Here’s another fact about the Bible that turns out different than it begins. There aren’t many clear predictions of Jesus in the Jewish Scriptures. We’ve talked in the past about how followers of Christ have claimed more than 300 prophecies fulfilled in him. Yet on closer look, only a few are clear predictions in their […]
Am trying to use a series of posts to think with you about the multi-sided realism of the Bible that is so important to its credibility. In that light I’m taking another shot at the first two points before moving on. The Bible is full of its own people’s dirty laundry. Both testaments describe the […]
Because the timeless, global reputation of the Bible doesn’t just rest on one unusual fact, but on many converging lines of evidence, let’s add a second to the first we’ve already begun talking about. We began last time noting that some of the Bible’s credibility lies in the fact that it does not just tell […]
Seems that some of the Bible’s credibility lies in the fact that it does not just tell us what we might expect to hear. For instance, both testaments describe in detail the weaknesses and failures of the people whose story they tell (i.e. leaders of Israel and the disciples of Jesus). Historians view potentially embarrassing […]
What if our present circumstances don’t leave us feeling honestly grateful? When it comes to giving thanks, should we just just “do it” whether we mean it or not? What if the truth is closer to, “I never expected to be surrounded with such feelings of loneliness, fear, anxiety, confusion, and unanswerable questions?” Seems as […]
Thank you… Two words that have a fairly fixed meaning in the English language. Yet they can be used to mean just about anything. Thank you can be expressed sarcastically to express resentment. It can be used as an instructive request on a doorway sign that says “thank you for not smoking “. It can […]
We may remember this kind of comparison from school days. Back then the illustration was something like: As an apple is to a seed, so a thought is to a ___________. (i.e. conversation?) The point is that an analogy compares two things that are similar in at least one way and yet different in others. […]
In my last post I mentioned being impressed by an ETS presentation about what the Gospel of John says about our union with Christ. Instead of starting with what the Apostle Paul says about Christ in us (Gal 2:20; Gal 4:19; Rom 8:10; 2 Cor 13:5; Col 1:17), Robert Peterson from Covenant Theological Seminary read […]
Am at a theological conference this week, attending wall to wall, morning to evening lectures. While all of the sessions so far have been about how we understand the Bible, some have dealt specifically with principles and methods of interpretation; some on Creation Care; one about contrasting statements Jesus made about forgiveness; and one on […]
Went to a college women’s volleyball game the other night. Was a regional final, with the winner going to the national tournament. Turned out to be a hard fought 3 out of 5 match in which both teams played their hearts out. I had a special interest because a niece of ours’ was playing in […]
