Sometimes the Bible tells us not to accept certain outrageous things, and we wonder to ourselves, “did churches really need to be told that?” The answer is yes, they did. So do we. For example, Paul once said that no one speaking by the Spirit could say certain things. “Wherefore I give you to understand, …
Scissors and Library Paste
And now we come to a cautionary tale about what happens when a theologian is left alone with scissors, library paste, and a Bible. Greg Boyd is done with the hard work of letting the ski boat of hermeneutical silliness get him up on the surface, and he is now jumping the wake and doing …
On Being Too Hard on the Christians
I remember a commercial from many years ago that featured a football coach in the locker room at half time, and he was chewing out his team in a royal way. They had missed that tackle, they had screwed this up, they had failed to do something else, and so on. Finally, after a good …
Staggering Backward
Isaiah gives us a good description of what it is like to be ruled by those who have been struck with a judicial stupor. He also describes what it is like when a people are liberated from that rule. “The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful” …
A Greece Fire
The difference between secular conservatives and secular progressives is that the conservatives talk sense without a foundation, and the progressives talk nonsense without one. Take the truism that you cannot indefinitely spend money you don’t have. The secular conservatives believe that reality is not optional, but cannot give a thorough or consistent account of that …
The Touchdown Dance with the Fist Pumps
I noticed some interesting connections this morning in James 2. Believers are told not to have faith in Jesus in a way that displayed “respect of persons” (v. 1). The meaning of this is illustrated by the scenario he sets for us. If some resplendent rich guy comes into your church, a potential big tither, …
Father of Mercies
INTRODUCTION: Under the direction of God, in recent years we have been led to redouble our efforts and emphases on what we call mercy ministry. Whether it is a continuation of our labor in the Ivory Coast, or a new field for mercy work in Myanmar, or locally through Sabbath House, we have been given …
Two Kinds of Mammon Folly
There are two kinds of folly when it comes to our attitudes toward money and the poor. The first is the only one that is usually recognized — the supercilious “let them eat cake” attitude. Scripture clearly identifies this as a very basic folly. But the other is also very common, and loves to robe …
Never Want Wherewithal
In my Lord’s Day readings, I came across two comments on generosity and giving that I thought would be edifying to pass on. “Then they took them, and had them to Mount Charity, where they shewed them a man that had a bundle of cloth lying before him, out of which he cut coats and …
Sell the Car, Champ
Let me begin with a definition of zero-sum thinking with regard to wealth, which I have referred to in this space a number of times. Zero-sum thinking assumes (in unbelief) that the amount of available blessings is necessarily fixed, and that it therefore follows that if one man gets a larger piece of the pie, …