I’m just looking at a few passages that show the lunacy of reading the text out of context. Because text minus context is subject to all manner of distortions. And the highest concentration of such instances where woodenly literal reading leads to error if found in the book of John.…
Category: Discipleship
Wooden Reading is for Wooden People
I was speaking with someone dear to me the other day when she decided to take the topic of discussion over to world events, namely the current conflict in Israel. I have had several such talks with her over the years, and I have tried to avoid stepping in any…
Adam to Ahab to Homer Simpson
I believe that most major doctrines in the Bible can be traced back to Genesis. I say “most” because I am not prepared to say “all” but if I were a gambler, I would say that the over/under on this matter would be that all major themes in the Bible…
Dispensationalism and the American Way
Some of you might be old enough to recall an interview that Tucker Carlson conducted with Vladimir Putin. In this interview, Tucker asked a few questions regarding the war against Ukraine and Putin spent quite a bit of time talking about historical events going back hundreds of years. The average…
Battlestar Galactica: What we Lost
Now I don’t intend to take you back to the 1970’s Battlestar Galactica. Rather, let’s go back about 20ish years to the remake, which is available on a few streaming services, possibly with a fee to watch. I happen to think that it’s worth it. Anyhoo, on Amazon, if you…
Tempted in Every Way
Sometimes it seems like the temptations around us are so insurmountable that the only reasonable thing to do is to succumb to them. God understands what we’re going through, right? Yes, yes He does. In fact, Jesus has been tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin. Don’t…
Monday: Jesus cursed the fig tree
Odd, I don’t recall this being presented to my childhood Sunday School class… Holy week has days with significance. Yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus entered the holy city on a donkey. The scriptures were fulfilled in this act, and the people also recognized the symbolism of…
Idolaters All
As humans, made in the imago dei, we were all created to worship, and that is what we all do. We all seek something greater than ourselves to pay homage to, and there are no exceptions. Some worship celebrity, some worship comfort, some worship an idealized version of themselves, some…
The Ark and the Darkness
We went to see “The Ark and the Darkness” last night in the theaters. I enjoyed it, with a few caveats. It shows the pre-flood world as a time of apostasy. It shows the flood as a violent event that demonstrates the justice and wrath of a holy God. It…
Funny, When I said this I was berated by my pastor
As Christians, we are called upon to have a Biblical worldview. A Biblical worldview is defined as a view that seeks to view the world through a Biblical lens. We all have a worldview, so no sense in trying to declare yourself to be neutral. The question is whether it…