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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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What is Cutting Edge?
The description of the ICON service at my home church, First United Methodist Church in Pensacola, FL, states that the service is: Cutting Edge Tradition Rich Art Embracing Christ Centered This worship service just celebrated its second anniversary, and I was happy today to see that the sanctuary was largely filled. It has been both…
The Problem with 1 Corinthians 14 Worship
In Sunday School this morning we touched on 1 Corinthians 14 and worship. I again brought up the issue I see with the way that 1 Corinthians 14 is applied to modern worship. On the one hand are those who use it to prevent innovation. To them the key verse is 1 Corinthians 14:40, “Let…
On Evolutionary Christians
The Christian Post has an article on a series of teleconferences that are available via evolutionarychristianity.com. The post uses scare quotes to set off the word “evolutionary” and in some ways I find the title troubling, just as I do the term theistic evolution. While I believe acceptance of the theory of evolution will have…
The Worship Service is Worship Too
Some time ago I read a post by Arthur Sido on The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia titled What is Worship? and I’ve been intending to respond ever since. The problem is that the topic brings up so many different issues that it threatens to become an incredibly long blog post. Those of…
Organizing Small Groups
Will Rice, Discipleship Pastor at University United Methodist Church in San Antonio, is suggesting retiring the term “small group” because he thinks it is not well enough defined (HT: Dave Black Online). It is hard to know precisely what one is talking about when one says “small group.” He’s right–it is hard. He also has…
Converts to Orthodox Churches
… are increasing. I don’t find this all that hard to understand. I personally have been enjoying more reading of the eastern church fathers, and have found much good material in the theology and liturgy of the Orthodox churches. Chron – Houston and Texas News reports on some churches in that area which are largely…
Making Events Fit Your Agenda
While I would love to see more civil discourse, I still fail to see evidence that the shootings in Tucson are the result of excessively heated rhetoric. Here’s another good discussion of the way people are using the tragedy to advance a preconceived agenda.
New Edition of the New American Bible
You can read about it at Unsettled Christianity. While it never has been one of my top tier of translations for regular use, I was impressed with the NAB because it combined strong idiomatic language with a fairly strong score for literal translation on the scoring system I use at MyBibleVersion.com. In addition, I like…
It’s Broken!
A little bigger than the one we were playing with! Image via Wikipedia “I know what’s wrong with it,” said six year old Steven. From the eminence of 12 years old, I was showing Steven my electric trains, most of which I had salvaged from other sets and lovingly repaired. Suddenly one of the engines…
See I Can …
And now for a rare humor break: Reminds me of all the things people think I should be able to do because I read Greek.
ISV Whole Bible Available
The ISV whole Bible is available in electronic form. It’s a sort of pre-release, with a module available for eSword, along with Word 2003 and 2010 docs. I now have the whole Bible, even though corrections may be made before printing, so I’m planning to check my key verses and make up my numbers to…
What Would Jesus Do? – Gun Edition
From Christian Girl at College, who has been writing an impressive number of great posts. I disagree with this one, but I think we should look and think. See my thoughts on personal gun ownership here.
In Case of Murder, Attack Some Metaphors
I haven’t yet commented on the shootings in Tucson. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, all of them, not just those in federal service. I’m concerned when people are killed because of senseless or unnecessary violence wherever that occurs. I don’t say this to diminish the importance of an attack on a member…
Bible Memorization and Reading
When I wrote about different approaches in reading the Bible I left an important one out–memorization. I was reminded of this when writing an e-mail to some friends and quoting scripture. I quoted the KJV and wasn’t even aware of it until I’d completely quoted the text. So what does quoting the KJV have to…
Ephesians 3:1-12 – To the Rulers and the Authorities
This is from the Epiphany 1A lectionary. This passage interested me because of the reference to revealing God’s wisdom to the authorities in the heavenly realm through the church (Eph. 3:10). The reason for this interest is the “great controversy” theme that I grew up with as a Seventh-day Adventist. The foundation for this is…
Why is This Translation Important?
Because obviously the most important thing about being a man is the way you use the bathroom. Potty training issues, maybe? (This is the second time there’s been a video of this guy preaching this. I blogged about it earlier here. Hat tip for this round: Abnormal Interests).
Listening to Whose Voice(s)
Quote of the day: The sin of the church too often is to listen to the voice of those already in it. We let the comfortable voice of the familiar become the voice of God. Breaking free of that sin is necessary. But replacing one human voice with another is not the same as following…
Evolutionary Links
James McGrath has an interesting crop of evolutionary links from the blogosphere today.
William Barclay Commentaries Dangerous
So declare the Catholic bishops of Vietnam. I find it hard to see why, but that’s because I don’t think books that teach doctrine different from my own “dangerous.” I would call a couple of paragraphs in Barclay less than fully accurate, but there are some paragraphs that are positively brilliant, which is all one…
Approaches to Bible Reading
I want to list some attitudes to Bible reading and some approaches with a brief discussion. I may choose to post some more on this. I think there is too much of an either-or approach to how one goes about reading the Bible. Different times may call for different methods and attitudes. Fast Reading (Overview)…
Alden Thompson: SDAs and the Charismatic Experience
Ellen G. White Image via Wikipedia Since I grew up as an SDA and later got involved in a somewhat charismatic stream within Methodism, I found this article by Alden Thompson pretty interesting. It’s not surprising, however, that the SDA movement, which arose in the mid 1800s, had some charismatic elements. The funny thing for…
How Certain is Science?
Rationally Speaking has a great article on the uncertainties in scientific research and what they mean about science. I think a good deal of the problem here is that people expect certainty, and science doesn’t provide this. Occasionally one can get near certainty, but absolute certainty is elusive. On the frontiers of medicine, especially, you’ll…
Guns in the Home
No, not that kind of gun! Image via Wikipedia In general I support gun ownership rights, though I think these rights are easy to carry to excess. Are reasonably thorough background checks really a form of denying someone their rights? Does one really have the right to carry a gun almost anywhere? I think there…