In his book, Scripture and Discernment, Johnson encourages us to take a more midsrashic or rabbinical view of scripture. By midrashic he means “the entire complex process of searching Torah in the light of contemporary circumstance, for insight into either law or life.” He also says that our study and interpretation should be shaped by […]
Men and Women: Different Brains
Newsweek has an interesting article about a new book that argues that the differences between men and women can be traced back to their brains. For 20 years, first as a medical student at Yale, then as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, then as director of the Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic at […]
August 6, 2006 by 10 Comments
Tulsa World On Blogging
Bill Sherman has written a nice piece in the Tulsa World about blogging and religion. The article says I don’t blog about controversial issues. I bet some of you will disagree with that!
August 3, 2006 by 9 Comments
Where Do You Start?
What began as the relaying of a conversation I overheard and my initial reaction to it has grown in the comments into a much more important discussion on evangelism. Mainly, where do you begin when sharing the gospel with a skeptical seeker or seeking skeptic? (They are slightly different animals you know.) I think most […]
July 24, 2006 by 42 Comments
Rooting for the Skeptic
Yesterday, while at Panera Bread, I had the privilege of overhearing a conversation between a skeptic and a couple of Christians. If I hadn’t heard this myself, I would have never believed it had taken place. The two Christians were trying to evangelize this skeptic and he was having none of it. They asked him […]
July 21, 2006 by 26 Comments
Sabbath
Monday is usually my day off. Actually, it’s almost my day off. I have a hard time leaving the computer alone and staying away from email. This past Monday I tried to make my a day off real Sabbath. I didn’t touch the computer, didn’t read an email, and for good measure, I didn’t turn […]
July 19, 2006 by 5 Comments
Slow Down
Dear Mr. Say-Your-Phone-Number-Way-Too-Fast-While-Leaving-a-Message-Guy: Why do you leave chatty, interminable messages on machines and voice mail and then as you’re signing off say your phone number so fast that I have to rewind and listen to the message three times before I get it? It sounds like someone has just pointed a gun at you and […]
July 18, 2006 by 10 Comments
Decision Making in the Church
Consider this from Luke Timothy Johnson’s Scripture and Discernment: Decision Making in the Church: On any number of issues it is simply impossible to reconcile what New Testament writers have to say on the same subject. The answer to the question, What does the New Testament have to say about X, is often, It depends […]
July 13, 2006 by 13 Comments
To Enjoy or not to Enjoy?
We had a great time in New Braunfels. The water park was beautiful. The smell of BBQ from nearby grills filled the air. We finished up our day with a feast at Rudy’s. As I was floating down a lazy river on my tube I thought of this quote from Our Father Abraham: Dualism brought […]
July 6, 2006 by Leave a Comment
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons