Energy: Walking and Talking
In an article titled Renewable Energy: Blowing in the Wind, Newsweek reports that a number of companies, including Aspen Ski Company in Colorado, are buying wind energy, in effect, putting their money where their mouth is. I’m not commenting on this story to talk about energy, though I’m very interested in that topic, as I…
Grace and Choices
“Grace gives us choices,” says Pastor Tom Sims in a blog entry entitled Paradoxical People. Good point. Tom is talking particularly about our ability to be ourselves. I like to call the alternative “putting on your faith face.” I see it primarily in churches. You can’t possibly go to church, after all, without making sure…
Some Creation-Evolution Reading
I have been writing for a number of entries about Christian views on origins. Since in some of these entries I was describing someone else’s view, I thought it would be a good idea to call attention to some good reading from advocates of each of the views. For more detail see Energion.com Classified Directory…
Negative Perceptions of Islam Increasing
In an article that should be no surprise to anyone, MSNBC lets us know that Negative Perceptions of Islam Increasing, something I’m sure none of us would have guessed had there not be pollsters to tell us. As an aside, you can check out their daily poll, a true example of the stupidity of online…
Determining Date and Authorship
This is a continuation of my series on Biblical criticism that started with my post Overview of Biblical Criticism – I. You might think I would now continue with Overview II, but I’m not nearly that consistent. My next post will continue that line, but first I want to look at some caveats, and a…
Escambia Count Option Tax Extended
As reported today in the Pensacola News Journal, the 1 cent option sales tax for our county has been extended. (I apologize to those of my readers who don’t live in Escambia County. You may find, however, that you have a similar situation with your local government.) My big interest in this story is not…
The Kingdom of God is a Monarchy
Brian McLaren, author of The Secret Message of Jesus and co-author of Adventures in Missing the Point with Tony Campolo, among many other books, has an article currently on the Sojourner web site entitled Found in Translation. I want to thank Shane Raynor of Wesley Blog for calling my attention to this article with his…
The Five Minute Solution
It’s nice to know that the desire for the “five minute solution” is not restricted to my own field of Biblical studies. Many people have asked me over the years for a way to become really knowledgeable of the Bible with only a short devotional study, and I have to tell them that while one…
Iraq:What Now for Mixed Shia – Sunni Families – MSNBC.com
In an article subtitled Love in a Time of Madness Newsweek (via MSNBC.com) calls our attention to the human side of the conflict in Iraq. It’s easy to become tied up with strategic goals such as how we prevent terrorism, how we can get out of Iraq and still at least feel that we accomplished…
Characteristics of a Living Church
43Now awe came upon every person, because many miracles and signs were accomplished through the ministry of the apostles. 44All the believers were in unity and had there possessions in common. 45They sold their possessions and assets and divided among all those who needed them. 46Every day they went faithfully to the temple, they broke…
Creation, Evolution, and Genesis 1-11
Now that I’ve given admittedly brief summaries of the major views on origins held by Christians, I’d like to summarize all these views and how those who hold them understand the first 11 chapters of Genesis, element by element. But first, just in case you’re just joining this topic, let me link to the prior…
The Bible and Theistic Evolution
Previously I’ve discussed young earth creationism, old earth creationism, and ruin and restoration creationism. That brings us to theistic evolution, or I could say theistic evolutionary creationism. Though theistic evolutionists may have varying beliefs regard to the nature of God, in general, they see God as the source of all existence in one way or…
Pacesetters Bible School Newsletter
As many of you know, besides my work in writing and publishing, I’m president of Pacesetters Bible School, Inc., an organization dedicated to religious education, and particularly in bringing sound Biblical scholarship to local churches. Pacesetters is a totally volunteer organization (I’m not compensated as president), and is a non-profit. I’ve been pretty lax about…
In a very interesting article, Newsweek discusses the European reaction to Muslim violence over the cartoon issue (see Cartoons: The End of Europes Tolerance? – Newsweek: International Editions – MSNBC.com). This story brought to mind a question I am frequently asked: If you believe in tolerance, why don’t you tolerate the intolerant? Shouldn’t you have…
Ruin and Restoration Creationism
In two previous entries I’ve discussed young earth creationism and old earth creationism. Continuing with this series on how various groups of Christians understand origins, I will now discuss the ruin and restoration theory. I have previously mentioned this theory in the pmaphlet God the Creator and in my review of the book The Invisible…
My Wife and the Spirit of Women
On February 21 I was priveleged to attend the Spirit of Women awards sponsored by the Sacred Heart Health System. My wife, Jody Neufeld, was one of the nominees, 113 women who were nominated for their service to the community. Only three of those could be recognized with awards, but I was impressed that the…
Rev. Creech Rebukes Clergy Letter Signers
Agape press (associated with the American Family Association) has now attacked the , which produce the Clergy Letter signed by more than 10,000 clergy. Starting with their news story Pro-Evolution Clergy Sign Letter Affirming Faith in Darwin’s Theory, in which the headline is inaccurate, and continuing with an opinion piece by Rev. Mark Leech entitled…
Translations: Getting Back to Results
Wayne Leman, on the Better Bibles blog, has posted a note about Ben Witherington’s apology for his remarks about the ESV (Ben Witherington apologizes for ESV comments). I’ve been pretty busy the latter half of this week, so I missed part of the action and had to review it through several blogs. I admire someone…
ESV Controversy and Women
Ben Witherington seems to have started quite a stir yesterday with his post about the ESV entitled The Problem with the ESV. I like Ben Witherington’s work quite a lot, and respect him, but most of this post has to do with who translated the ESV and why, rather than with the quality of the…
More on Communicating Science
Carl Zimmer has more on The Loom about communication and evolution, with an interview with Randy Olson, director of the movie A Flock of Dodos. I believe he has some good suggestions about communication, but I also believe we are still missing the largest issue. I don’t think that a nation that is addicted to…
What is Really News?
As seems so often the case, the news on the shooting accident in which Vice-President Cheney accidentally shot a friend while hunting has become a story about the story. We’re now spending our time talking about how the news was collected, and whether reporters should pursue information vigorously. On The Daily Nightly – MSNBC.com blog,…
The Bible and Old Earth
Old earth creationists differ from young earth creationists primarily on the age of the earth. There is good reason for this. The evidence that the earth is more than 6,000 years old is overwhelming. While there may be debates on speciation and on many details of biological evolution, lines of evidence from many different branches…
Who Needs to Change?
Carl Zimmer, on The Loom, writes about A Flock of Dodos, and comments on scientists who are portrayed in the movie as “inarticulate and high-handed.” Zimmer expands on this topic in a very balanced way, I think, but I question what is expected of scientists in terms of public relations. I know well from my…
Good Posts on Translation
I want to call attention to a couple of excellent posts on Bible translation. The first is an analysis of Hebrews 1:7 by Iver Larsen, a translation consultant, posted by Wayne Leman on the Better Bibles Blog. This translation also leaves open the question of whether a translation of the Old Testament in the New…