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I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. There are passages in the Bible that are hard to understand. We puzzle over them, read Bible commentaries, listen to Christian leaders we trust talk about them, and still we end up scratching our heads. This is...
God’s kind of love is the highest kind of love. It is unconditional, freely-given, abundant, never-ending, and steadfast through all circumstances. “What can separate us from the love of God?” Paul asks in Romans 8. “Nothing,” he says. Not the most powerful person on earth, now or in the future. Not death...
We’ve all heard sermons and lectures about surrendering to God. We’ve sat through plenty of Sunday School lessons about surrendering to God. There are books about surrendering to God. We sing songs about surrendering to God: “I Surrender All.” It’s in our religious vocabulary. Surrender your life to Jesus....
When I interpret Scripture I go through a process, almost second-nature by now, that includes, suspending my assumptions about the nature of the Bible; not letting my previous instruction about a passage inhibit something new and different coming out; letting the original writers have their voice and their...
In the last post in this series on interpreting the Bible, I noted that the New Testament writers are all in agreement that Jesus is the fullest revelation of the nature and character of God. This naturally raises questions regarding the nature of Scripture, inspiration, and Jesus’ relationship to the Old...
Racism was the central problem in the New Testament, and the church was supposed to be the solution being lived out in the world. The hostility between many Jews and their attitudes toward Gentiles that we see in the gospels was racial hostility. It was deep, and it was dark. These Jews had categories of...
Free to be Your Best Self
God’s Offensive Love
If Surrendering to God is a Biblical Concept, Why Isn’t it in the Bible?
The Only Real Reason to Read the Bible: Part Seven of “How I Read the Bible, And So Can You!”
Jesus, Inspiration, and Revelation: Part 6 of “How I Interpret the Bible, and So Can You!”
Ending Racism is Central to the Church’s Mission
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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