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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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Paul’s Gospel vs. Another Gospel III
This is the unintentional third part of my discussion of this topic. Last week I talked a bit more about the initial statement of the gospel in Galatians and then began looking at how Paul talked about the gospel elsewhere, first in 2 Corinthians 5 and the ministry of reconciliation. I’ll be moving from there…
Sunday School: Thinking about Sacrifices
I’m preparing to teach tomorrow, and the main text is Hebrews 4:14-5:10. The quarterly is kind enough to stop just before the author tells his readers/hearers that the topic is difficult and they’re not very bright! Nonetheless, the idea of priesthood brings up the idea of “sacrifice” and “sacrifices,” and these are two concepts that…
Paul’s Gospel or Another Gospel, Part 2
This is the unintended second part of last week’s discussion, since I didn’t even come close to completing the material. We’ll be launching from Galatians 5:6-9, but I had already discussed the content of those verses. Now we’ll be looking through Paul’s letters, including those attributed to him, but disputed by scholars, looking for the…
Faith Made Active through Love
What groups of people do you think it’s alright to look down on? Because in Christ neither circumcision or uncircumcision matters any more, but instead faith made active through love. – Galatians 5:6 Which, in turn, reminds me of: Thus faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. – James 2:17 It is…
Underlying Principles for Christian Education and Discipleship
… and with that pretentious title. Actually, last night I talked on the Energion Tuesday Night Hangout (I’ll embed the video at the end as well) about Christian education and how one might go about choosing curriculum. My sister, Betty Rae, asked me a question via e-mail this morning, and I thought it was so…
In Which I Agree with Jim West. Vigorously.
Here. Read this! Hard to choose a line to quote, but … Conformed people can achieve nothing. Â Transformed people can be the instruments of God and hence the instruments of change. Go read the rest. Unlike me, Jim is quite succinct.
Reading Stories: Jonah, Ruth, and Esther
I just posted my interview with Bruce Epperly about his new book Jonah: When God Changes on the Energion Discussion Network. I’m going to embed it here as well. I want to call attention to it along with Bruce’s next most recent (!) book Ruth & Esther: Women of Agency and Adventure. Sometimes we get…
We Need to Quit Blaming the Media, Politicians, or the Infernal Them
I call this group of (people | entities | circumstances) the infernal “they” or “them.” They are the people who cause all the problems. They have no moral compass. They are disruptive. They lie. They are apostates, perverts, stupid, deplorable, weak, losers, socialists, libertines (sometimes intended to include libertarians!). Disgusting, all of them. They are…
Remembering Dad – 10 Years Later
Ten years ago my father passed away. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was asked to provide the eulogy. I rarely use a prepared text when preaching but in this case I thought that my emotions might interfere so I did. I wanted to post it today in honor of dad 10 years after his homegoing,…
Perspectives on Paul: Paul’s Gospel or Another Gospel
I don’t expect to finish this topic, but I’ll make a stab at getting started. I have added my interview with Dr. Herold Weiss to the resource page. Here’s the viewer embed for tonight: And here’s my interview with Dr. Herold Weiss:
Resources for Progressive Preaching: Pastor2Pew
One of the least accurate characterizations I hear about progressive Christians is that they don’t care about the Bible. Now it’s hard to get a single image of the average or perfect progressive Christian, so generalizations are hard to make, but let me note that the generalization that progressive Christians in general disrespect the Bible,…
Perspectives on Paul: Another Gospel
Well, I’ll be starting from the word “church” and going forward to “gospel.” With only a half hour, I’m not sure how far we’ll get. Scripture is still Galatians 1:1-10, and you can add the first chapter of Herold Weiss’s book Meditations on the Letters of Paul, “My Gospel.” I’ll start at 7:00 pm central…
The Sunday School Squeeze II
I had chosen to lead into Isaiah 61 by starting with Luke 4:16ff, but I only got to the end of 4:16, “stood up to read.” I don’t work well with these schedules.
The Sunday School Squeeze
This morning I have: Isaiah 61 as my scripture 45 minutes of teaching time Something’s gotta give!
The Flawed Way People Read Polls
Here’s your illustration. Liberals loved Nate Silver because he calculated that Barack Obama would win the presidency, among other things. Conservatives didn’t like him so much. Now conservatives are pointing to the poor odds, though 60-40 is a ratio many politicians would covet. I love Nate Silver not because of who he supports but because…
Canada for President
As a dual citizen, I had to appreciate this: Here are the favorable/unfavorable ratings in the new national NBC/WSJ poll pic.twitter.com/DuYoxV5rbi — Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) September 21, 2016 via FiveThirtyEight.com. Note: I read their Significant Digits every day. Great site.
Perspectives on Paul: Introducing Paul, an Apostle
I’ve been having an interesting time preparing for my study tonight, and I’m feeling the boundaries of a 1/2 hour study. Most people will probably be glad. In order to make this work, however, you’ll need to read the material suggested. In this case, the “Introduction” from Meditations on the Letters of Paul by Herold…
No, Dr. Who, You Can’t Do That!
So says (or at least that’s what I derive from) the work of Dr. Richard Muller. Enjoy!
Seven Marks of a New Testament Church – Sacrificial Living
… salvation of necessity leads to service. (Seven Marks of a New Testament Church, p. 43) This is the final post of my series on this book, and I’d like to make an observation about the entire enterprise. I’ve become increasingly convinced of two things during this study. First, there is no single form of…
Two Books in New eBook Channels
I don’t write that much about my day to day life on this blog, but here’s a snippet and a bit of good information combined with advertising. Energion Publications keeps me busy, and it’s growing. It never grows as fast as I’d like to do, but even so I have to balance finances and time,…
Translating Metaphors and the NLT of Isaiah 43:2
I am very slow to criticize translations in broad terms. Every time I point out what I consider to be a problematic rendering in some Bible translation, someone will ask me if they should discard that version in exchange for a more accurate one. Any translation will contain renderings that can be questioned. In many…
Self-Demonstrating Statements
Well, only if you blog them. Yesterday I wrote about checking the truth of what we post on social media, (though I was more interested in us checking the truth of what we share about one another personally), and today I note that a post by Ed Brayton (Dispatches from the Culture Wars), written by…
Called to Wealth, Safety, and Comfort
I first heard the story of the Rich Young Ruler (Matthew 19:16-22) when I was a child, and it wasn’t long before I heard the excuses. The excuses did not come from my parents, I should note, as they lived pretty close to the final command: Go, sell, give. I have a few sayings about…
Of Politics, Cats, Context, and Church
The other day I was browsing through my Facebook feed, which I do only occasionally, and becoming more and more annoyed at the politics posts. It’s not that I don’t care about politics; I do. It’s that I don’t like very much of what anyone says about politics on social media. As I browsed, I…