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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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Christian Carnival CCCXII Posted
… at M and M. Check it out!
Server Move
This was a lateral move with the same provider, but still the database was physically moved. If you commented over the last 24-48 hours and your comment is missing, it was most likely due to the move. If you are seeing this, you can go ahead and comment and your comment will not be lost.
Greg Boyd Tells Mennonites to Go to Hell!
Read about it here. My ancestors were Mennonite, so perhaps I should be offended. Not so much! His own title for the post ends with “… and they liked it.” He was asking them to go storm the gates of hell, i.e. areas of the world that are under the dominion of Satan. He suggests…
Server Problems with Two Blogs
Besides this blog, I also blog at Participatory Bible Study and Jevlir Caravansary. Those two blogs are suffering from server problems. I’m in the process of transferring them to another server, as this has been a frequent problem recently. As the new DNS information finds its way through the internet (or even before, should the…
Supreme Court Favors Free Speech
That title should illustrate the interesting types of headlines that have heralded the Supreme Court decision permitting advocacy ads by corporations and presumably unions in the time leading up to an election. The one from CNN reads Supreme Court eases ban on business, labor political spending, which is fairly calm and tells us approximately what…
Yes is No and No is Yes
… or at least that’s what Democrats in the Oregon state legislature tried to say. This is six months old (HT: The Agitator), but it’s too good not to post. Consider the wording in the bill: “A measure referred to the people by referendum petition may not be adopted unless it receives an affirmative majority…
Gossip vs. Flattery
… at AdrianWarnock.com.
On Haiti Ministry
I posted a note on my company blog about a personal connection.
A Snake-Handling Baptist?
Dave Black posts a picture of his colleague Alvin Reid (look for 6:56 AM, Thursday, January 21), who appears with Dave’s favorite reptile (and I assume Alvin’s as well, but what do I know?) It looks to me like the Baptists are descending into snake handling. Who could have predicted that? Actually, the occasion is…
Christian Carnival CCCXI Posted
… at Fish and Cans. At least I think it’s 311.
Is it Necessary to Know the Biblical Languages?
I previously answered this question for myself here, but there’s a good and gracious answer today from Brian Fulthorp. I would repeatedly emphasize that there are many advantages to knowing Biblical languages. There are some areas and methods of study that really are closed to you if you don’t know the languages. Having said that,…
The Biblical Basis for Mission
Eddie Arthur has a fascinating post on language development and mission, particularly relating this question to the language development work of Wycliffe Bible Translators. I was particularly struck by this paragraph: An alternative way to view mission is to start with the character and activity of God as revealed across the whole of the Scriptural…
More on 1 Corinthians 14:34-35
… at Evangelical Textual Criticism. (See also Dr. Platypus.)
Managing Evidence for Evolution
I think that nearly everyone who has debated issues about creation and evolution has been disturbed by the breadth of the topic. Sometimes you provide evidence X, only to have someone point out that what you just presented doesn’t prove Y, not to mention Z. The theory of evolution is many-faceted and really incorporates many…
David Ker is Bored
Well, at least he’s finding the blogosphere boring. He finds that there are only two interesting Christian bloggers left, James McGrath and Eddie Arthur. What’s interesting is that, while I don’t seem to generally agree with David as to what is interesting, I agree with him that those two bloggers are very interesting. I read…
Counting the Independents
Each election various pundits and politicians seem to be surprised at the way independent voters swing. I think they have a bit of a problem comprehending the word “independent.” I am a bit wary of using “we” when discussing independents, but as an independent voter myself I am generally not that shocked by the swings….
Martin Luther King Day 2010
Two personal experiences shape my thoughts each day on Martin Luther King day. The first was the memory of those in our small north Georgia community who were gratified that he had died. Few of the young folk had any idea why they should think that way, though we had regularly had “scares” that there…
Epiphany 3 in The Mosaic Bible
While none of the Mosaic Bible texts [Holy Bible: Mosaic NLT (Meditations)] overlapped the lectionary texts for today, I think it was quite appropriate, if coincidental, that the texts chosen deal with dealing with the poor and outcasts. The texts were Leviticus 19:1-18, Psalm 119:33-40, James 2:1-7, and Luke 6:27-42. These passages emphasize that our…
Biblioblog Rankings Update
Jeremy at Free Old Testament Audio is continuing tinkering his system for acquiring and displaying the rankings, and thinking about how to decide who belongs on the list.
Taking Offense Easier than Logic and Evidence
Kevin DeYoung makes this claim at the evangel blog. Amongst many good things, he says: For starters, being hurt is easier than being right. To prove you’re offended you just have to rustle up moral indignation and tell the world about it. To prove you’re right you actually have to make arguments and use logic…
Introduction to Numbers – Cornerstone Biblical Commentary
I’m trying to return to my pattern of posting short notes from my morning reading. My schedule has been disrupted recently to the extent that my “morning” reading sometimes has taken place in the evening. But today I moved from Leviticus to Numbers in Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary), and I read the introduction….
Three Commentaries on Leviticus
I just compared two commentaries on Leviticus on my Participatory Bible Study blog. In addition, I’d like to link to my older review of Jacob Milgrom’s three volume commentary on the same book. From that review: The only possible adjective for this commentary is “incredible.” It is not just long (2,468 pages of text), but…
Leviticus – Two Commentaries Compared
The first is by David W. Baker, one of three in Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary), which is based on the NLT text. The second is Samuel E. Balentine, Leviticus (Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching). Yes, I have been reading both of these commentaries simultaneously, though in different portions of Leviticus….
N. T. Wright on Genesis 1-3
Some excellent thoughts at the BioLogos Foundation blog Science and the Sacred.