Politicians Working Together
Do we really want our politicians to work together? I caught a few minutes of an interview with former Senator Danforth of Missouri, who commented that “the people” want their government to work, they don’t think it is working, and that they would like their politicians to work together. Now I like Senator Danforth, which…
Prayers for Bible Study
One of the key elements of participatory Bible study that I advocate is prayer with Bible study. Brian at RealMinistries.org has posted a number of prayers for Bible study from church fathers. I recommend reading this post.
Polar Moon Camp
NASA has announced plans for a polar moon camp which would be a start to full time living on the moon. I got this story a number of different ways, but I want to provide a special hat tip to The Evangelical Ecologist, who has commented on the potential value of this plan and technology…
The Problem with the Drug War
This story about Afghanistan and the opium harvest, which has reached a record high this year reminded me of one of the problems with reporting the drug war. We tend to report on the huge amounts of drugs that are stopped. What we don’t comment on so much is how many drugs are getting through….
Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup #94
It has been posted aby Allan R. Bevere. Check it out!
Reflecting on the Flood
In a previous post I commented on the two flood stories, so instead of covering each and every point of the flood story again here, I’d like to reflect just a bit on the story of the flood. I’ll resume my verse by verse commentary toward the end of Genesis 8. The flood story is…
The Danger of Unchanging Truth
Recently, I’ve written a bit about the difference between science and theology. One of the key differences is that science expects to change, whereas if theology is not assuming it is founded on bedrock, it is usually looking for some bedrock. Religious people often criticize science on the basis that it changes too often. Its…
Ignorance and Opinion Polls
Well, I’ve written about a couple of posts by Joe Carter over on the evangelical outpost when I disagreed with him, so I ought to write once in a while when I agree! This morning he posted a truly wonderful write-up on opinion polls. It has been said that “figures lie and liars figure,” but…
Objecting to Obama
It appears that some evangelicals don’t like the idea of Barack Obama speaking at a church. He’s been invited by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church to speak at a conference on AIDS. The reason? He supports abortion rights. (See the story on MSNBC.com.) I wanted to call attention to this on two levels. First is…
The Camp and the Cloud
Yesterday and today I wrote devotionals for my wife’s devotional list that drew lessons from the movement of the cloud and fire over the tabernacle in the wilderness. These devotionals are not truly exegetical exercises, but rather draw on the approach I call “listening to the conversation.” The command here is clearly directed to Israel…
Interpreting Away what is Clearly Taught
In this week’s Christian Blog Carnival #CL, now posted at Brain Cramps for God, I found an excellent post from Amanda on Imago Dei titled The Limits to God’s Grace This goes back to an article by Bart Campolo on which I commented about a week ago in my post Conceptual Idolatry. Amanda has written…
Christian Carnival CL
Christian Carnival CL has been posted at Brain Cramps for God. It’s well organized and there is some good stuff there as always. I’ve already commented on one good post over at Threads from Henry’s Web. Go, read, enjoy!
Measuring the Speed of a Meme
Acephalous wants to measure the speed of a meme so he can report it at the MLA meeting. Now Well, I’m supposed to explain what’s going on here, and persuade all my readers to also link to the post, even going so far as to invent sob stories. Acephalous will be measuring links to his…
Isaiah 26: Praise and Lament in Trouble
Update: I forgot to tag the places the New Testament quotes (none in this case) or alludes to this passage. In my series on Biblical criticism I discussed the division of Isaiah 24-27 into various segments and discussing their form. In that article I suggested taking Isaiah 26 as a unity even though it would…
Gail Riplinger and Isaiah 26:3
This is in the “I just couldn’t resist” category. Stating that Gail Riplinger’s “New Age Bible Versions” is poorly researched is to cast aspersions on shoddy research everywhere. Today as I was preparing a post on Isaiah 26 for this blog (which will be in the next entry), I recalled her use of Isaiah 26:3,…
We Killed Less People than They Did
I am often annoyed by the things that the Traditional Values Coalition does. When they call for a boycott of Walmart I don’t expect much damage to be done except to the general reputation of Christians. But today I got an alert e-mail from them that strikes me as celebrating Christmas by stirring up hatred….
New Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup
Allan Bevere has posted the first edition of his new Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup, numbered #93 in succession from Locusts and Honey. Check it out!
How God Impacts Science
There’s been a bit of a dust-up around the blogosphere about this over the last few days to a large extent amongst people involved in science professionally in one way or another. Since I’m not responding directly, I will only note that I read of this debate through Dispatches from the Culture Wars, and you…
Bad Teaching and Abuse
Al Johnson has posted a story about an abused wife on Recovery Poetry blog. Before I comment on this particular story, I want to note that a site like Johnson’s blog can be an important tool for people who are suffering abuse, no matter what the cause or the background. In working in ministry in…
Christian Carnival CXLIX
Christian Carnival CXLIX has been posted at Touring with Virgil. As always, there are some interesting posts, this time including one of mine from Threads rather than from the Participatory Bible Study blog. Again I have good intentions about commenting on a few posts, but I rarely get beyond one or two a week.
The Spiritual Importance of Separation of Church and State
When I’m challenged on historical facts about the separation of church and state, I usually simply tell people that if separation of church and state was not part of our constitutional law (and I believe it is), I would still support it. At least as strong as my political reasons for supporting the separation are…
Making Miracles Possible
Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars in which Ed Brayton responds to some of the scientific claims, I found this post. Now I’m not particularly interested in the specific scientific claim, and whether it makes the virgin birth more “possible” somehow. What interests me here is the tendency to try to find natural explanations for…
Christian Carnival CXLIX
Christian Carnival CXLIX has been posted at Touring with Virgil. As always, there are some interesting posts, this time including one of mine from Threads rather than from the Participatory Bible Study blog. Again I have good intentions about commenting on a few posts, but I rarely get beyond one or two a week.
Lingamish on “Seed-Pickers”
Lingamish has a post on a preaching peeve of his–seed pickers. You’ll have to go to his post to see all the details, but he defines a seed-picker as: A seed-picker is a preacher who grabs verses from all over the Bible and slaps them together in a puking pastiche of public preaching. A seed-picking…