The Bible and Culture

All sin is properly speaking against God, even if it is committed with or against another human being. Nevertheless, as James Mays stresses, sin always has social implications---“the notion that a person could sin without injuring others is inconceivable in the Old Testament. The Old Testament knows of hidden sins and unintended sins but not of private sins that neither concern nor affect others….apart from God’s relation to all human acts, there would be no sin. Sin is essentially a theol … [Read more...]

PART ONE Heaven heaved And God came down, Riding on the wind. The mountains trembled The earth it quaked The trees began to bend.Fire and ice Thunder and lightning Accompanied the condescension Who could stand Against such forces Who had comprehension?In anger fierce His nostrils flared Color suffused his face The God of all creation Came to show he cared.PART TWOHe rescued me from chaos waters, He plucked me from the sea He put my feet back on dry ground At … [Read more...]

I am currently working on a book on the Psalms and their uses in the NT. The Psalms can certainly prompt some deep reflection, and one such psalm is Ps. 34, which reads as follows----1 I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. 2 I will glory in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 3 Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who … [Read more...]

Jaroslav Pelikan was perhaps the greatest church historian of the second half of the twentieth century. His body of work speaks for itself. For a good deal of his life he was a Lutheran but eventually he joined the Orthodox Church. Here is an interesting reflection of his about Christian tradition (including of course Protestant traditions, though many Protestants seem to be oblivious to the fact that they have traditions and not just the Bible).“Tradition is the living faith of the dead; … [Read more...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKCYLmch0q4It is one of the great mysteries of rock and roll history as to why it took until 2016 to put Chicago in the rock and roll hall of fame. They should've been in on the basis of their first two double albums if nothing else. It just makes no sense. There must have been a huge amount of blow back because of all those power ballads in the 80s, which were different than the early records. And somehow they survived both the unexpected loss of Terry Kath … [Read more...]

Let me be clear from the outset, I'm not a technophobe. I realize the world has become technology dependent, and as a writer, I am as well to a real extent. But what this post is about is not letting technology, and in particular your smart phone out-smart you by stealing your life away. What I mean by this is technology, and in particular smart phones prompt obsessive compulsive behavior. It really isn't necessary to text your BFF, or whoever, multiple times, with drivel and trivia and cute … [Read more...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuEjHzOIgBESequels are rarely equals to hit movies. This is my maxim for today. This is especially the case when there is a considerable time lapse between the original movie (in this case in 2013) and the sequel, and all the more the case when you change the cast of characters, in this case the female member of the 4 Horsemen is not the same in this summer's release of Now You See Me 2, hence continuity issues for OCD minded viewers. So, how do you overcome … [Read more...]