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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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The Trouble with our Alternatives
Allan Bevere has preempted by writing about something I was intending to discuss and doing it better. He does this by discussing current protests and reactions to them in his post Town Hall Meetings Protests and Tone-Deaf Politicians. I have been repeatedly amazed by the extent to which both sides of many debates are completely…
What Would YOU Ask God to Do?
I want to focus on just one line of text. In 1 Kings 3:5, God tells Solomon to ask God what God should give Solomon. It’s a simple enough question. Most of us remember the answer. Solomon wants wisdom. God decides to give him wisdom and lots of riches as well. As I reflect on…
Military Action – Limits of Moderation
I’m pretty fond of moderation, even calling myself a passionate moderate, but in that very phrase, you might get the idea that I’m even moderate about being moderate. My moderation is not centrist, in the sense of trying to find middle ground on each issue. Rather, I believe in trying to examine all the options…
Truth and Neighbors (Ephesians 4:25-5:2)
Ephesians is such a great epistle, but I want to just mention one verse: So then put aside what is false and let each one speak the truth to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. — Ephesians 4:25 The polite lie is a common means of keeping tempers cool. We do it…
Those Gritty Physical Metaphors
The gospel for Proper 14B is John 6:35, 41-51. This isn’t an exposition of that passage, but something that passage brought back to my mind. Jesus starts with the bread metaphor. Now for many of us, comparing spiritual food to bread comes quite naturally. We’ve read this in the gospel many times, and we’ve heard…
Yes! Spend Less on Buildings
… or use them more effectively. From The Assembling of the Church: … Instead, the church decided that they wanted to spend more money serving people and less money of a meeting place. Go read Alan’s post for the full context. Messiah Baptist Church is to be congratulated, and hopefully their example will be followed…
Out of the Depths (Psalm 130)
Out of the Depths is the title of a book on the Psalms by Bernhard W. Anderson, and an excellent little book it is! it’s title comes from this Psalm. There are just two major points I’d like to make about this Psalm. There is much excellent commentary about it, and the notes are worth…
Syriac Resources
What I do with Syriac would only be called “reading” by those who are generous to a serious fault, but I found the resource links James McGrath provided today quite useful.
Anothe Mangled Passage – 2 Samuel 18
I must be sounding like a broken record, but I really dislike mangled passages. It is sometimes possible to quote part of a passage and just hit the highlights. That may be required by time limitations. But when the changes made to the passage change the intent of the story, or make nonsense of it,…
Theme Change
Some readers may not know that I do my blogging in three main locations. Here at Threads, Participatory Bible Study Blog, and The Jevlir Caravansary. I like the three to have a generally similar theme with some graphic differences, and so I have just changed them all to the Atahualpa theme. This is a theme…
On Inerrancy – a Request for Short Definitions
Darrell Pursiful at Dr. Platypus is requesting short definitions from those who accept or use the language of inerrancy in describing the Bible. Shorter, definitely, than the Chicago statement. Though I don’t qualify, even though my definition of inspiration has been called inerrancy, I thought I’d pass this on.
Word Study Reprise
It’s very easy to go astray with word studies when one doesn’t know the languages in question. Since I had a recent request for this material, I want to provide the links to my previous series (from early 2007) on word studies, dangers, and methods. Word Study Dangers: Overview Word Study Dangers: The Process Word…
It Was All God – Pride or Humility?
The gentleman came to me with a sheaf of papers after a meeting at which I was speaking. “I’d like you to read this,” he said, holding them out to me. Now this was before I had started publishing, not that I haven’t had related experiences since. But even so, this gentleman wanted me to…
Could You Use This Video about YOUR Church?
Though I think I might ask myself the next question. Will I grow spiritually after I get there? The atmosphere of grace is, I believe, most conducive to growth! (HT: Kouya Chronicle)
Christian Carnival CCLXXXVIII Posted
… at the Jevlir Caravansary, which is one of my blogs. It’s the “caravan route edition.” Enjoy!
The Espresso Book Machine
This is an announcement from my company, but the technology is very interesting. Books on demand has gone to a new level.
Media Heat or Light?
I’ve long thought that the major problem of the media was not so much bias (though bias is evidence) but shallowness. Today Allan Bevere said it much better.
Reflections on Church and The Jesus Paradigm
As a publisher I have the joy of spending a great deal of time with a book as it goes through the process of publication. I don’t expect you to read my thoughts on The Jesus Paradigm as anything like a review, but there are some special things about this book and the way it…
Incredibly Irresponsible YouTube Video
… and given the quality of some YouTube videos, that’s saying something. In this case the WorldNetDaily is also pushing the idea, though they give some weak lip service to responsibility by noting that there are other ideas out there, and being sure to credit it all to the anonymous producer. If you want to…
Scot McKnight on Walton on Genesis 1
Scot McKnight has started an 18 part discussion of John Walton’s book The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate. Even though I have not yet read Dr. Walton’s book, I can tell you that this is a very important discussion for Christians and that I expect much value just from…
Popular Exegesis – Cutting the Knot
David Ker at Lingamish has started a series in which he looks for ways to bypass the Grammatical-Historical approach to Bible study and look for ways that would allow more people to get involved in the study. To quote: … In fact, GHI [Grammatical-Historical Interpretation-HN] rather than illuminating the texts almost always results in muddying…
2 Corinthians – The Importance of the Story
I’m reading Frank J. Matera’s fine commentary on 2 Corinthians, and today was reading about Paul’s recitation of his history with the Corinthians as the basis for what he was about to teach them. I warn you that this post is only partially about 2 Corinthians. It is more broadly about the importance of seeing…
Biblical Studies Carnival Posted
… at and by Jim West (Funhouse Edition).
How to Accomplish God’s Will
This is my second thought today from John 6:24-35, the gospel passage from Proper 13B. It’s a tightly packed passage! In verses 28-29 Jesus says: 28They said to him, “What do we need to do to perform God’s works?” 29Jesus answered, “This is God’s work: That you put your trust [or believe] in the one…