Seems to me that one of the most self-defeating ways to try and be “holy” is to make it our purpose to be right about everything and wrong about (and in) nothing. I say that after reviewing some seemingly obscure details, and a foundational concept of the whole Bible, from the record of Leviticus— the […]
My experience with my son’s American bulldog has been an on-again, off-again kind of relationship. Although I’ve occasionally helped to take care of Buddy while my son and his wife were out of town, and even though I’ve never raised my hand or voice at the big boy, every once in a while he acts […]
The Dead Sea is dying. Water levels of what the Bible also calls The Salt Sea, already rest at the lowest on earth (1378 feet below sea level), and are dropping at a rate of three feet a year. The problem has developed not only from natural weather cycles, but also from the amount of […]
While thinking lately not only about some bloody 15th and 16th century periods of church history, but also about the way church people continue to bitterly divide over theological and political differences, I’m reminded how important it is to try to attach authority to no more and no less than what the Bible says. In […]
Over time, we all come across ideas that change the way we think about ourselves. For me, one of those thoughts is that a well-lived life is more like a symphony than a solo. The point takes nothing away from a solo. I love hearing Willie Nelson sing “September Song,” or LeAnn Rimes do her […]
Some of the most gruesome events of the Iraq war involved the beheading of enemies by terrorist cells. Yet long ago, David did it to the Philistine giant, Goliath (1Samuel 17). The Philistines later beheaded King Saul and hung his headless body on the city wall of Beth Shan (1Sam 31:9). John the Baptist suffered […]
Do we associate wisdom with Confucius or Buddha rather than with Jesus and Paul? If so, we might miss the significance of what Solomon recommends when he writes, “Happy is the person who finds wisdom and gains understanding. For the profit of wisdom is better than silver, and her wages are better than gold. Wisdom […]
A recent online NPR article summarizes some provocative research on the emotional and physical impact of money. According to a report by David Kestenbaum titled Study: Your Brain Thinks Money is a Drug, researchers report their surprise in discovering that, “Counting money — just handling the bills — can make things less painful.” The article […]
What can we do when we’re out of sorts, not ourselves, and lost in emotions of inexpressible heaviness? What if, on top of it all, we’re feeling guilty for not being able to think or pray ourselves out of whatever is consuming our focus and energy? Spiritual talk that is supposed to help leaves us cold. Imagine meeting […]
As I’ve read the news reports on the President’s meeting with police Sergeant James Crowley and Harvard Scholar Henry Louis Gates, I’ve been interested in the different responses. The highly charged racial implications around the event that prompted the arrest of Professor Gates, together with the public debate that followed, showed how quickly each of […]
