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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Quote of the Day – Passives
From Language Log: If passives were UFOs, the country would be frantic over all the sightings, but the Air Force wouldn’t be scrambling any jets. I have two pet peeves with regard to passives. First, there are those who find passives where there are none, as in the post cited by Language Log. Second, there…
Burned Out Pastors
One of my observations in both churches of which I’ve been a member and churches I’ve visited, representing several denominations, is that the actual job of the pastor is so enormous and multi-faceted that no human being could actually perform it. That isn’t what was envisioned in the New Testament, but it has become pervasive….
Back Up to #28
Oh joy! Oh rapture! Oh Bliss! I have recovered from last month’s #50 to #28 in the biblioblog rankings, and all that with relatively little blogging!
New Biblical Studies Carnival
Jim West has brought back the Biblical Studies Carnival. (HT: TCOJC)
I Believe Some Bizarre Things
The Sunday School class I currently attend uses a random selection process for the questions we’ll discuss. Class members put questions in a container, and we draw a question for each week. Last week the question was: Why am I such a doubting Thomas? As we were discussing how much we doubted, what we doubted,…
Finding My Way in Christianity
I’ve tried to make a habit of writing some personal reflections on the books my company, Energion Publications, publishes. That doesn’t usually involve that many posts, but I got behind earlier in the year, and I’m catching up. This one is going to be longer than usual because these are personal reflections, and this book…
Text Today – Slave of Righteousness
So now that you have been freed from sin, you have become enslaved to righteousness. — Romans 6:18 (my translation) Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. — Romans 6:18 (NLT) And yet there are those who think Paul taught easy believism!
Discussing Preserving Democracy
I’d like to invite readers to join the discussion of the book Preserving Democracy, published by my company Energion Publications, over at Joel Watts’ blog. Why would I push a review that might be negative? First, I try to publicize all reviews to encourage discussion and encourage people to review our books, whether the review…
Reading Genealogies
I discuss why I think we should pay attention on the World Prayr blog today.
What Makes a Plumber Real
Michele Bachmann says she hopes that the newly formed Tea Party Caucus will provide a voice in congress for “real housewives, real farmers, real businessmen, real plumbers.” (Source.) I’m wondering how “real” farmers, businessmen, and plumbers differ from the rest …
Artistic Genius and Rape
I sometimes get tense with cases in which statutory rape laws are used in prosecuting one teenager for sex with another. I think that’s wrong. But there’s a very good reason for statutory rape laws, which is an adult preying on a child, and that’s what these laws were written for. In the case of…
The Season of Political Literature
I notice my wastebasket filling up with political literature as the season gets into full swing. Currently we’re approaching primary season, and because I’m registered as an independent, I don’t get much during the primaries. My wife is registered with one of the parties (though I’ll note that her voting habits are as independent as…
More on Inerrancy
I’ve just added a couple of good links and some brief notes on inerrancy at my Threads blog.
On Inerrancy Again
My previous post refers to Preserving Democracy, written by my friend Elgin Hushbeck, Jr., but doesn’t actually mention that we have been friends for some time. I say this because I’m about to take his name in vain (sort of). We’ve been friends since the mid-90s when we met on the Religion Forum on Compuserve….
A New Edition of Preserving Democracy
Back when my company, Energion Publications, was preparing to release Preserving Democracy in hardcover, I wrote a post, On Publishing a Conservative Book. Those who read this blog, for example, the tag line in the header, will realize that I do not call myself conservative. Which leads me to a digression about labels. In Preserving…
Finding Darwin’s God
James McGrath recommends it and I agree. My review here.
Think about How
Allan Bevere started some discussion with his post, It’s Fiscal “Cancer” but What Sage Is It?. One interesting thing I notice about discussions of reducing the deficit is that we tend to have certain spending programs that must not be reduced, and those differ depending on our other political positions. This is not surprising, of…
Text Today – Worth of the Gospel?
This text struck me this morning. How often to we forget this part of the gospel? 27Only carry out your activities in a way that is worthy Christ’s good news, so that whether I come and see you or whether I’m away, I’ll hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, putting out your…
Quote on Worship
From C. Michael Patton: What I have been coming to realize over the years is that there is simply no one way to do church. … You need to read the whole post at Parchment and Pen to get the real drift of what he’s saying, complete with evangelical discomfort with a seeker sensitive service,…
UMC Rather than SDA – Again
This was brought to my attention when I read the text of Ted Wilson’s address to the SDA General Conference. (I listened to he first 10 minutes as well, but preferred reading.) Why am I interested in the sermon presented by the new president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists? I am, after all,…
Larry Hurtado is Blogging
… at larryhurtado.wordpress.com. He’s Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology at the University of Edinburgh, and it looks like he’ll be a nice new addition to the biblioblogosphere. I think I’m about the thousandth person to mention this, but in case you missed the other 999 …
Looking for a UMC Pastor in the West or Northwest
My wife Jody is looking for a pastor in the west or northwest to answer about 5 questions regarding ministry in the UMC, with the interview to be published in the Bible Study Paths WebZine. She’s looking for someone who is currently pastoring a church. Your interview responses will be published in September alongside those…
Dismissing as Wrong
In an article that I find very agreeable, Chaplain Mike of the Internet Monk site discusses the way in which some churches major on the minors, making people who disagree with specific doctrinal positions uncomfortable. But I want to object to one line in that post, and it’s one I hear frequently in real life…
Christian Perfection – Not So Plain to Me!
One of my early experiences teaching in a United Methodist Church involved giving a series on the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection. That may seem surprising for a new member of a United Methodist congregation, but my background in the Seventh-day Adventist Church involved a good deal of Wesleyan talk (though not the doctrine of…