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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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Eleanor Swift on Cheney and Iraq
Some time ago I blogged on the danger of using insufficient force and of not completing the solution to a problem. The result of that procedure, used all too often in goverment and international relations, is that people suffer and die, but there is no real cause and no conclusion. Now in a column Eleanor…
Freedom of Expression is Important
Ed Brayton has a wonderful post today titled Answering Ancient Brit on Thought Crimes. I could not agree with Ed any more completely and forcefully. Europe’s response to “thought crimes” is itself extremely dangerous. I would add a note for my fellow-Christians. When you pursue religious liberty and the rights of religious expression, you need…
Francis S. Collins on Religion and Evolution
Courtesy of the Florida Citizens for Science blog, I found this article on Francis S. Collins, an evangelical Christian who sees no incompatibility between religion and science, including acceptance of evolution. The article can be found at Relgion Today (HeraldToday.com). I could add little to what Dr. Collins had to say. I came at the…
Another Shift in the Kansas School Board
It’s looking good for the teaching of evolution in Kansas public schools, as reported by MSNBC, Evolution’s foes lose ground in Kansas. The balance of power shifted from 6-4 in favor of the ID standards to 6-4 against. The general election could change things slightly, but that looks like the worst case scenario for science…
Is It About Mel Gibson?
I’m not an early responder to stories, especially when there’s still a question as to precisely what happened. But this one has gotten pretty clear, and I think there are some things that need to be said. Before I do that, however, as a starting point, you might try looking at this: Arresting deputy didnt…
How to Waste $25 Million
A $25 million creation museum is under construction in rural Kentucky, with the intention of challenging the scientific consensus view of origins. MSNBC tells us about it in a story titled High-tech museum brings creationism to life. They quote Ken Ham, of Answers in Genesis saying, If the Bible is the word of God, and…
Peter Kirk on Bible Deists
Peter Kirk has an interesting post on Bible Deists, those who believe that God spoke only through the Bible and has basically been out of touch in the intervening time. He quotes extensively from Jack Deere’s Surprised by the Voice of God. Deere makes many of these points. One of the elements I emphasize in…
Isaiah 24
I used Isaiah 24-27 over on Threads from Henry’s Web as an illustration for use of the various critical tools. In addition, current events in the middle east have predictably started a great deal of discussion of end time events, and of apocalyptic literature. As I discussed in those earlier posts, many see Isaiah 24-27…
What the Greek Really Says
There’s a moment in sermons that makes me cringe and my wife grin. She kind of enjoys seeing me squirm. What is this important moment? It’s when a pastor says, “What the Greek really says is . . .” Sometimes it’s worded a bit differently, but I believe that when you hear or read that…
Literal Belief is not the Only Belief
Newsweek currently has an interview with Tim LaHaye in which he discusses current events in the middle east and their relationship to the end times. I find myself in pretty nearly complete disagreement with LaHaye on his interpretation of Revelation, but that should be no surprise to anyone. But he emphasizes one point in his…
1 Corinthians 14
(Note: Restored post 8/28/2010. I’m not sure when part of it was lost, but presumably during a database upgrade.) 1Pursue love. Be zealous about spiritual things, but even more that you might prophesy. Greek pneumatika (pneumatika) = spiritual things. Again I suggest “spiritual things”? or “spirituality.”? A thought by thought translation would be: “Pursue love,…
Notes on 1 Corinthians 13
Chapter 13 is placed between 12 and 14 to show the better way, specifically that one doesn’t discern the presence of the Holy Spirit by the visible manifestation or by the level of power that is displayed, but by way in which those gifts are controlled by the Holy Spirit. I’ve used a red font…
Suzanne McCarthy on Complementarianism
Suzanne McCarthy has been blogging on complementarianism over on the Better Bibles Blog. I have been following her posts with interest, and I would like to commend them to my readers. The entries to date are: Modes of Communication I, Modes of Communication II, Modes of Communication III. Suzanne obviously doesn’t subscribe to the “snazzy…
Van Till a Freethinker?
With a hat tip to Dispatches from the Culture Wars, I’d like to call attention to the text of a speech given by Howard J. Van Till (The Fourth Day) to the Freethought Association of West Michigan. Van Till’s work on evolution in general and intelligent design in particular is amongst my favorite reading, and…
Notes on 1 Corinthians 12
Note: I’m using a loose phonetic transliteration of Greek terms throughout. This is just intended to give the reader some guidance as to pronunciation. For reference information on the Greek words cited, see 1 Corinthians 12-14: Greek Terms. Draft translation is from my Totally Free Bible Version project, and is just a draft. 1-3: Character…
Paying for Education: Class Size
In 2002 Florida voters approved an amendment ordering the state to reduce class size. As with so many such amendments, the state was left to look for a way to provide the teachers and pay them. The story in my home county, Escambia, and in neighboring Santa Rosa county is in today’s Pensacola News-Journal. In…
Innovative Health Care Option
For years, ever since I first heard of nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants, I have thought that our health care profession could be improved by using less expensive–but not necessarily less effective–professionals to provide primary care. Now, in an article Want Treatment With Those Pills?, Newsweek is describing just such a revolution in progress. Small,…
1 Corinthians 12-14 Greek Terms
This entry provides further comment on Greek words used in my series of posts on 1 Corinthians 12-14. I’m posting this section prior to the entries on each of the three chapters so it will be available for study with them. Note: I am limiting my discussion of these words to their application related to…
1 Corinthians 12-14
These three chapters are the most critical chapters in the Bible in reference to spiritual gifts, and they are not actually primarily intended to teach about them. We tend to read the three chapters separately, especially because 1 Corinthians 13 is such a wonderful composition by itself. Chapter 12 is often treated as an essay…
Fear and Human-Animal Hybrids
In an article titled Raising Beast People, subtitled “Science is blurring the line between humans and animals, Lee Silver has pointed to some of the aspects of science that raise our greatest fears. All of the science fiction stories of humans turning into monsters, all the stories of alien interventions, and all of our nightmares…
Complementarian Translation?
Peter Kirk has writtten that he finds a complementarian bias in the TNIV. He says: A major aim of the changes made in Today’s New International Version (TNIV) was to avoid the danger of such misunderstandings. I don’t think anyone can complain about TNIV’s rendering of 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “Anyone who is unwilling to work…
Why I Like the REB
A friend recently e-mailed with the following request: Tell me why you like the REB. First let me qualify what I mean by liking a translation. There are many factors that go into making a translation suitable for a particular purpose or person. Without knowing that context, it’s impossible to give a meaningful answer to…
Drawing the Boundaries of Translation
A frequent criticism of The Message or The Living Bible is that they are not really translations, but rather paraphrases, and thus should not be regarded as Bibles. Often “translation” is contrasted to “paraphrase” almost as though the two are antonyms. Others draw the boundaries in a much narrower way, calling translations like the Good…
Dangers of Comparing Translations
I am frequently asked to compare various translations. Generally my questioner wants me to declare one translation correct, and the other incorrect, or at least to state that one rendering is better than the other. Translators know that this is frequently difficult to do, because there is no one-to-one relationship between source language and target…