I think there’s a case to be made that the Lord’s Prayer has a chiastic structure: Opening (“Our Father, Who art in Heaven”) > > Glory – Kingdom – Power (“hallowed”=glory, “kingdom”=kingdom, “will”=power) — in all places (“on Earth as it is in Heaven”) > > > > Asking for two very important things (bread … [Read more…]
This is a delightful book, and if you have the chance to read it you should. There are plenty of satisfying insights, and the book brings Paul and his travels excitingly to life. It’s a short book (155 pages), and decidedly nontechnical (no index and just a few footnotes, mostly to the relevant verses in … [Read more…]
Happy Easter! He is risen! Some may ask, Is it really true that someone can go to Heaven, after leading a bad life, simply by repenting and professing one’s belief in Jesus Christ at the last moment, and without ever doing a good work? We know that apparently the answer is, Yes — because it … [Read more…]
What a ridiculous title this post has! Well, yes. It’s all Scripture and it’s all worth reading, and what business does anyone have ranking the different parts of God’s Word? And even putting it in terms of, “Which four books would you want to have with you on a deserted island?” seems a bit silly: … [Read more…]
This is just a brief post noting a similarity in the basic structure of the Old and New Testaments. In the Bible we Protestants use, both testaments begin with a founding core (the Pentateuch/Torah — Gospels), followed by some subsequent history (Joshua through Esther — Acts), and then a long series of books that are … [Read more…]
Did Jesus implicitly use an argument similar to Pascal’s Wager in his parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl (Matthew 13:44-46)? Here are the parables: 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he … [Read more…]
I had the idea one time for a post on “Most Difficult Bible Passages” or maybe “Most Disturbing Bible Passages.” I might still do that, and in any event my Exhibit A would be the topic of this post, namely when God in Exodus deliberately “hardens the heart” of Pharaoh so he won’t do the … [Read more…]
In the Genesis account of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac, I think most of us picture Isaac as a child: not a toddler, but not a teenager either, maybe around 10, give or take a couple of years. But what if he were older than that? Remember that Abraham was well over 100 years old, so … [Read more…]
Introduction Elsewhere on this blogsite, I have a post on “What Does Jesus Want?” that has, as one item on the list, that we are to follow the rules laid out in the Old Testament unless they are superseded by something in the New Testament. And, I then continue, it’s not enough just to follow … [Read more…]
Here are the rules that Jesus wants us to follow. Good news you can use, and please forgive the presumption! I’m not saying, of course, that you have to follow these rules all perfectly to go to Heaven. But I think it makes a lot of sense for Christians to think about what Jesus wants … [Read more…]