Son His science project’s home is here; Its title is, “The Bean.” Heliotropically, ten plants veer, Then toward the window lean. Back to the desk my gaze then goes And finds a truth I’ll limn: His confirmation picture shows I’m leaning, too, toward him.
If you have decided that you want to read the Bible, and have never looked at it before, here are ten things to keep in mind. 1. The Bible is not just one book but 66 books, of greatly varying length, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. More than three-fourths … [Read more…]
1. All Scripture is Scripture, but it’s interesting to think about the differences among the authors’ backgrounds and how that might influence their writing. For example, consider the range of education among the various New Testament authors, with Paul and Dr. Luke at one end, and maybe fishermen Peter and John at the other. I’ve … [Read more…]
That’s the title I gave to this piece I wrote for National Review Online (posted April 2, 2007). Here it is: Pasquale in the Alley Religion in black and white. By Roger Clegg — April 2, 2007 Pasquale was the smartest guy I knew, so when I had my doubts, I went to him. He … [Read more…]
At a Bible study meeting, someone commented on how “packed” Paul’s letters were. That got me to thinking how the circumstances under which something is written might influence both style and content. A letter written with time constraints (and maybe material ones, like a shortage of affordable paper) and for some specific crisis would indeed … [Read more…]
If you believe in good and evil, if you believe that your existence has purpose — then you believe in God. So the Christian outcome is not only a reason to believe; if you believe, then the outcome must also be true.
I wonder if a lot of theology shouldn’t be more tentative, given for example the ambiguity of some Scripture to us and the unknowability to us of much of God’s handiwork. Thus, for all we Protestants know Mary could be the “Queen of Heaven,” but no Catholic can know that for sure. And, with many … [Read more…]
Westerners are so used to thinking about the God-man relationship in the Judeo-Christian way that we forget there are all kinds of other possibilities. A god might have a variety of different personalities, of varying degrees of sophistication; and the degree of concern he might have with the fate of humanity could vary widely, too … [Read more…]
[Or: “What Would Jesus, a Real Man, Do?] How should we think of God as we go about our daily lives? The starting point that immediately suggests itself is that of a present father. He does not want us to be timid and cowering, but grateful and joyful, loving not only Him but also focused … [Read more…]
Christianity must be chosen, not forced, if it is to save a soul. And one can have a strong faith for oneself and believe it to be wrong to force that faith onto someone else — both because it will not save the other person’s soul, and because each individual ought to respect the choices … [Read more…]