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…
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Beware the Cult of the Speaker
Dave Black warns us today against the cult of the speaker. (With permission I’ve extracted the relevant portion as a post at JesusParadigm.com since Dave’s blog doesn’t allow linking to a specific post.) Considering what we’ve heard recently about megachurches creating satellite campuses that receive the message from the senior pastor on the main campus…
Biblical vs. Unbiblical
Morgan Guyton has a very strong (and, in my view, entirely justified) reaction to the abuse of the term “biblical.” … In how many other “Bible” churches out there has “Biblical” become a code-word for an ideological platform that serves a purpose completely foreign to God’s mission but cherry-picks verses out of the Biblical text…
February 1 Christian Carnival Posted
… at All Things New. Thanks to Deb for hosting!
On Choice, Coverage, and Contraception
I’ve been watching this story for a few days. For those who haven’t been keeping up with the news, the Obama administration is proposing rules that would require all employers to provide coverage for contraception in their health care plans. Catholics are in an uproar over this. The White House has responded (HT: Unsettled Christianity)….
Seventh-Day Adventist vs Methodist on Family Guy
As an ex-SDA who is now Methodist, I just have to share this video: Now my experience amongst Methodists is that most will just shrug their shoulders about worship on Saturday. They get a little more tense about soul sleep. I have encountered a few Methodists who are like the one in the video,…
February Biblioblog Carnival Posted
… at Cheese Wearing Theology.
On Externalities and Libertarianism
I’ve often wanted to write something about externalities, but I’ve never gotten the time. Specifically, I’m interested in how these relate to regulations and in turn to economic freedom. I lean libertarian, and many people who know that are surprised that I’m not always opposed to environmental regulations. Why is that? Well, Ed Brayton has…
Factors that Make a Difference in Education
Scot McKnight cites a study that shows many of the things we might think would make a difference in education don’t, and a number of others do. I was actually unsurprised by this. The actual study is behind a pay wall, so I don’t know if they covered it, but another indicator of success in…
Jesus Creed: Does God Still Speak?
Scot McKnight has a post asking this question, starting from a book he’s read. This is a few days old, but that just adds more discussion in the comments! Just in case anyone wonders, my position–the position I argue for in my book–is that God still speaks today. In fact, my aim in the book…
The Cross is an Offense Today
I rarely post a quote from a book I’m editing, but this one struck me today. It’s from the forthcoming book The Church Under the Cross by William Powell Tuck. Here it is: Jesus Christ has called us to a way of life which demands sacrificial living, and this call is still an offense to…
Misbegotten Rules and a Cancer Survivor
School suspends cancer survivor over long hair he intends to donate, says the headline at The Detroit News. I have a very strong opinion on this, and I have no sympathy whatsoever with the school’s position. They should work out a policy to allow this sort of good deed and especially to accommodate this young…
Inerrancy of the (Unavailable) Autographs
Joel Watts has some thoughts.
Defining Biblical Inerrancy
One of the problems I have with the word “inerrancy” is that it is understood in very different ways. If I were to ask most people in my home church what biblical inerrancy means, they would probably conflate it with certain literalistic renderings. I disagree with the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, even as laid out…
Romney and Baptizing the Dead
It appears he had his atheist father-in-law baptized after death. Interesting! I think we should respect people’s decisions as they made them while they could still communicate with us. On the other hand, it suggests Mitt Romney really does believe what he claims–about his faith at least.
Democrats Running Anti-Romney, Pro-Gingrich Ads in Florida?
From what I’ve found I’m not sure if these are largely against Romney, which could at this point be explained as getting a head start on the general election (though I doubt that), or actually pro-Gingrich. (Report in the Boston Globe, hat tips Stones Cry Out and American Thinker.) I pointed out in a comment…
Hearing the Voice of God
Bob Cornwall has some great meditations on the lectionary texts for Epiphany 4B, which relate to the topic of When People Speak for God. The emphasis is on hearing. I maintain that hearing is most often neglected. We often debate about whether the word is inerrant while ignoring whether our understanding of it can ever…
Shane Raynor: How Not to Speak for God
He has some very good suggestions.
Correction on GPS Devices and Warrants
Jeremy Pierce corrected an error in my original post on this topic via a comment. I’m linking here to a clarification at The Volokh conspiracy, which I think makes the difference clearer. The original argument that this wasn’t a search was, in fact, quite ridiculous in my view, but I incorrectly reported that a warrant…
Search Warrants Required for GPS Devices
… that police put on your vehicle, according to the Washington Post. I welcome this ruling, and am very pleased to see it was unanimous. In fact, I think the government agencies who thought they could get by with this should be ashamed of themselves, and the a unanimous court ruling shows how far outside…
When NOT to Read the Bible
When driving? (HT: Kouya Chronicle)
Bruce Epperly Comments on Epiphany 3B
Bruce Epperly comments on the lectionary passages for next Sunday (Epiphany 3B), which are extraordinarily well suited for a process theologian. Well worth checking out!
Blackout on Wikipedia Tomorrow
I’m not going to be blacked out here, but I thought I’d just mention that I also oppose the bills (PIPA, SOPA) that are going through congress. Our representatives simply have no idea whatever what a reasonable burden is. Their view is that if a multi-billion dollar corporation or a large government agency could handle…
Rachel Held Evans on Evangelical Celebrity
I think she has two excellent points, the first about the danger of thinking of oneself as a celebrity (evangelical or not!), and the second about the value of structured prayer. I’d add a note on the value of structured Bible study, which also forces one to leave one’s comfort zone and one’s own desires…
Badly Written Laws Badly Applied
I sometimes watch Law and Order on TV (not faithfully), and I’ve often thought “how creative!” as one prosecutor or another invents a way to apply the law to something they’d like to “get” someone for. (Quite a sentence, but I’m going to leave it.) At the same time I’ve hoped real prosecutors in the…