Some Christians are confused about Jesus saying to his apostles, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.9 NRSV). They think Jesus therein said he is God. Here’s how they reason: (1) the Father is God, (2) Jesus said he is the Father, (3) so Jesus must be God. Their mistake in reasoning is step two: Jesus said he is the Father. Trinitarian teachers quickly correct this, and rightly so. Why? Jesus and God the Father are presented... Read more
Today, for the first time in US history, its legal system has sentenced to prison the parents of their 15 year old son Ethan for his mass shooting that killed four of his fellow students at Oxford High School in Pontiac, Michigan. Parents James and Jennifer Crumbley, 47 and 46 years old, respectively, were sentenced to between 10 and 15 years of incarceration. They were charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent their teenage son from committing murder. Ethan... Read more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new rules today that will protect designated neighborhoods around the country from certain chemicals that industrial manufacturers have been producing and spewing into the atmosphere for decades. These chemicals include especially ethylene oxide, chloroprene, benzene, vinyl chloride, 1.3 butadiene, and ethylene dichloride. The EPA says over 100,000 Americans live within six miles of factories that have been churning out these airborne toxins that cause cancer. It is well known that poorer minorities, particularly... Read more
Some Christians have been confused about how to address their prayers. Should we pray to God the Father or to Jesus? Sometimes, Christians pray to God and call him Jesus, which, of course, is not biblical. God and Jesus are two different persons. Luke tells us that Jesus “was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them,... Read more
Stephan Jaegar broke through yesterday for his first win on the PGA Tour by shooting a three-under par 67 at the historic Memorial Park Golf Course to win the Texas Children’s Houston Open by one stroke over five players who tied for second place. One of them was Scottie Scheffler, the #1 player in the world, who was going for his third successive win on Tour. Playing together in the last pairing, Stephan finished the last hole and had to... Read more
Yesterday’s Good Friday and tomorrow’s Easter can elicit some deplorable history about Christian persecution of Jews because of the death of Jesus of Nazareth. Passion plays during medieval times were popular in Europe. They often depicted Jesus’s arrest on Thursday evening, his interrogation and condemnation by the Jewish Sanhedrin throughout the night, Roman Governor Pontius Pilate’s questioning of Jesus on Friday morning, and the ten stations from there to the crucifixion scene at Golgotha, with Jesus carrying the crossbeam of... Read more
Happy Good Friday! It sure didn’t seem that way to the eleven apostles, especially Peter, when they saw Jesus arrested late Thursday night in the Garden of Gethsemane by a contingent of Jewish guards from the temple at Jerusalem and Roman soldiers from its adjacent Antonio Fortress. Fearing for their lives, they fled the scene just as Jesus had predicted they would. He had quoted to them from Zechariah 13.7 by declaring, “You will become deserters because of me this... Read more
Yes, Donald Trump just announced he is selling a “God Bless the USA Bible” for $60 to raise money. It has the King James version (which is rather outdated) and a handwritten version and copies of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance. I wonder if it says, “Make America Great Again.” Actually, he’s added to it—”Make America Pray Again.” That’s what he said in his announcement. Now he’s got MAGA and... Read more
The Growing Rupture in American Jewry Peter Beinart writes in The New York Times today of “The Great Rupture in American Jewish Life.” He explains, “The emerging rupture between American liberalism and American Zionism constitutes the greatest transformation in American Jewish politics in half a century. It will redefine American Jewish life for decades to come.” This growing divide in recent decades has recently been exacerbated by the ongoing Gaza war that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is waging against... Read more
Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” film, released in 2004, was a most unexpected smash hit. It garnered over $600 million in box office receipts on a measly budget of $30 million. Gibson reportedly couldn’t muster support for the film concept in Hollywood and thus bankrolled it mostly himself. The film would have been a total dud since Gibson was hell-bent on filming it in the Aramaic language. But supposedly due to insider criticism, he relented and produced it in... Read more
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