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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Identifying Divine Revelation
Alan Lenzi writes a post in response to John Hobbins in which he seems to find it surprising that more Biblical scholars don’t abandon faith, and that their failure to do so says something about their “unwillingness to think historically without being hamstrung to the implications of their work by the fear of divine judgment…
Biblical Studies Carnival #45 Posted
… at The Golden Rule, Bible Theme Park edition. Lots of good stuff here, and despite my usual delinquency in submitting anything, I got a link in there.
Seventh-day Adventist Education and Evolution
I recently wrote with appreciation about my Seventh-day Adventist education in Biblical studies over on my Participatory Bible Study blog. Today a friend sent me an e-mail directing me to a post on Inside Higher Ed, discussing a problem with the teaching of evolution at La Sierra University, a Seventh-day Adventist school. I didn’t attend…
Garage Sale? Watch out for the Feds!
They’re looking for people who resell recalled items. To be fair, I must note that they’re paying the most attention to the big boys, like Goodwill. (HT: The Agitator)
Am I a Doubter?
Bruce Alderman has written a post that is making me think. That’s a good thing! He thinks that we are misusing the word “doubts” when we suggest that believers may have doubts. To quote: Questions can and do lead to a more mature faith. Genuine doubts do not. Hmm! I must say that I have…
Is Seminary Necessary?
Sky McCracken thinks we may not, and has some good thoughts on the matter.
MyBibleVersion.com Update
It has been some time since I discussed the MyBibleVersion.com site, and indeed it has been some time since I updated it. Today I added Google FriendConnect and the ability to comment. Comments are active on the index page and on each of the Bible version detail pages. I believe this will give me the…
Beware Friends Bearing Manuscripts
That’s something every editor should have laminated and stuck on the wall. There is nothing to make me cringe like a friend or relative telling me that they have a manuscript they’ve been working on for a long time. Inevitably this leads to the question, “Would you be interested in looking at it?” Depending on…
The Bad Name of Evangelism
Via Shane Raynor on Twitter and the Wesley Report, I found this article on UMPortal about early Methodist evangelism. What struck me, was how many of the ideas there could be found in Acts. Here’s a key quote: She [Rev. Laceye Warner of Duke] defined evangelism as preaching the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ…
Bibles with a Viewpoint – The Green Bible
Those who read this blog regularly are probably already aware that I have mixed emotions about study Bibles. I would say “love-hate relationship” but none of my feelings about study Bibles attains the level of “love.” Via Sun and Shield I found a review on First Things of The Green Bible. I recommend reading the…
Lazy
… Bible study that is. Food for thought from for the Sake of Truth.
Sexual Attraction and Divinity
Two of the lectionary passages today, at least if you go with the United Methodist selections, involve romance and sexual attraction. One, of course, is Song of Songs 2:8-13 and the other is Psalm 45, which has a foreign princess marrying the king of Israel. The second involves romance at least as far as an…
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…