Quick Note on Persecution
The other day I wrote a note about Christians feeling persecuted in the United States and how I felt that devalued the term “persecution.” This morning I got an alert from Christian Today (I subscribe to the Christianity Today Connection e-mail), which gave the story of a persecuted girl in Pakistan and led, inevitably to…
Women in Ministry: A Shock
I have long been an advocate of the full involvement of women, indeed of all people in the ministry of the church. It is the essence, I believe, of gifts based ministry. If you believe that the Holy Spirit gives gifts for service, and then you deny the use of those gifts to certain members…
Put Your Bible Down for a Day
That would be a weird thing for a Bible teacher, such as myself, to say. And indeed, I didn’t say it. Dennis Stout did, over a Christianity Today/Christian Bible Studies.com. There’s some good advice in this article, so I wanted to commend it to my readers.
Arrogant Reporters
One of the interesting things about commentary on the war is that though Laura of Pursuing Holiness and I disagree almost completely on the war in Iraq, we can agree that the press has done a miserable job of reporting it. In addition, we can agree that the press tends to combine incompetence and arrogance…
Criminal Blogging
An Egyptian court has charged a blogger for criticizing his university and the government, and now have sentenced him to four years in prison. And these guys are supposed to be our moderate friends. Even I can’t stretch the definition of “moderate” far enough to cover a government that will commit such an outrage. Hat…
Automotive and Human Evolution
One of the most dangerous types of arguments is the argument from an analogy. In fact, I think that argument is rarely used to good effect. Illustration from analogy, yes, but no additional weight of argument supplied otherwise. Ed Brayton discusses another example as Bill Dembski, always the master of spin, claims that vestigial organs…
Logos Library Resource on Ancient Israelite History
I got an e-mail yesterday from a representative of Logos Bible Software alerting me to the Origins of Ancient Israelite Religion collection which is currently at the “gathering interest” phase. He mentioned that this package is in danger of not gathering enough interest. I hope those who use the Logos Bible Software and are interested…
Christian Carnival CLXII Posted
Christian Carnival CLXII has been posted at Brain Cramps for God. I think it has an extraordinarily nice layout this time.
Extremists and Ideologues Don’t Like Moderates
. . . but they need to learn to live with them. I recommend reading the Washington Post article The Woman in the Middle about Democratic congresswoman Ellen Tauscher of California. A number of left wing bloggers and other activists are apparently targetting her. They would like to replace her with a more liberal democrat….
Memories of Robots Future
I’m not adding much to this one (on the immediate future of robots), but it brought back memories. I’ve been a science fiction fan since I first laid eyes on my first Heinlein book in my brother-in-law’s house. In our home we didn’t do fiction, though I’d read some in high school literature. It was…
Isaiah 31:4-5 and Prophetic Revelation through History
Isaiah 31:4-5 has presented a rather substantial exegetical, critical, and even translation problem to a number of commentators. The difficulty can be illustrated by comparing the translation of this verse in the REB: This is what the LORD has said to me: As a lion or a young lion growls over its prey when the…
And Yet Christians Speak of Persecution
I am continually annoyed when Christians claim to be persecuted in this country. I know that we are, from time to time, inconvenienced and troubled, but it seems to me that calling ourselves persecuted simply devalues the term. I’ve lived where persecution was a reality, as in fleeing ahead of someone intent on killing you…
Here’s When the Democrats Annoy Me
It appears that Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) will get a seat on the Homeland Security Committee, according to the Washington Post. If anyone is wondering how I can vigorously oppose the war in Iraq and still consider not voting for Democrats, this is an excellent example. (I have the same problem with the Republicans and…
Bruce Metzger Dies at 93
Bruce Metzger, Bible translator, languages scholar, and one of the foremost experts on New Testament manuscripts has died of natural causes at age 93. (HT: Better Bibles Blog). The story is available here. Metzger made numerous contributions, including working on editions of the Greek New Testament, a book on the New Testament Text, and a…
Welcome One Woman’s Search for Understanding
Please welcome One Woman’s Search for Understanding to the Moderate Christian Blog Aggregator and blogroll. You can start from her most recent post Spirituality and Health on a topic close to many of us.
Akismet and Disappearing Comments
I’ve been using Akismet for months now, and I have been nothing but happy until last night, when I found that some perfectly good comments were never posted. On reviewing my last 15 days spam, I found all four of the missing comments and “de-spammed” them, but unless the user had e-mailed me, I might…
Political Battles and Teamwork
In a church I used to attend there was a gentleman, already gone on to glory by the time I arrived, but whose presence still lingered. Whenever there was an argument in the church council about how to proceed, it was certain that his memory would be invoked at some point. There were two reasons…
Kenny Pearce on Bible Translations
[Gleaned from the Christian Carnival CLXI, which you should go check out.] Kenny Pearce has written an excellent post on Bible translations. I say “excellent” based on the obvious standard that he agrees with much of what I say! 🙂 He talks about a spectrum of translations using what he calls “a degree of literalness.”…
Hebrew Teacher Dismissed Because She’s a Woman
This is incredible. The post on the Christians for Biblical Equality blog is dated January 25, but I just came across it today. My own advisor at the MA level was a woman, Leona Glidden Running, who was both a godly woman and a wonderful teacher. It’s incredible to me that this sort of travesty…
And then there was Herman Cummings . . .
I encountered a comment by Herman Cummings on the Florida Citizens for Science Blog. I’m sorry, well, no I’m not, but I just really couldn’t resist. Here’s a guy who claims to be the foremost expert on Genesis. I kid you not. I quote from his web site: I am the foremost terrestrial authority on…
1 Corinthians Audio Series
I’m posting my 1 Corinthians audio series on the Pacesetters Bible School Newsletter blog, with the first entry here. You can follow this series either through the “1 Corinthians” keyword or the “Bible Pacesetter Podcast” keyword. The latter is mildly misleading because this podcast is not registered with iTunes, and appears only on the Pacesetters…
Are Anti-Abortion and Pro-Choice Compatible?
John at Locusts and Honey responds to SimplyComplexJen on this topic. John’s basic argument is that an abortion involves taking a human life without that person’s consent, i.e., the consent of the unborn child, and thus one cannot oppose abortion personally and yet support permitting it legally. Frankly, I think John has left out most…
Interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson
MSNBC has an excellent interview with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. It comes in five sections on the web site, but let me just quote one little thing to whet your appetite: Q: It’s always more newsworthy if a scientist is puzzled by something. A: But we’re always puzzled by something. And that fact is never…
Jesus the Logician Project
Joe Carter at evangelical outpost is trying to relaunch his Jesus the Logician project. I think it’s an interesting idea, and an index that I would like to see, though writing this type of material would not be my cup of tea. Thus I will simply put in this plug for those who might participate,…