When I was growing up, my mom would from time to time offer me a “t.l.” or “trade last.” She’d explain, “Somebody said something nice about you to me, and I’ll tell you what it was, but first you have to tell me something nice someone said about me.” I never heard anyone else use … [Read more…]
The top two commandments are to love God and to love others. See Matthew 22:37-40: “Jesus said unto him [i.e., a Pharisee — and a lawyer, to boot — asking Him what was “the great commandment in the law”], Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy … [Read more…]
My regular, as opposed to spontaneous, prayers each day include grace at each meal as well as the Lord’s Prayer and one prayer devoted to each of the four classic categories, spelling A-C-T-S: one for adoration, one for confession, one for thanksgiving, and one for supplication. I’m not bragging, by the way — far from … [Read more…]
I was drawing a timeline of human history for my grandson, and was struck by a pleasing symmetry: The Patriarchs lived around 2000 B.C., and of course we live around A.D. 2000, and right in the middle we have the birth of Jesus. I’m not submitting this as proof of anything, and of course one … [Read more…]
Two random notes from the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 7:1 is sometimes triumphantly quoted by anti-Christians: “Judge not lest ye be judged.” Along the same lines, so is Jesus’ injunction in John 8:7, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” But the passage in Matthew and the incident of the rescued … [Read more…]
The Old Testament volume here was highly recommended by a very good friend who knows his Bible, and I then discovered that there was a New Testament volume following the same approach, so I checked them both out on interlibrary loan. Good move on my part! I think these would be excellent reference books for … [Read more…]
I’m a lawyer, and this short post makes a few points about how interpreting the Bible is like and unlike what lawyers do. *** Among the major similarities are these: Two major lawyer activities are interpreting texts and making arguments (including counterarguments) about what texts mean. The latter skills, significantly, require you to learn to … [Read more…]
The more complicated theological questions raised in the Bible are also less important — of an intricacy disproportionate to their interest. Professional theologians instinctively and understandably will not want to concede this. But, indeed, the really important question is, What does God want us to do? And the answer to that is not complicated or … [Read more…]
I checked out this book after reading a convincing recommendation of it by a young online pundit — and I’m glad I did. The whole book is online here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8092/8092-h/8092-h.htm#link2H_4_0012 G.K. Chesterton is, of course, an important Christian writer and apologist, his writings influencing, among others, C.S. Lewis. Now, this particular book is simply a … [Read more…]
Most of my (non-family) attention is divided between politics and religion, and I’ve been thinking about the similarities and, especially, the differences between the evangelism in each. For Christians, of course, evangelism is an important and serious business, mandated by God Himself in His “Great Commission.” Political types also seek to make converts, but not … [Read more…]