Chuck Blanchard is back blogging at his old location, “A Guy in the Pew.” Thanks to The Lead for drawing this to my attention Read more
Chuck Blanchard is back blogging at his old location, “A Guy in the Pew.” Thanks to The Lead for drawing this to my attention Read more
Notice that they worked in the James Bond theme towards the end, as I did in this mash-up I made last year: Read more
I had a question from someone I know mostly via the blog and Facebook, and asked permission to share it. Here is their question, followed by my answer. How would you respond to them? I wonder if I could pick your brain a bit? Perhaps you might have a helpful perspective. My daughter is 9. She is deeply analytical, but also very comfortable with her emotions. She has struggled for a number of years with believing in God, ie, she... Read more
Zainab Khan has a guest post on the Patheos blog AltMuslim, about a bullying volunteer at a mosque school. If you read the post, I think you will recognize the situation, whether from a mosque, church, or secular setting. Often we allow our institutions to be held hostage by volunteers and donors – we become dependent on the donations or efforts of such individuals, and thus refrain from offering criticism when it is needed, because we fear that we’ll lose... Read more
A few days ago, a list of verses that supposedly prove Jesus was a liberal circulated. Being a liberal myself, you might expect me to be delighted by such a list. And indeed, I’ve sometimes clicked “like” on such things or passed them on, because they can provide a useful counter to those who assume that all the evidence points to Jesus having been conservative. But the truth is that lists allegedly proving Jesus was an adherent of any modern... Read more
When I saw that there would be a Patheos Book Club on Rabbi David Zaslow’s book Jesus: First-Century Rabbi, I knew I had to participate. Not only the subject of the historical figure of Jesus, but also the relationship of Christian origins to its Jewish matrix, interest me both professionally and personally. The cover material of Zaslow’s book suggests that it is about the historical Jesus. If one reads it with that expectation, there will probably be some disappointment. Rarely does... Read more
I had a commenter on this blog suggest that 2 Timothy 3:16 says “All scripture comes from the mouth of God”. The actual statement there refers to all writings being “God-breathed” – or perhaps the usefulness of “every God-breathed writing.” There has been a lot of debate about how that phrase should best be translated, and what it means. It struck me that people insist that that statement as they understand it declares “the Bible” inerrant or something like that. And... Read more
Some Doctor Who humor from last year. Read more
I saw this picture a few days ago. It was apparently supposed to be “Breakfast with Santa.” Either way, does anyone know how it went this morning? Did a guy in a red suit turn up, and if so, which one? Read more
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