In a democratic society there is no greater or more powerful argument for a position than that it is the majority view. Majority positions are not just descriptive of a particular group, but go even further by implementing that position in a concrete way. In this way, we might say that the majority has the ability to make something true. If the majority decides that X ought to be the case then, on the level...
If you are like me and spend too much browsing around on the internet, you have probably run into this video: It’s quite entertaining because even though its ridiculous its not quite clear that this guy isn’t serious. If it wasn’t for the clips edited in on the end it could very well be confused for an earnest attempt to “appreciate” an art piece. To be absolutely clear: its not an art “installation.” Its an unfinished clean...
I should admit from the outset that my own convictions concerning end-times events is pretty unformed. That being said, I have become unconvinced that what has become known as “the Rapture” is actually found in the Bible, at least in the way that I was taught growing up. In other words, I don’t believe that the New Testament teaches us that Jesus will remove Christians from the earth prior to his final appearing (the Parousia). I’ll...
A very interesting article floated its way through my Facebook newsfeed this week in which Greg Laurie offers his thoughts on why the United States “the one nation that is strangely absent [from the End Times scenario] is the United States of America.” More specifically, it seems that Laurie is puzzled that it is not mentioned “by name” or by some other definite means of identification. You can find the full article here: http://blog.greglaurie.com/?p=8931 It...
I think about problems spatially. I often find myself producing graphs or diagrams or drawings that, in my mind, make everything perfectly clear only to show them to someone else and be shocked by their confusion. Even abstractions get turned into pictures for me. This is especially true of the work I am now doing as a New Testament scholar (am I allowed to call myself that yet?). Most of my day is spent with my...
In a couple of weeks I will be giving a short sermon on the subject of forgiveness. I knew from the outset that this was not a “safe” topic for me. Forgiveness does not come easy for me, especially in the places that it really matters, that is, in the places where the perceived wrongs are very real and very painful. I have also realized that “forgiveness” is not something that I have ever thought...
This week as I was perusing my Facebook news-feed the following quote surfaced: “Humans motivated by lofty ideals are capable of inflicting great suffering with a clear conscience.” – Paul Hollander The concept intrigued me, but I was immediately curious about the original object of Hollander’s critique. Is he interested in the effects of “lofty ideals” as such, or was there something more particular that he had in mind? I was interested to find that in its...
As a good Protestant I was always taught to be grateful for, but suspicious of the first, fiercely devoted to the second, and un-threatened by the third. When Tradition is found wanting it can be remolded; it is malleable where the other two are not. Scripture is cast in stone. It does not change and therefore should not be changed. History is… history. It doesn’t exactly change either, but where its claims and interpretations run...
“At this point the reader who desires to follow us is expressly begged to discard, as far as he possibly can, any conceptions he may have formed of Pauline doctrine. Among all the innumerable Christians of the various churches, who believe that they share Paul’s views, there is to-day no single one who could be said to understand them in the sense in which they were meant; and the same is true of those who...
Anyone who has spent significant time in Christian circles has either heard or pondered the problem of the un-evangelized individual. The problem is usually phrased as a question: What happens, hypothetically, to someone who dies without ever hearing about Jesus Christ? There is a story behind this question: An all good, all loving, all powerful God exists. In order to come into the right relationship with Him it is necessary to accept the Lordship of...
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