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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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Genesis 2:4-9 – God Plays in the Mud
This is again from the Daily Bible Study series. One complaint I have about the reading is that they will split up chapters and even give the verses out of order. This is not, unfortunately, according to some coherent theory about the history of the text, so far as I can tell, but seems to…
Genesis 1:1-2:4a from the Daily Study Bible
This is a day late, but the text for Sunday, the key text for the lesson, was the creation story of Genesis 1. This is a summary of what I taught, and some notes on what I didn’t. For obvious reasons, we discussed Hurricane Dorian. By Sunday morning we were pretty sure we would not…
Exodus 31:12-17 – Daily Bible Study
As I continue my posts on the Daily Bible Study readings for this week’s Sunday School lesson, I come to what may be, for many, a somewhat more troubling passage. It’s not that the passage mandates no work on the seventh day of the week, though that bothers some, but more that the penalty for…
Hebrews 11:1-3 – Daily Bible Study Text
Hebrews 11:1-3 begins thus: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (KJV). Most of the words here are at least a bit controversial. It may be easier to understand the passage if we accept that the writer is not trying to define “faith” or the Greek word “pistis,”…
Link: What Was It Like?
This is to go for the reading for the week of August 26-31, 2019 in the Daily Bible Study series. What Was It Like? This is especially related to the reading for August 29, Psalm 33:3-9.
Link: Do You Really Want to Hear God’s Voice
In connection with my notes on Psalm 33:3-9 I’m adding this link to a short story I wrote back in 2014 about someone who thinks he wants to hear God’s voice: It Got Very Quiet up in the Mountains.
Psalm 33:3-9 for the Daily Bible Study
I’m continuing with comments on the scripture passages for this week from the Daily Bible Study, which my Sunday School class uses as curriculum. This passage, like most of the passages this week, links God’s Word (whether in words or not) with creation and justice. We are to praise God because his word holds true,…
Proverbs 3:13-20 from the Daily Bible Study
Continuing my notes on the daily passages from this week’s lesson, I’m looking at Proverbs 3:13-20. I assume it’s clear to all that the subject is creation. We again find ourselves looking at God’s revelation through God’s work. I like to emphasize the importance of not just reading words from the Word of God, as…
Job 9:4-10 – A Sunday School Text Used Out of Context
I like reading the texts before I’ve read the lesson material so that I can see what I can learn from them without the direction of the lesson topic. So why do I call this text “out of context” when I haven’t even seen how it will be used by the lesson material. The reason…
Psalm 19 for Sunday School
I’m teaching Sunday School this coming week, and the class uses the Daily Bible Study from Cokesbury. The first scripture for the week is Pslam 19:1-6. The lesson focuses on creation, so it’s not surprising that only the first six verses are used. Some scholars believe that Psalm 19 is two separate compositions. These first…
When the Spirit Grabs You
… and it’s not fun! The temptation to domesticate God is strong. We say we are willing for the Spirit to use us, but are we willing to be used by the Spirit in ways we do not expect? AllanRBevere.com Be sure to read the rest.
Remembering
Each time I hear a news item that I know will involve members of our armed services being sent into danger, I am jarred just a bit. This wasn’t so early in my life. I formed many political opinions without ever thinking of the individual human cost of those actions. The fact is that if…
New Greek New Testament
I haven’t used it, but it’s getting good reviews, including for an easily read font and quality paper. I’ve put a 25% discount on it in my aer.io store. Learn More
Overspiritualized Decision Making
The question came to me after I had been talking about intercessory prayer and hearing God’s voice, but it came as a surprise. “What should I do about sharing knowledge I get from God about other people? Can I tell other people so that we can pray more specifically?” I had not been talking about…
The Danger of Making Things Tougher
I don’t spend a great deal of time talking about it, but following my MA in Biblical and cognate languages, I took one quarter in a MA in Theoretical Linguistics program. I had a full ride fellowship with a stipend, but after one quarter I resigned the fellowship and headed for more interesting places and…
Generations!
My theme text for ministry is Psalm 78:1-8, particularly verses 5 & 6 which talk about passing the message down through generations. Some see this as a simple passing on of the data of faith, but the passage is talking about relating the experience of the community with God from generation to generation. In other…
Link: Interview with Brent A Strawn
This interview is excellent, though in some ways frightening, and in all ways challenging.
Authorship of (Pauline) Epistles
Evangelical Textual Criticism has a post with the following graphic: While I imagine there might be minor variations in a survey of American scholars, I think the results would be similar. It’s always fun to see the numbers on Hebrews, since I would describe myself as uncertain (with the nine and not the 100), but…
Just a Closer Walk
I love both of these performances. Some music to get the brain cells moving along!
Signs and Guidance
Last night in our Tuesday night group we discussed signs and guidance. How does one get and follow the right guidance from God? We were reading the Matthew 2:1-12, and following my gospel parallels, I suggested a parallel reading of Luke 2:8-20, which we did. You have various signs, a report of scriptural interpretation, dreams,…
What Is the Most Frightening Verse?
Pete Enns writes about what he believes is the most frightening verse in the Bible. His post is well worth reading. His verse should be frightening. He cites 1 John 4:7-8: Loved ones, let’s love one another, for love is from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. The one…
Measuring the Wrong Thing in the Wrong Way
A few years ago I heard a story about a Methodist District Superintendent who was visiting a church in his district. The church was conducting an afternoon training event. At the height of this event, the superintendent asks the pastor of the church how many people he thought were in attendance. The pastor looked around…
Accuracy of Predictions
There’s very little checking done of the accuracy of the prediction of pundits, which is a major reason I avoid even hearing what they have to say. One exception to this rule is Nate Silver and his crew at FiveThirtyEight.com. They’ve just published an analysis of as many of their predictions as possible. It’s worth…
Discerning Manifestations: A Quick Transitional Note
In a previous post I discussed how I see the question of whether a doctrine or behavior is Christ-centered and whether it acknowledges Jesus as Lord can determine whether such action is right or wrong for the Christian. I also noted that I suspected my answer was going to be unsatisfying to many. The reason…