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Fire – Lamentations 1:13
Discussing the symbolism of fire in scripture, highlighting its dual nature as both a sign of divine acceptance and judgment. It reflects on personal suffering and God’s sovereignty, emphasizing that while God’s fire can refine and cleanse, it often accompanies lament and discomfort, aligning with the broader pursuit of righteousness.
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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…
Social Notes (see all)
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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…
Good Poll-Reading Advice from FiveThirtyEight.com
Here. There’s nothing quite so annoying as hearing people spin the polls.
Thoughts on Releasing a New Book about Jonah
I believe that it’s easy to let our theology keep us from reading the Bible, especially the narrative parts. The Bible is filled with stories. One example is the story of the flood. When Genesis 6 says (using the KJV), “It repenteth me that I have made man,” the first reaction is to try to…
Penal Substitution is ONE of the Ways to Talk about the Atonement
I think The Truth Is … Out There on the Wesley Bros. Blog did a good job of expressing this. To my liberal brothers and sisters: Yes, I do believe in penal substitution. To my conservative brothers and sisters: No, I don’t believe in it as the one and only way to believe in or…
Voting in the Primary
Well, I am a non-partisan voter, i.e. I am not registered with either of the major parties, and today was primary day here in Florida. I had a grand total of two items to vote on: A county commission race that would be decided by the primary, and an issue to vote on. Whenever there…
Review: NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible – Hebrews
Introduction #contextchangeseverything – yes, it does. But how? With the vast array of Bible study materials that are available in the English language comes a problem. How does one choose what materials are worth my time, shelf space (or HD space!), or money? If you search my blog for posts about study Bibles, you’ll find…
Courtesy Is not just for the Other Person
Probably as the result of the political correctness debate—well, perhaps not debate; more brouhaha—I hear or read frequent complaints about an expectation of courteous speech as though it’s an imposition. In order to cater to someone’s excessively fragile sensibilities, the argument goes, one is expected to deny the truth in favor of “political correctness.” In…
A UMC House Church
One of the points I have tried to make in my series regarding the books Seven Marks of a New Testament Church, Thrive: Spiritual Habits of Transforming Congregations, and Transforming Acts: Acts of the Apostles as a 21st Century Gospel is that one can follow these “Jesus principles” of church leadership under many different formal…
The Problem with Bible Outlines
Outlining is a valuable practice in Bible study. It can Help you understand the relationship between sections of a passage Direct you to the key point Clarify ambiguities Give you a feel for the structure of an author’s argument Clearly some of these overlap. One of the common practices in teaching the Bible, however, is…
Church (From My Twitter Fee
"Church" has become an organization that devours time and resources rather than a way of living that structures and empowers everything. — Henry Neufeld (@hneufeld) July 25, 2016
Thinking, Praying, and/or Acting
Frequently when there is a crisis or any form of trouble, Christians call for prayer. These calls can take many forms. In addition, a common comment from Christians is that we will pray about a situation. Now it’s quite possible that someone who says they will pray will limit their activities to just praying. It’s…
One can only hope …
One of my favorite TV episodes of all time is the West Wing episode In Excelsis Deo. In it, Toby Ziegler arranges a funeral for a homeless veteran of the Korean War who died of exposure. Toward the end, President Bartlet is asking Toby about his use of the president’s name to arrange it. ”…
Detecting Plagiarism in a Fantasy Universe
In the good old days when I had time to do fantasy role-playing games, stodgy traditionalists would object that it wasn’t real. Why spend your time on something that isn’t real? This was often said by people who would spend hours watching and discussing football games with approximately the same effect on reality. But I…
From Inspiration to Understanding eBook Editions
One of the joys of being a publisher, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned a couple (hundred) times before, is the authors I get to work with. I have long considered our understanding of biblical inspiration and authority to be critical to discussions of Christian theology, polity, and ultimately our day to day life. Often we…
Thoughts on Moving from Numbers to Deuteronomy
I’ve completed the second chapter of Deuteronomy in the CBC commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and it may surprise some that I’ve felt a bit of a letdown as I moved from the variety of liturgy and laws, though interspersed with narrative, that is Numbers. It might surprise you less if you realize that…
Exhortation Does Not Interrupt Exposition
[ncs_ad pid=’0664239013′ float=’left’ adtype=’aer.io’]On page 238 of his NTL commentary on Hebrews Luke Timothy Johnson uses the word “interrupt” to describe the transition between exposition and exhortation starting in Hebrews 5:11. In a way I’m nitpicking here, and because I am, I must also note that overall I find Johnson’s commentary nearly the most useful…
Hebrews 4:12 – ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ
I want to make a short comment on this, and the use of λόγος again in 4:13. I’m not going to go through all the arguments. I’ve just re-read David L. Allen (New American Commentary), Luke Timothy Johnson (NTL), James Moffatt (ICC), and Craig R. Koester (Anchor Bible), and the combined number of references and arguments…
Deuteronomy and Introductions Redux
A second law and a second note on introductions to biblical books. Goes together, no? I completed my reading of Numbers along with the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary yesterday and today read the introduction from the section on Deuteronomy. In it the author, Eugene H. Merrill (professor at Dallas Theological Seminary) argues forcefully for Mosaic authorship…
Note on the End of Numbers
I’m about to move from the section on Numbers in the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary and from there go on to reading Deuteronomy. I’m reading this in parallel with a reading of the Hebrew text. I’ll first note that I find this commentary very helpful, and I believe it would be helpful to a person preparing…
A Note on Translations and Commentaries
As I’ve been reading a commentary based on the New Living Translation (NLT), it has been interesting to note how the commentators differ from the readings of the translation on which the commentary is ostensibly based. For example, as I finished reading the section on Numbers today (pp. 217-443), written by Dale A. Brueggemann, I…
Numbers 33 and Matthew 1:1-17
Regarding Numbers 33 and the 42 stations on the route to the promised land, footnote #1 on page 420, (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary on Numbers), notes that “[p]atristic commentators compared these 42 stations to the 42 (3 x 14) generations in Jesus’ genealogy, but that doesn’t shed any light on ch 33 …” It is quite…
Ham in My Hash Browns
Nearly 20 years ago a waitress at a well-known breakfast chain messed up my order for hash browns by adding diced ham. If you don’t find anything odd about that sentence, you are, perhaps, a candidate for counseling. But I digress. I had wanted jalapeños, onions, mushrooms, and cheese. I got all of those. Plus…
Pattern Building in the Mind
We like meaning and connections, and we’ll sometimes find them even when they’re not there. People who understand this can deceive you. The Improbability Principle from Neuroblogica is a very good summary of this.