Premise: Christians believe that God wants us to love one another and, even prior to that, to love Him; salvation also requires that we accept Jesus Christ as divine. See, e.g., John 3:16-18 and 14:6. Now, it is commonly argued that it seems very unfair that someone who leads a good life, full of selfless … [Read more…]
Joseph Epstein is what used to be called, and I guess still is, a “man of letters.” That is, he is a writer of his own books, essays, and shorter pieces, on a wide variety of nonscientific subjects, as well as a literary critic. If you’ve run across him lately, it’s probably through short columns … [Read more…]
There are a variety of plans for reading the Bible in a year but — call me a cynic — I bet it has happened more than once that a person embarking on one or the other fails to finish the Bible by December 31. Let’s face it: The Bible is a pretty long book, … [Read more…]
These two books were cited in one of the extensive (and valuable) endnotes in the excellent Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald T. Tacelli. Since the two were mentioned together and cover similar subject matter, but with each taking — as Kreeft and Tacelli put it — “a very different view,” I thought … [Read more…]
John Knox (c. 1514-1572) was a Scottish minister and Reformed theologian, who was a leader in his country’s Reformation and, indeed, the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. This book is one of the “Long Line of Godly Men Profile” series, other titles of which I’ve also reviewed on this blogsite. The idea of … [Read more…]
My wife and I recently went to see a new performance — revival, if that’s the right use of the term — of the 1971 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. This was part of the show’s tour, so we were just lucky to see it so close to Resurrection Sunday, and it gives me the … [Read more…]
Our church recently concluded its sermon series (also noted here on this blogsite) on the book of Exodus, so herewith are some thoughts. First, when you think about it, while of course Genesis discusses the origins of Judaism with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Exodus is the first book about the Jews as a … [Read more…]
There are of course many valuable truths and insights that are not found in the Bible. There’s not a word in it, for example, about the Pythagorean Theorem. And the fact that the Bible contains many valuable truths and insights is not proof that it is Scripture. Poor Richard’s Almanac is not Scripture, for example. … [Read more…]
It cannot be an accident that the Gospel of John starts with the phrase “In the beginning” — just as Genesis does. The first two words (in koine Greek) of both John and the Septuagint are, En arche. This invites a comparison. One could analyze the entire first chapters of the two books, but I’ll … [Read more…]
I had the thought that is the subject of this blogpost the other day, and I’m not sure it is really God-related. But perhaps there is some connection to, say, Genesis 3:16 (NLT), and in all events it may be evidence of Providence in the way God made them male and female. Anyhow, here goes: … [Read more…]