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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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Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar
Peter Kirk has a post at the Better Bibles blog discussing what type of language the Bible should be translated into. (Note that I decline to respond to prescriptive grammarians by continuing to use a preposition to end my sentence with.) Peter says: It seems to me that the only people who have the right…
Hebrews 2:10-18: Like His Brothers and Sisters
While chapter 2 is not the core or torso of the argument of the book of Hebrews, it is at least one of the legs on which it stands. To prepare yourself to look at these last few verses, re-read the entire chapter, and then consider looking again at my posts: Jesus as Human and…
Christian Carnival CXXXVIII Posted
My Participatory Bible Study blog is represented in this week’s Christian Carnival CXXXVIII: The Kingdom Beacon Herald. I’ve intended to submit something for some time, and though it’s not hard, I’ve just never gotten around to selecting a good entry. It looks like a fun set of entries, including not only mine, but also this…
Christian Carnival CXXXVIII: The Kingdom Beacon Herald
The Christian Carnival CXXXVIII has been posted and for the first time I’ve submitted an entry from this blog. Go! Read! Enjoy!
Conscience of a Christian Publisher
A friend tipped me off by e-mail to a post, and I think it is appropriate to respond. The poster, Centurion, expresses his concern about Christian booksellers and publishers, and their choices in terms of what to offer their customers, especially considering that many of them regard their business as a ministry as well. I’m…
Religion and Terror, Cause and Effect
In an article titled The New Naysayers, Newsweek discusses some new books by atheist authors who blame many of the world’s ills on religion. It’s an interesting article, though not much of this material is particularly new. It seems to me that a good deal of writing about history or about the general state of…
From Saint to Sinner
Lingamish comments today on sinners becoming saints and touches on the possibility of saints becoming sinners. It’s high drama for a sinner to become a saint (Read St. Augustine’s Confessions) but higher still is the tale of a saint who becomes a sinner. A fictional example from Spanish literature is San Manuel Bueno Martir by…
Squaring the Wesleyan Quadrilateral
One of the things that originally attracted me to the United Methodist Church was the quadrilateral, in the form in which it is presented in the discipline. Since becoming a member I have found out that most members of United Methodist congregations have no idea what this is, that some members use the quadrilateral to…
Consider Christianity – part 3
This is the third of my set of comments on Elgin Hushbeck’s “Consider Christianity” series. In the previous two messages I introduced my approach and dealt with Chapter 1. I now move on to Chapter 2. Chapter 2 is called “The Bible and Modern Criticism”. Now, Elgin doesn’t like modern criticism very much. To quote…
Hebrews 2:5-9: Lower than the Angels
I’m finally getting back to my series on Hebrews. I apologize for the delay. I will also be posting new entries soon in the series on Isaiah 24-27 and Genesis, where we will be going to chapter 6. In the meantime . . . I’m taking a very short piece of a passage for this…
Translation and Knowing God
Paul at Grace rant . . . what? says he has gotten back to reading his Greek New Testament. I congratulate him on this spiritual discipline, and I do believe studying the Bible in its original languages can be a spiritual discipline, but I do think some of his additional thoughts deserve some reconsideration. He…
Red-Letter Christians
Matt Friedman has a column on Agape Press, and links to it from his blog. In it, he complains of Christians, in his words members of “the Evangelical left” who call themselves red-letter Christians. The name is derived from the practice of some Bible editions that put the words of Jesus in red. To Friedman,…
Lying by Format
In yesterday’s mail I got a political ad. With Florida’s primary just a few days away, that’s not unusual, but this one was particularly interesting. On the front it reads “Republican Voter Guide” with the admonition under it “Vote September 5th.” Now a reasonable person might conclude that one is going to find a guide…
Faith, Medicine, and Choice
MSNBC.com has an interesting article today on medical practices and faith. The general title belies the content which is almost exclusively about clinics that do not offer birth control, sterilizations, in-vitro fertilization, or abortions. According to the article there is a growing trend. The article notes: The number of “NFP-only” practices is unknown, but an…
Worship that Builds
Peter Kirk has a post on one of my favorite topics, order in worship, titled God is not a God of disorder but of peace. I want to call attention to a couple of points in his post. First, on the context of the passage from which his title was taken, he says: It seems…
Design, Direction, and Evolution
Over on The Panda’s Thumb a number of writers are reviewing the new book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design. I haven’t read the book. I should, but I probably won’t get to it for two or three months. In the meantime, you can always read the book itself and the Panda’s…
Goals in Bible Study
Very frequently in life, once you find out the right question to ask, the answer becomes obvious. You can waste a great deal of your time trying to find the answer to the wrong question. In Bible study, this is even more true. The question(s) you take into your study will frequently determine the answers…
Christian Carnival #137
Christian Carnival #137 has been posted at Brain Cramps for God. Though I’ve never submitted anything to this carnival I started following it a few weeks ago and it’s an excellent place to track what’s going on in the Christian blogosphere. Have fun!
More on Walmart
I’ve written a few posts that reference Walmart (here, here, and here) and the various accusations and calls for boycotts that have come out about it. This is one area where my free market bias comes into play. I think that low prices are a good thing, and I don’t believe that Walmart wages and…
Moderate Thinking
Since starting the Moderate Christian Blog Aggregator, I’ve gotten a few comments on what it means to be moderate. One very reasonable question is how I can combine the words “moderate” and “passionate,” as in “passionate moderate.” It seems like a contradiction in terms. And I do do intend the two words to convey a…
Reacting to a Gay Candidate
One of the many things that annoys me about sports broadcasters is their tendency to create a trend out of every slight turn of the game. My stepson is a professional pitcher, and if he throws a strike the announcer is sure to start talking about the strong performance and how if he just keeps…
Religious Freedom and the Schools
The Christian Alliance for Progress has been reporting a particularly egregious case of religious intolerance in the school system. There is now a petition drive, and you can get involved here. To be honest, I’m not terribly optimistic about the value of this type of petition campaign, but I would imagine it can’t hurt.
Jesus is God and the Bible Is Not
This is one that seems fairly obvious to me for anyone who partakes of orthodox Christian theology. If you believe that Jesus was God incarnate, God in the flesh, the Word become flesh, then Jesus must be the center of Christian faith and Christian theology. If you believe that Jesus was merely a prophet or…
Comic Sues Jews for Jesus
Today CNN.com reports (an AP story) that Jackie Mason is suing Jews for Jesus over the use of his image and name in one of their pamphlets. (See the Jews for Jesus press release in response here.) I haven’t seen the pamphlet itself, but this action seems over the line to me. The only thing…