Tag Archives: pattern

How NOT to Understand the Bible

In my last post I wrote about the common sense principles for interpreting Scripture. At this point, I thought I’d focus on poor ways to understand God’s words. These are approaches to Scriptures that really exist, and are used by some—but not … Continue reading

Posted in Christian Leadership, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel and Peaceful Coexistence

Peaceful coexistence was doubtlessly an enticing concept to the Israelites. Since shortly after leaving Egypt they had been at war. They had fought their way through the wilderness and then, after crossing the Jordan, they had fought a war of complete … Continue reading

Posted in Bible commentary, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Following Jesus into Places We Might Not Expect, Back to the Scriptures

We still sing “Anywhere With Jesus” in our hymnal and I’m thankful that we do. It’s a wonderful reminder of what discipleship has always supposed to have been about— following. It’s easy to forget these days, you know. In a … Continue reading

Posted in Bible commentary, Christian Leadership, Christianity, New Testament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

About Prophetesses

In a post a short while ago I spoke about women’s roles in the church. It generated some good questions, one of them was about the prophetesses of 1 Corinthians 11. The answer to this question deserves something more than a … Continue reading

Posted in Bible commentary, Christian Leadership, Christianity, Church Growth, New Testament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Getting “20/20 Foresight”

I’ve been listening to a class from Yale on the history of western civilization. It’s been interesting on a number of history-geek levels, but one thing that really has struck me has been how certain pivotal events in history didn’t … Continue reading

Posted in Bible commentary, Christian Leadership, Christianity, Church Growth, New Testament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“…But what Does the Bible say about that?”—Leadership and Gender in the Church

Many in the religious world around us now include women in leadership of their churches—in both worship and day to day leadership. The world, of course, applauds this taking this path as an enlightened evolution of religion; but the world has … Continue reading

Posted in Bible commentary, Christian Leadership, Christianity, Church Growth, New Testament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Who Are We; And What Are We About? (part 1)

A youth minister that a few of our old-timers will remember, Reid Moon, was fairly famous for his questions that seemed to come right out of left field—that would make you think a little deeper. One of his more famous … Continue reading

Posted in Bible commentary, Christian Leadership, Christianity, Church Growth, New Testament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

About Easter

If you’re not a regular church-goer, or just not an especially religious person, you might wonder what all the fuss is surrounding Easter. And even if you do come to church regularly you might sometimes wonder the same thing, even … Continue reading

Posted in Bible commentary, Christianity, New Testament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

King Josiah of Judah

[This posting can also be found on another blog of mine, Bible 101, and is offered here as a sample of that series of posts, in case you’d like to follow that one, too.] I hope you had a blessed … Continue reading

Posted in Bible commentary, Old Testament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Authentic Humility

Humility is a sneered-at word. Who wants to be humble? It is equated with weakness, being a victim, and impotency. Pride, on the other hand, is envied, vaunted, and promoted. Why? Possibly because we’ve often misunderstood what humility is. This … Continue reading

Posted in Bible commentary, Christian Leadership, Christianity, Church Growth, New Testament, Parenting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment