Why do you concentrate on the sawdust in your brother’s eye, and pay no mind to the two-by-four in your own eye? How can you possibly say to him “let me help you with that dust in your eye,” when all the while you’ve got that two-by-four sticking out of your own? Hypocrite! First get that two-by-four out of your own eye; only then can … Continue reading Seven Days of Scripture – Day 6 – Matt. 7:3-5
They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall … Continue reading Seven Days of Scripture – Day 5 – Amos 5:10-12 and 21-24
He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. OK, this one is just for fun. It’s probably my all-time favorite of the Proverbs, and has been since I first discovered it as a kid. I am not, nor have I ever been, a morning person. Neither, I gather, was Solomon. ‘Nuff … Continue reading Seven Days of Scripture – Day 4 – Proverbs 27:14
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This, of course, is Jesus reading Isaiah 61:1-2 at the time he … Continue reading Seven Days of Scripture – Day 3 – Luke 4:
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within … Continue reading Seven Days of Scripture – Day 2 – Isaiah 56:3-8
My college friend and sister-in-law Linda Martin just tagged me with the “Seven-Day Scripture Challenge.” It’s not complicated, it’s just to post seven scriptures that mean something to me, one per day, and then challenge two more people to do the same. Here are some that matter to me. Luke 12:48 (a fragment of it actually): “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much … Continue reading Seven Days of Scripture – Day 1 – Luke 12:48
Lots of folks, when they discuss the truth (or not) of faith, or when they try to sell Christianity to outsiders, spend a great deal of energy on issues surrounding the afterlife. The crassest version, but one many of us have encountered, is encapsulated in the question “do you know where you’d be if you die tonight?” The core message, of course, is that we’re … Continue reading Why do I believe? Part 13 — Not for Heaven’s Sake
With some frequency, some of my Bible-believing friends who tend toward the conservative end of American politics ask me how I can justify my more left-leaning political views. More than a few have expressed genuine consternation that anyone who believes in Jesus could possibly vote Democratic (as I often have), or could oppose certain Republican priorities (as I usually do even when I’m not happy … Continue reading How my faith impacts my politics
It’s been a while since I’ve written much on Open Theism, but a Facebook friend of mine, Jacob Matthew Hunt, has prepared an excellent reading list over at the blog The Greatness of the Open God. Take a look at the list here. Some quality stuff by some quality authors!
With the people of France and decent people everywhere, today I mourn the deaths of the editors, cartoonists, and staff of French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo. With the people of France and decent people everywhere, today I also condemn in the strongest possible terms, the murder of people who exercised their right to free expression in the public sphere. But in contrast to many decent … Continue reading Je ne suis pas Charlie
