In Seeking the Truth, Beware of “Bold Subterfuging”

Truth is a big deal these days. Not that it hasn’t always been, but we’re in a bit of a truth crisis right now. Getting at the truth has always been a challenge, even when everyone is playing by the rules and honestly seeking truth. But that isn’t always the case. There are a lot of people out there writing...

The Surprising Reason Chronicles is in the Bible

Why is the book of Chronicles in the Bible? It was written after the book of Kings and covers much of the same material, from the end of Saul’s reign until the final destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. Chronicles tacks on at the very end that Cyrus the Great of Persia allowed the exiles to return to...

Do I Want to Be Poor in Spirit?

Why in the world would anyone recommend that we should seek to be spiritually poor? I’m intrigued by the many interpretations of Jesus’ first Beatitude (“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”—Matthew 5:3) that present spiritual poverty as necessary to salvation. This line of...

Rejecting Jesus for All the Wrong Reasons

I’m tired of people rejecting Jesus for all the wrong reasons. Whatever else you may say about the Romans and the temple leaders in 1st century Israel, at least they rejected Jesus for the right reasons. Pilate and Caiaphas may have been power-hungry, exploitative, greedy, fearful, violent and...

Joseph and the Egyptian Slaves

In most ancient literature, the heroes tend to be very good, with few flaws, while the villains tend to be very bad with few redeeming qualities. Not so in the Bible. Jesus’ disciples are good guys with major flaws—Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denial, Thomas’s doubting. Paul is a former murderer. David, a man...

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