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When did Bethlehem become the “city of David”? That title had always been given to Jerusalem. Forty times in the Old Testament Jerusalem is referred to as the city of David, and no other city in the Bible is ever called by that name. Until Luke’s gospel. “Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in...
One day Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem when he is approached by ten men who had a highly contagious skin condition known back then as leprosy. They approached him but kept their distance. This was because for a long time leprosy was thought to be highly contagious. We know now that it isn’t. If what the...
Interpreting Scripture is a wonderfully complicated endeavor because the Bible is a complex compilation of literature. Interpretation is art and science. It’s a craft that takes many years to learn and is never mastered. Beware those who claim to have mastered it. It’s rarely biblical scholars who make such...
There is a story in the Bible about a woman who is caught having illicit sexual relations outside of marriage. The charge is undeniable, the guilt unquestionable, and the penalty indisputable: death. And thus she is condemned. But in an odd and surprising twist, her accuser and the man with whom the...
Something interesting happens whenever I talk about grace, forgiveness, and acceptance. People push back. As much as we like those things, as much as we need those things, as much as we realize that they are central to our faith as Christians, we seem to want to qualify them. To put an asterisk by them....
The typical reading of Jesus’ encounter with the Woman at the Well (John 4:5-30) presents her as a “loose” woman, a serial divorcee (five times!) who is currently shacking up with a man in an illicit unmarried relationship. Because of her well-deserved reputation for immorality she is shunned by all the...
Bethlehem: City of David?
The One Unchosen
When the Bible “Clearly” Says Something
Tamar and Being Caught in Adultery
Grace Unbalanced
Blaming the Victim: Rethinking the Samaritan Woman
Welcome!
I am a lifelong student of the Bible, and have been a pastor for over twenty-five years. My desire through this blog is to help people see things in the intersection of Scripture and real life that they might have missed. The careless handling of the Bible is causing a lot of problems in our churches and our culture--and is literally turning people away from the church, and, sometimes, God. I hope to treat Scripture with the respect it deserves, and, even if you don't agree with what I say, give you some insight.
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