Featured Posts
-
Sorrow Like My Sorrow – Lamentations 1:12
Can we really understand the suffering of another person or they ours?
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
Social Notes (see all)
All Posts
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…
What Have They Seen in Your House?
Yesterday the Scripture for my Sunday School class was Isaiah 40:21-31. The daily readings in the student guide included the first 20 verses of the chapter as well. Those acquainted with critical scholarship on the book of Isaiah recognize this as the opening of 2nd Isaiah, chapters 40-55. At first I was going to avoid…
Introduction to Perspectives on Paul
Tonight I begin my new series of Thursday night studies on the apostle Paul. My approach will be a bit different than usual. I’m more interested in developing the background, particularly in Israelite religion and Judaism and looking at the way Paul draws from his theological sources. I’ll also introduce my approach to the subject….
The Separation and Grief of God
Last night my wife Jody and I recorded a conversation about grief for the Energion Publications Tuesday Night Hangout. Those who are calendar-aware, so to speak, might notice that it was on a Wednesday night. We had a technical issue, so the conversation was delayed. It was an interesting conversation, and, if I do say…
Hangout Postponed
The Tuesday Night Hangout will become a Wednesday Night Hangout because of a technical glitch. We’ll do this tomorrow night at 7:00 PM central time.
Energion Tuesday Night Hangout
Tonight I’ll be talking with my wife Jody, author of Grief: Finding the Candle of Light, in a hangout titled “Grief 12 Years Later.” We will talk about our experience 12 years after our son James went on to be with Jesus. Many Christians struggle over the experience of grief. We hope we can help…
Why I Believe in Dialogue, Respect, and the Gospel Commission
I’ve recently said and written a few things about the gospel commission, including my claim in my concluding presentation for my video series on eschatology that eschatology is all about the gospel commission. You’ll hear more about this in my foreword to Dave Black’s new book Running My Race. It’s in the final stages of…
On Using Titles in Church
Titles for people, that is. Thomas Hudgins makes some important points on this issue in a post on the Energion Discussion Network. I tend not to be radical (well at least I think so), but on this it seems like Jesus was pushing us pretty strongly away from hierarchies and spiritual authority. There’s a great—and quite…
Nobody Ever Thinks They Are Creating a New Denomination
Christopher Ritter is complaining, though only in the nicest, most creative way, about critics of the new Wesleyan Covenant Association. It’s interesting how efforts to reform often end up creating new denominations, even when the leaders don’t intend to do so. Just look at the example provided by Ritter in his post. I commend Ritter…
Eschatology: Finally and Final Tonight
No, it’s not the end of the world. It’s the end of my series. I went into my hiatus in presenting these studies one episode short of completing the series, so tonight I’ll be wrapping up the eschatology series and preparing for my next series which will be looking at Paul’s letters and their background,…
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible
A little over a week ago I reviewed the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible using the Olive Tree electronic edition. On Tuesday I received my hardcover copy from the publisher. (Note: I received this copy free of charge in exchange for an honest review. No other strings were attached!) This is not an extraordinarily new…
What It Takes to Get Bi-Partisan Action from Congress
Ticket scalping. Civilization will surely fall if they don’t get together on this one!
An Election for the 90s
Our crop of candidates, all parties and all levels are admirably intellectually equipped to guide our nation through the 1990s. As an example, one need only look at the incidents of hacking and the response to them. This is only going to get worse. It may not be the next war, but at some point…