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Worthless – Lamentations 1:15
When life’s challenges march against you rank on rank, pretending everything is fine won’t save you. Whether you’re facing spiritual warfare or just the exhaustion of daily life, where do you turn when panic sets in? Discover the power of trading denial for true, unshakable peace.
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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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Of Miss New Jersey and Stupidity
No, not Miss New Jersey’s stupidity, the stupidity of anyone who thinks it should be news that a young lady, especially one involved in the performing arts, might horse around. Those pictures are supposed to be some kind of scandal? I don’t follow beauty pageants, but I was bothered by this, and then what do…
Good Source on Nabu-sharussu-ukin
My Akkadian is pretty seriously rusty, one might even say rusted out, so I was thinking of looking for good info on that new tablet discovery probably related to Jeremiah 39:3. But Chris Heard of Higgaion saved me all kinds of time by writing an excellent article, with links to a number of other good…
Christian Politicians aren’t Perfect, Just Forgive Them
Update: Please read through to the comments. Both Jeremy Pierce and Joe Carter believe I have misread them, though Joe graciously took responsibility for lack of clarity. If I am now reading him correctly, I agree with his points as made in that comment. One day back when I was a junior NCO in the…
Hindu Prayer in the Senate
My own preference would be that any prayers in congress be privately, not officially conducted. That is due on the one hand to my conviction that we should be a pluralistic, secular society, and on the other to my doubt that politically stage managed prayers are of any value. But given that prayers are offered…
Valuable Evidence Found in Debate on Hebrew Scriptures
A tiny tablet has been found most likely confirming the name of one character in the Biblical book of Jeremiah. It is unfortunate that the Telegraph headlines it as Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament, though the text of their article is more accurate. Biblical archeologists generally do not go out attempting to prove…
Sola Scriptura (Link and Comment)
I am running late today, and may not get much of what I intended to post completed, but in the meantime, Mark Olson has a post on sola scriptura over at Pseudo-Polymath which is quite interesting. He has already been taken to task (only with the utmost courtesy, of course) by a commenter that the…
Christian Carnival CLXXX
. . . is posted at Everyday Liturgy. Check it out! There’s even a post on nudity–well, sort of.
St. John Chrysostom Quote
I’m reading the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, Volume X, Hebrews, and I found this interesting quote from St. John Chrysostom: St. John Chrysostom We ought to receive all things with faith and reverence, and, when our discourse fails through weakness and is not able to set forth accurately the things that are…
How NOT to Express Your Views
I suppose it was inevitable, with all of the hype about the terrible evils supposedly caused by a belief in evolution, but it looks like some crackpots decided to express their views with threats. From the Denver Post: The first threat was e-mailed to the labs – part of CU’s ecology and evolutionary biology department…
Churches other than Roman Catholic are not True Churches
I always knew I was a heretic: Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches. (From MSNBC.com) Well, actually, I never regarded the Catholic church and the pope as having…
Impeachment and Political Strategy
I have long argued against the war in Iraq on strategic grounds. I don’t object to war when war is absolutely necessary, but I believe that when war is waged for the wrong reasons, conducted improperly, or for unattainable goals, however good those goals sound, that war is a tragedy and is immoral. Killing is…
Notes on Mark 11:12-14
Translation and Notes 12The next day, as he was coming from Bethany, he was hungry. 13And when he saw a fig tree from far away that had leaves he thought he might find something on it, but when he got there he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. Mar…
Congratulations David Warnock
. . . who is now ordained and received into full connexion by the Methodist Church of Great Britain. I very much enjoy David’s blog, and truly could link to it much more frequently than I do. He will be a great asset to the Methodist church and to the church universal. Rejoice with and…
Guard Your Mind
20My child, pay attention to my words, Listen closely to my sayings. 21Don’t let them escape from your sight, Guard them deep in your mind. 22For those who find them find life, They bring healing to the whole person. 23Above everything guard your mind*, Because from it flows your life. 24Turn your mouth away from…
Communism and Bible Translation
Bible translators and those who discuss that work know quite well that translation produces controversy, sometimes quite virulent controversy. One of the great watersheds in American church history was the publication of the RSV and the fight that followed. Though many of these issues are still quite alive today, the battle lines have largely shifted…
A Visit to the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery
Kevin at Everyday Liturgy is beginning some reflections on his visit to St. Gregory Palama monastery. This caught my attention, since my recent discussions of the atonement led to some discussion of the Eastern Orthodox view of the atonement, and thence to some articles on St. Gregory Palamas, and I now have a plan to…
Update on Muslim-Christian Episcopal Priest
Thanks to Hot Air with hat tip to Pursuing Holiness, I found an update on the episcopal priest who wants to be a practicing Muslim at the same time she is an Episcopal priest. I blogged on this previously, noting at the time that I was a big tent person, but that too large a…
Reacting to Biblical Criticism
How does Biblical criticism relate to faith? How does one relate this to the work of the Jesus Seminar, for instance? Scot McKnight has an excellent answer in his post A Letter to a Question-full Christian (HT: Pseudo-Polymath). McKnight doesn’t deny the differences in the gospel texts (the main issue at hand), but he also…
Good Judgment and Iraq War Flip-Flops
I’m watching the list of GOP legislators who are breaking with President Bush on the war in Iraq with mixed emotions. On the one hand it’s nice to see people realizing that we are trying to force our military to accomplish the impossible. On the other hand, I have to ask why they are doing…
The Wrong Way to Repair the Election Process
Over the last couple of decades we have had two major movements designed to make our election process more responsive to the public and to try to make the American people less cynical. The first is campaign finance reform, and the second is term limits. It’s interesting that in both cases we propose to make…
Feline Seal of Approval
Who could doubt the words of the Bishop of Durham now? (HT: Pseudo-Polymath.)
Boundaries of Science and a Shocking Lack of Curiosity
I know, long title, but I’m having fun. One of the things I have noticed about intelligent design (ID) is its shocking lack of curiosity about the designer. One can guess that they’re either afraid of what they will find (God) or what they won’t find (God). Take your pick. ID proponents regularly claim that…
Fighting the Devil or Suppressing the Mind
Today I went on a sort of odyssey through a couple of theologically conservative blogs. My journey started at Adrian Warnock’s blog, where he has another quote from somebody supporting penal substitutionary atonement (PSA): While not denying the wide-ranging character of Christs atonement, I am arguing that penal substitution is foundational and the heart of…
Notes on Mark 11:1-11
These notes are provided to support and expand on my podcast Triumphantly Toward Death. Translation and Notes At a time when Jesus appears most like what the crowd expects he is actually heading into that portion of his ministry in which he will disappoint those same crowds the most. One of the key contrasts of…