Ben Stanhope drew the above photo of a display at the Creation Museum to my attention. It is truly illustrative of the character of young-earth creationism. They claim to be all about the Bible, and yet they can’t be bothered to get the Biblical text correct in a display like this one, and don’t know enough about the Bible – and the language that not only Exodus and Deuteronomy but Genesis was written in – to get it right. How many errors can you spot?... Read more
The bible is getting more loving as time goes on. Here is the number of times the word “love” appears in different English translations of the bible along with their publication dates: 1611 Authorised Version (KJV) 310 1963 New American Standard Bible 348 1978 New International Version 551 1989 New Revised Standard Version 538 2002 The Message 585 It seems we are getting more loving as time goes on! The above appeared as a post on the blog Ecalpemos, and... Read more
The episode begins with the Secretary General of the UN coming to Bill Potts looking for the president, to which Bill responds that she doesn’t know the president and wouldn’t have voted for him, because he’s orange. On the one hand, I wonder whether future generations will get the reference, while on the other, I am surprised that orangeness was Bill’s big criticism of Trump. But even if the allusion feels like a missed opportunity, it was a nice comical... Read more
This was an argument that I had not heard before. Any suggestions on how to weave it together with the Egyptian theology that viewed cats as divine? Read more
The article from which the quote is taken is worth reading in its entirety. Here is another excerpt: Some people are confused about how certainty and uncertainty can both co-exist at the same time in science, while too many opportunists (creationists and climate change deniers for instance) are ready to pounce on shreds of uncertain knowledge in the peripherals to declare the entire edifice uncertain and hollow. As science communicators, I think that we still fail to convey this co-existence of... Read more
Liz Theoharis writes: Keeping in mind these emphases of Deuteronomy, we can grasp the liberative dimension of Jesus’ words in Matthew 26:11, “you always have the poor with you.” After an unnamed prophetess anoints him to be ruler of God’s kingdom, Jesus responds by quoting to his disciples from Deuteronomy 15:11, which is embedded in one of the most radical Sabbath and Jubilee prescriptions in the Bible. Deuteronomy 15 says that there will be no poor person among you if... Read more
Steve Wiggins wrote the above in a recent blog post. Click through to read the whole thing. Read more
I was supposed to join in a blog tour about the new NIV Faithlife Study Bible, but got overwhelmed. But I still want to make sure that I mention it, because I have to at least share what got me excited about this study Bible. As is often the case with such volumes, it was was an infographic: I’ve blogged about artistic renditions of ancient Hebrew cosmology here on the blog before. But this seems particularly appropriate to mention on the... Read more
Via Peter Head on Facebook. Which is the blank page? The one that says it is – and as a result is not? Or the one that does not claim to be blank but is? Read more
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Defamation of Character in Biblical Interpretation
Kerry Connelly wrote in a recent blog post about a commentary on the story about a “sinful woman” in Luke 7: Wait. What? We don’t need to blacken Simon’s character, but it’s totally cool to call the woman a whore even if there’s no evidence of it in the text? We can construct an entire narrative around her life as a prostitute, and her expensive oil that could only have been purchased through her elicit activity, but let’s make sure... Read more