We’re not as beautiful as we should be because we live in a sinful world, where even the creation groans as it waits to be made new. That includes our bodies. We instinctively know that when we watch Dove ads. We might be more beautiful than we think, but we all know we’re not as... Continue Reading

Should believers try to bring back the good ol’ days in order to combat worldliness in our own day and make it easier to live in this world? No. Easy living as a believer now is a myth. So what should we do? On the private level, we should read our Bibles and pray, then... Continue Reading

After finishing the text, frankly I was floored that anyone would mention it in connection with Genesis 39! My conclusion is that biblical scholars who mention “The Story of Two Brothers” when writing about Joseph in Potiphar’s house are giving into the overwhelming desire to tell someone, ANYONE! about this interesting literature they are reading,... Continue Reading

How many of our ancestors (political ancestors if not literal ones) broke the law when they came to this country, or when they pushed irrepressibly westward? I’m not just talking about the occupation of lands inhabited by natives who had little understanding of property ownership. I’m talking about the refusal of Americans over and over... Continue Reading

So, what lessons have I learned? There is a certain amount of overlap in these. For example: my Gnostic tendencies regarding place also found a home as I considered competition and balance. Finding your voice as a preacher and being authentic in ministry are nuanced distinctions of a principle that must be worked out in... Continue Reading

Driscoll and Huguley both rightly say, “The pastor’s wife is simply to be a Christian church member like everyone else.” Agreed. But, coupled with the lists of needs and challenges, this statement seems contradictory. The pastor’s wife in their articles appears both deserving of special treatment and, at the same time, crippled in her efforts... Continue Reading

Mounce seems to think that gunai (“woman,” in the vocative case) is essentially untranslatable because in his view, “it misconveys so badly.” Now let’s stop and think about this. Someone is reading the Bible, preferably in one of the translations that Mounce dismisses for translating gunai as simply “Woman.” In his view, the problem with... Continue Reading

And the mandate problem is going to pale in comparison to the trouble that awaits the federal government when trying to implement a law that affects millions of Americans and one-sixth of the economy. The economy is too big, too unwieldy, and too complex for the technocrats to manage. Yet a cadres of mediocre politicians... Continue Reading

We don’t talk about the “healing” type of confession in the Church very often. In fact, we have built a religious system that tries to find healing through hiding our sins, not confessing them. The sins we do confess are “safe” sins: bitterness, jealousy, materialism, anger and selfishness. I was the master at this. I... Continue Reading

John Calvin, who also faced persecution, had this to say about the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel: “[N]othing can be safer than to make God the guardian and protector of our life. For we ought not to expect to be preserved from every danger because we see those holy men delivered; for we... Continue Reading