Featured Posts
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Sorrow Like My Sorrow – Lamentations 1:12
Can we really understand the suffering of another person or they ours?
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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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Sunday School: History and Feasts
I’m going to be teaching my home Sunday School class for the next four weeks, and it happens that the topics are all from the Israelite feasts. Tomorrow I’ll be talking about Passover, the next week about the Feast of Weeks, then the Day of Atonement, and finally the Feast of Booths. I’m using the…
Openly Discussing Evolution, SDAs, and the UMC
Evolution is one of those issues we often don’t discuss in church. There are actually quite a number of Christians who accept evolutionary theory in general or just a part of it, but quite often they just don’t want to get into the kind of acrimonious debate. Every so often (really quite rarely, all things…
Same-Sex Marriage, Moving Candlesticks, and the Judgment of God
My instinctive reaction when I disagree with people on major issues is to come out swinging. Despite this instinct, I believe I am called to be a facilitator, to try to help people talk intelligently and communicate effectively about controversial topics. So if you’re looking for a statement about what I believe regarding same-sex marriage,…
When My Father Was Healed
I was talking recently with a friend who commented that there are certain events that serve as anchor points for our faith. For me, despite all the drifting I’ve done since it happened, one of those points was the time when my father was healed. I alluded to this briefly in a comment on the…
Quick Note on the Chronology of Daniel 1:1
For those who hold to the historicity of the story of Daniel and generally to an early dating, Daniel 1:1 is a critical text that presents some problems. As I proceed with my eschatology series, and starting going through the book of Daniel verse by verse, I’m trying to keep all the options in mind…
Eschatology: Daniel Verse by Verse – I
Tonight will be my first session on the book of Daniel. I’ll be starting with chapter 1 and going as far as I can. I expect the whole book to take some time, though the first several chapters should go more quickly than the later ones. Google+ Event Page YouTube: I’m going to skip over…
The Old Testament: Serious Illness, Strong Medicine
I ran across this while looking for something else. Dr. Alden Thompson was the author of the first book sold by Energion Publications, though it was published before I bought and renamed the company. We’ve now published a 5th edition, and this is overall our best selling book. In this presentation Alden using a number…
Thoughts from the Energion Tuesday Night Hangout: Stewardship and Worship
I enjoyed interviewing three different Energion authors last night. The first was Rev. Steve Kindle who talked about stewardship and the importance of starting from an understanding that everything belongs to God. Steve provided some practical steps that a church can use in caring for all of God’s creation. Steve’s book goes into this somewhat…
Stirring the Pot over on EDN
EDN = Energion Discussion Network. Today’s post is by yours truly and titled In the Embrace of Change. As owner of Energion Publications, I’m putting a great deal of the company marketing efforts and dollars into building up that site, it’s sister site Nurturing Creativity, and our social media this year. We’re working hard to…
The Relevance of Atonement Theories
On the Energion Discussion Network we have two essays posted in answer to the question “Do atonement theories continue to speak to the human condition?” The “yes” answer, written by Dr. Allan Bevere appeared yesterday. The “no” answer appeared today, written by Rev. Steve Kindle. I find both of these articles well worth reading. In…
Reading for Election Year
The day after the Iowa caucuses I’m left to wonder how I could have gotten so uninterested in politics. I have been fascinated by government as long as I can remember, and when I turned 18 and could vote I not only registered immediately, I also started working as a precinct worker for a presidential…
Eschatology: Prophets, Symbols, and Time
Tonight I’ll be finishing my preparatory studies for eschatology as I look at a few more visions, especially from Zechariah, and then at a bit of chronology in preparation for studying the book of Daniel on a more verse by verse basis starting next week. Google+ Event Page YouTube:
The Importance of Little Things
I’m working on a programming project for the IT side of my business today and I was reminded of the importance of little things. When I’m programming and something goes wrong, my tendency is to look for big things. For example, there was a problem in this program with handling time zone data. Time codes…
Tuesday Night Hangout on Air
Salvation: Who and How? You can get more details by following the link.
Thursday Night Eschatology Study – Isaiah Part 2
I’m starting in about 15 minutes. Tonight I’m going to be looking at Revelation 21 & 22 and their use of 3rd Isaiah (chapters 56-66). I want to look at how imagery is used and reused and how this impacts the way we interpret. Google+ Event Page
Identifying Extremes – Examining Everything (An Example)
This morning Dave Black posted some things about reading Hebrews from the Good News Bible (TEV) and also on authorship and canonicity. I’m not posting to enter into a debate on this point, but rather to note an attitude. Dave says: The undeniable reality is that questions of canon and authorship matter. Of course, both…
Eschatology: Isaiah – 1
I’ve posted the event for my study on eschatology tonight. I’ll be looking at Isaiah for at least two sessions, the first focused on the servant passages as an exercise in interpretation, and the second on the language of the latter chapters and how it is incorporated into apocalyptic and in turn into our eschatology.
Exclusivism, Inclusivism, and Pluralism in Soteriology
This past week on the Energion Discussion Network two answers were posted to the question “Can the great religions be vehicles of salvation for their followers?” Answering “Yes” was Dr. Herold Weiss, and answering “No” was Dr. H. Van Dyke Parunak. Both are authors published by my company, Energion Publications. I enjoyed reading the responses…
From My Editing Work: Faith, Hope, and Love Together
From the forthcoming book Meditations on the Letters of Paul by Herold Weiss: The mind does not operate in a vacuum. As it operates it expresses itself in a concrete environment through the body. Faith and hope may be thought as purely intellectual activities – but Paul says “Not quite!” Christian faith and hope cannot…
No Thursday Night Study Tonight
Due to lost time in December I’m facing a huge stack of tasks to catch up on, so I won’t be doing my study tonight. The study on eschatology will resume January 14 at 7 pm central time when I will begin to discuss the latter chapters of Isaiah and the imagery they contribute to…
An Exercise in Math Illiteracy
As an exercise in math illiteracy it would be hard (though likely possible) to beat How to Pick Your Powerball Numbers from ABC News. If you are allowed to work without context (sample size, population size, etc) you can make anything sound useful.
Church as a Social Occasion
Or perhaps as the social occasion. Thom Rainer has a post titled Seven Things Church Members Should Say to Guests in a Worship Service. It comes complete with a header picture of people who, to me, look like they’re forcing excessive smiles. I probably see it that way because I’m an introvert. I suppose that…
My List of Things that Should Be Banned for 2016
Lists of things that should be banned
Eschatology and Advent
Tonight will be my last study hangout for the year as I look at eschatology and advent. You can see more at the Google+ event page. In January I will restart this series by looking at Isaiah. Here’s the YouTube: