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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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When the Glory of God Shows Up
Scripture: 1 Kings 8:10-11 (Proper 16B) I like to say that God is present everywhere, and that the difference between one time and another is much more with our awareness of God’s presence than it is with any action on God’s part. But if we believe scripture, there are times when God’s presence is especially…
Disaster and Judgment
John Piper has suggested that the tornado that struck Minneapolis was a judgment on the ELCA for the recent change in their statement on human sexuality. Piper is a great preacher, and despite some disagreements, I love to hear him present a good gospel message, but I find this, and other similar statements, quite disturbing….
On Red, White, and Blue Hermeneutics
Some good advice on for the Sake of Truth.
Church 7 Days a Week
Kevin at Shooting the Breeze comments on a YouTube video.
Love Without Involvement
I have, on occasion, been accused of being a “love preacher.” It’s not an accusation that frightens me, but it used to puzzle me. It doesn’t so much any more. There’s a difference between a casual “all you need is love” attitude and “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34), especially considering…
Picture = 1000 Words = Book?
Here I went and wrote an entire book on the subject, and Jon Birch gets it in one picture: HT: Kouya Chronicle
Getting Seriously Committed (Pr 16B – Gospel)
The gospel for this week comes again from John 6:56-69. We have five of these in a row. John 6 is an interesting chapter because in it Jesus drives to the heart of his message in speaking especially to his disciples, and many of them can’t handle it. They leave. I have discussed the gritty,…
Christian Carnival CCXC Posted
… at Fish and Cans. Check it out!
Added to Blogroll: for the Sake of Truth
I got an e-mail from Josh Mann of for the Sake of Truth, asking if I might take a look at his blog and see if I found it interesting. The results? Indeed I find it interesting, if for no other reason than that Josh has an MA in Biblical Languages. He’s going on to…
Left Wing Closed Mindedness
I was asked recently in a comment for examples of shrillness from the left, and I didn’t respond at the time. The reason for that is simple. When I talk about right wing shrillness I hear from conservatives about how I’m ignoring the left. When I talk about left wing shrillness I hear from liberals…
Yet Again Comments on my KJV Video
I’m not going to embed it again, but there were a couple of recent comments on my video Why I Hate the KJV. I can’t believe you hate the KJV. Ridiculous. Not fond of, understandable, but regardless of your use of it, the KJV is a masterpiece. This sort of comment was only to be…
On End of Life Counseling
Since I blogged two days ago about my opposition to certain phraseology used by Rev. Jim Wallis, I want to say something about the quote to which he is responding. I find the “death boards” complaint about health care easily the least well-founded and most damaging of the issues. There is good reason to discuss…
Real Guy Interpretation – A Homily
David Ker has challenged me, amongst others, to say precisely how we would handle 2 Kings 2:23-24. I actually didn’t notice the challenge at first, though I’ve been following the series. I’m going to respond to the challenge by writing a homily. Most commonly I do not speak from a written text except when I’m…
Jim Wallis Wishes Sarah Palin Ill
Shane Raynor reports on a blog post by Rev. Jim Wallis on Sarah Palin in which he says: Please dont invoke your Christian faith anymore and embarrass the people of God even further. May your efforts to scare Americans during this important debate fail. May your political future also fail, and may your star fall…
Grace and Wisdom (Lectionary Proper 15B)
References: 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-15; Psalm 111; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58 For three of these passages it is quite easy to find a common theme – wisdom. If you go a step further, all of those passages talk about wisdom in action. For the remaining passage, the gospel, one may be tempted to preach a…
Exceptional, Must-Read Article – Be Farmers, not Recruiters
If you’ve been on a church nominating committee and experienced the task of persuading someone to take a job that just has to be filled, or if you’ve been on the other end of that phone call when you’re begged to take a job for which you know you are not gifted or called, or…
Christian Carnival CCLXXXIX Posted
… at Parableman. An exceptionally good selection of reading, and I’d say that even if I didn’t have a post in there!
Right to Protest – Not to Drown Out
Ed Brayton has some good comments on the protests at town hall meetings: On the subject of these protests, I say the same thing I’ve said many times before when the shoe was on the other foot, when the protesters were left wing and the speakers were right wing: You have a right to protest…
Letting Wisdom Define Fear of the Lord
Ref: Psalm 111:10 – Proper 15B The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Those who practice it have good inteligence. We’ve all heard that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as stated in this passage and many others. It’s a pretty basic Christian concept. A few days ago,…
Added RefTagger
I have just added the RefTagger module to this site. It seems like a valuable adjunct to a site that has as many Bible references as this one. I have set the default version to TNIV. I may change that from time to time just to keep people thinking!
Why did God give Solomon Riches?
See 1 Kings 3:3-14 (Proper 15B) Why does God choose to give Solomon riches and make him great after Solomon asks for wisdom? God is pleased with Solomon’s request and grants it, yet he also grants him everything else he might desire. The result, as we read further into the story, is that Solomon turns…
On my Seventh-Day Adventist Education
[Rambling, personal post alert.] Periodically I talk a bit about growing up as a Seventh-day Adventist and my education in church related schools. I do this for two reasons. The first is to explain why I am no longer a member of the church I grew up in, and the second is to explain to…
Jesus Responds to Offense and Resistance
For Proper 15B the gospel reading is John 6:51-58, which continues from the previous reading. In that reading, Jesus barely got started with the gritty physical metaphors, and the people were offended and resistant. This theme of offense will surface many times in portion of John in which Jesus is addressing the crowd in general….
The Homeschool Advantage
Because of many of my political positions, not to mention my theological ones, many people suppose that I would think public education was the be-all and end-all of education. And I do believe that making education available to everyone is an essential of civilized society. The problem is that writing a health care bill titled…