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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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NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
I was amazed at how many I have read and how few I wouldn’t agree should be in the top 100. The list is here.
Restoring Commas
Some of you may have noticed that I suddenly stopped using spaces after commas and some other punctuation. Well, actually I didn’t. The site theme was removing them for me due to a bug, which has now been fixed. So spaces after commas are back. If you didn’t notice, don’t let me interrupt your routine!
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…
Jon Stewart on the Debt Deal
Sometimes one finds more truth in comedy than in the regular medai. The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook Of course, if you think about it, we, the American people, would thus be our own worst enemy. And regarding the 77% who think our leaders…
Biblioblog Rankings for July
I thought they might not post a static list, since you can get it live, but they did, and it’s here. There are also a couple of notes on developing the library: Need for better hosting Possible peer reviewed bibliblog Check out the post for those, even if you don’t care about the actual rankings.
And so We Have a Debt Deal
A few weeks ago I saw a political ad supporting the budget proposal by Congressman Ryan. One of the points made in support of his plan in that ad was simply that nobody eligible for Medicare now, or if I remember correctly, becoming eligible in the next ten years, would be impacted by the plan….
Biblical Studies Carnival – August
… posted at Daniel O. McClellan.
Equipping is not Delegating
I just put an extract from Dave Black Online on The Jesus Paradigm. (I have permission to do this.) Unfortunately, Dave’s blog doesn’t allow linking to a specific entry, so I’m linking to the extract. All I want to say here is “Amen!”
Renaming the Unpopular
I loved this snippet from an interview with Speaker Boehner. In particular, this line stood out: J. BOEHNER: When you say the — when you say the word “compromise”… STAHL: Yeah? J. BOEHNER: … a lot of Americans look up and go, “Uh-oh, they’re going to sell me out.” And so finding common ground I…
First Century Church – Wanting and Doing
My wife said some important things in her devotional yesterday, First Century Church Wanted. If I might summarize, many of us want what the early church had, but we don’t want to do what the early church did.
If All Else Fails, Blame the Latest Technology
The Christian Post has a headline that reads Apologist Josh McDowell: Internet the Greatest Threat to Christians. Now if you read the article, you’ll realize the biggest problem here is headline writing rather than what Josh McDowell had to say. In the end he concludes that Christian parents need to be knowledgeable. I’d have a…
Subjectively Evaluating, Well, Stuff
J. K. Gayle links to me in a post regarding the notion of “canon.” There’s a good discussion going in the comments as well. Let me note in passing that the label “personal canon” grates on me a bit. Let me be clear that I’m not saying it’s bad; I’m referring to my reaction to…
Quote of the Day – Way of Christ vs Way of Caesar
From the forthcoming participatory study guide to Philippians, by Bruce Epperly: The way of Christ differs markedly from the way of Caesar, who was also worshipped as a deity. Christ’s peace is based on non-violence and inclusion, while Caesar’s peace is based on the sword and subjugation. (Used by permission.)
A Sinful Job Description
The Christian Post has an article on depression amongst pastors and ministry leaders, which, in turn, links to an article at The Gospel Coalition. Now the Gospel Coalition article is part one of a five part series, so I’m not going to comment on how far they will go before they are done, but I…
The New Jesus
From David Hayward: (License: Creative Commons 3.0)
Quick Note on (Biblio)blogging
I note quite a debate around the blogs I read regarding just what is a biblioblog. For a long time, this blog was listed as a “related” blog, then a few months ago was “upgraded” to a biblioblog, and I’ve been in the top 50 ever since, and even made the top 10 a time…
A Sense of the Spiritual
I once met a woman who claimed that Jesus had come to her in her kitchen and spoken to her. The reaction of friends, neighbors, and even family to this story was fairly negative. She was regarded as a bit odd, and finally quit talking about it. It was only with some hesitation that she…
Book: Thank God for Evolution
Dowd, Michael. Thank God for Evolution. New York: Plume, 2007. 380 pages + front and back matter. ISBN: 978-0-452-29534-6. (All numbers in parentheses are page numbers from this edition of the book.) I was interested in this book from the moment I saw the title, not because I immediately expected to agree, but because it,…
Philippians: On Grace, Faith, and Works
The following is another extract from the forthcoming study guide on Philippians in the Participatory Study Series, by Dr. Bruce Epperly: For Paul the issue is two-fold: 1) the status of Gentiles as members of the Christian community and 2) the relationship of grace, faith, and works. As apostle to the Gentiles, Paul affirms that…
A Narrow View of the Glory of God
Peter Kirk links to Roger Olson on why he defends Love Wins. Now I haven’t read Love Wins and it isn’t on my reading list. The reason for this post is to comment on this (Peter quoting Roger Olson): I think that is what offends critics of Love Wins–the suggestion that God doesn’t get what…
Quote of the Day – On the Job of Pastor
From Dave Black Online: The task faced by the solitary pastor today in so many of our churches is overwhelming; but it is a task to which the Savior called no one. Quoted in full by Brian Fulthorp and at jesusparadigm.com.
A United Methodist Pastor on Revitalizing Dead Churches
There are many days when the United Methodist Church discourages me, and I wrote a post yesterday with that sort of feeling. But there are two things that regularly encourage me: Encountering vital small congregations, and meeting some of our young pastors. Via another young pastor, Geoffrey Lentz, who is doing wonderful things at First…
Dashboards, Discernment, and Responsible Leadership
Yes, that’s a big collection of topics, but I think they’re connected. John Meunier links to an excellent post by Dan Dick, which you should read before you read this one. The topic here is the conference dashboards in United Methodist annual conferences, such as this one for the North Alabama Conference. I do have…
Christian Colleges Top Ten Biblical Learning Blogs
I just noticed a post from The Congenial Christians, Top Ten Biblical Learning Blogs, which lists this blog as #1. Though I don’t know what the criteria are, I want to thank them, and provide this link back to their blog.