says he can’t take seriously. I…
Agreement on Spying
I sometimes wonder precisely what the purpose was of electing a Democrat-led congress, considering their track record. I’ve gotten a couple of notes from the ACLU on this, and also got it from the Washington Post today. My problem here is not that [tag]surveillance[/tag] does not need to occur in some cases. Rather, my question…
John Wesley on 2 Peter 1:3-11
I wanted to post John Wesley’s notes on this passage as I’m studying it and presenting some devotional talks on it for the Running Toward the Goal podcast (first one here). I was started down the path of studying this passage by Laura Curtis’s post on Pursuing Holiness which is well worth reading. John Wesley’s…
Stupidity and Lack of Accountability in Enforcement
Because I’ve been blogging lately about how law enforcement can get out of hand and start to look very much like [tag]terrorism[/tag] itself when it is not accountable, I want to call attention to a couple of incidents in which I found at Aetiology (Mail harmless bacteria, go to jail). You can find further information…
Anthropology and Military Planning
It seems that some people in the military have noticed the fact that we don’t really understand the territories and the countries about which we so glibly pontificate. And much of the pontification is official, which makes the ignorance more egregious. In an BBC article received via e-mail, I read the following: But that is…
Any Military Connection Triggers Criticism
Sometimes I wonder if some of my liberal fellow-citizens really don’t like change, progress, innovation, and experimentation all that much. I really thought that conservatives were the ones who were supposed to look only at traditional solutions, while liberals were open to a variety of ideas. This afternoon I was doing some writing in my…