A Prayer to Prepare for Easter
This is a guest post from my good friend and colleague Dr. Randy Millwood, Church Services Consultant for the Maryland/Delaware Baptist Convention, FBC Frederick member, and best Real-Beard Santa Claus in the world. He wrote it as an email to the ministers of BCMD for Maundy Thursday, but it speaks to our situation on this Holy Weekend and so I offer it to you, with the necessary alterations, to help you in your preparation for Resurrection Day. In the Christian calendar, the Thursday of Holy Week is...
A Maundy Thursday Prayer (Psalm 88)
Despair is difficult when the Resurrection hovers nearby. For two millennia the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection have been told and retold, celebrated and feted. Everyone knows how the story ends. It doesn’t end with “It is finished.” Rather, with “”Why do you look for the living among the dead? He isn’t here, but has been raised.” It’s difficult, therefore, to read the Passion–the betrayal, the arrest, the beating, the mocking, the...
The Relevant Temptation
The other day our son Austin asked Pam and me if we had ever gone through anything like the COVID-19 pandemic before. The answer, of course, was no. These are unprecedented times. People are fearful, anxious. Angry. Some are complacent. Some are in denial. We are isolating ourselves from each other. If ever we needed a word from God, it is now. As one who weekly speaks to people about God, on behalf of God, and maybe, every once in awhile, delivers a word from God, I feel the weight of that need to hear...
You Don’t Learn Wisdom From a Book Like Proverbs
Let’s talk about the Book of Proverbs. Hey, wait, where are you going? Get back here! Sheesh, hear me out for a second. I know it doesn’t sound very exciting, but hang on, I’m gonna bring on the excitement in a minute. Well, no, probably not, but hang with me for a second anyway. The Book of Proverbs has been called “God’s Instruction Book for Life,” which sounds awesome. Not content with that pithy title, another person said, “Proverbs is actually a book of instructions on how to live a life pleasing...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Nov 10, 2016 | 3 comments
The New Testament writers never seemed that concerned with who happened to be Caesar at any particular time. This may not seem like a big deal, but, besides the fact that who was Caesar had considerable impact on their lives, it’s in stark contrast with the Old Testament writers. To read the Old Testament is to be very aware of who the various kings are. My guess is that most people reading this can...
Christian Reaction to the ...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Oct 25, 2016 | 7 comments
4th in a series of posts on a dynamic vs. static view of Scripture. See Parts One,Two, and Three. Nowhere is the difference between the static and the dynamic views of the Bible more evident than in the ongoing evangelical debate regarding roles in marriage. The traditional view, called the Complementarian view, sees the roles as tied to gender and fixed in Scripture. In its most rigid form, the husband...
Male Headship and Mutual S...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Oct 17, 2016 | 3 comments
When my children were young, I made them do things, or prevented them from doing things. It was great if they wanted to do the things they had to do, but it really didn’t matter. If I decided they needed to do something, I made them do it. If they didn’t, there were consequences. I tried not to be bossy. I’d ask them nicely, and if they didn’t want to do it, I’d try to persuade them. But if they still...
How to Heal a Human Heart
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Oct 12, 2016 | 1 comment
In the last post I observed that there are places in the Bible where God is capricious and volatile, acting in a way that is inconsistent with One who is described as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Not that he merely appears to be these things, but that he is clearly acting in such a mercurial fashion. This is how, in these places, the Bible is...
The Unstuck Bible: Recogni...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Oct 11, 2016 | 1 comment
If God never changes, then why does he seem so different in the New Testament than the Old? Everyone sees it. Readers new to the Bible are disturbed by it. Experienced Bible readers develop reasoned explanations for it which seem sound in general but which tend to become strained when looking at specific texts. I’m talking, first and foremost, about the wrathful, vengeful God of the Old Testament vs. the...
Why Does God Sometimes Act...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Sep 27, 2016 | 0 comments
By the time of Jesus, the Old Testament was closed, i.e. it was determined that nothing new would be included in the sacred writings of the Hebrews. The Torah was five books, not six; Moses was dead, so how could there be more anyway? Besides, five is all that is needed, they said. Psalms? There are a hundred and fifty to choose from, that’s more than sufficient. If they sang three each Sabbath, it’d be...
The Testament That Comes A...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Sep 19, 2016 | 2 comments
You should stop reading the New Testament. Just stop it. Not forever, mind you. Just for a while. Just long enough to read the Old Testament. Several times. Then you can go back and read the New Testament, and when you do you’ll find that it makes a whole lot more sense. You’ll find that some things that previously were head-scratchers now are clear. You’ll find you really just have a surface level...
Why You Should Stop Readin...
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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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