Ending with the Beginning in Mind

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “Begin with the end in mind.” It was popularized in Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, but it’s not a new concept. It means that instead of just letting your life unfold, buffeted by forces around you, with the result that you end up not some...

The Human Cost of Tabernacle and Temple, Part 2

 In the last post I wrote about how Solomon’s temple as well as the palace complex, which were all part of one big building project—was built on injustice: the forced labor and heavy taxation of most Israelites except the rich nobles around Jerusalem; the accumulation of extreme wealth by Solomon and those...

The Human Costs of Tabernacle and Temple, Part 1

Exodus is a pretty good book, especially at the beginning and the end. There’s a baby hidden in the Nile, the burning bush, Moses trading tricks with Pharaoh’s sorcerers, the plagues, the Red Sea crossing, manna, and all sorts of other really good stuff. Then you get to chapter 20 and things slow down a...

He Said to Follow Him

We have different ways in which we speak of what a person does with Jesus when they become a Christian. We ask them to believe in Jesus, or accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, or trust him, receive him or some combination of those. We also talk about worshiping Jesus and following Jesus. All these are...

So, Maybe I’m an Atheist?

It’s a curious thing that the first Christians were called “atheists.” That’s right, atheists. Obviously that wasn’t because they didn’t believe in the existence of any god; it was because they didn’t believe in the existence of any of the Roman gods. The earliest Christians confessed that Jesus, and only...