Plowshares Into Swords, Or Swords Into Plowshares?

What do you do when two verses are in obvious conflict with each other? I’m not talking about apparent conflict or even factual inconsistencies but when one verse uses the exact same words to as another to say the completely opposite thing? As if one is saying, “No, that’s wrong, here’s what is really going...

What Killed Jesus Will Kill Us Too

History repeats itself, they say. They’re wrong. We’re just too stubborn to learn from history. The Maccabean period of Jewish history, which started with the revolt led by Judas Maccabeus in 167 B.C.E., is crucial in understanding the times in which Jesus lived and the New Testament was born. It also has a...

How a Normal Person Moves Toward Evil

The first and most basic step toward doing something evil is when you consider another person as something less. Less godly. Less good. Less human. When Europeans decided Africans with their superstitious religions were less godly, with their cannibilistic ways were less good, with their primitive jungle...

Las Vegas and Our Culture of Violence

Note: This is adapted from a 2015 article I wrote after the massacre of nine African-Americans in a Charleston church. Sadly, I didn’t have to change much to adapt it. Once again we are reeling in the aftermath of another mass killing, the worst one in U.S. history. As usual, we also have to listen to the...

Should the President Heed the Sermon on the Mount?

Do you want the leaders of our country to follow the Sermon on the Mount? I’m not asking if you think they should be compelled to, or if the Sermon on the Mount should be made the law of the land along with the Ten Commandments and other parts of the Bible. This isn’t about religious liberty or whether the...

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