“Far more is involved in learning how to do this than just making a list of words that can be used — whether never, occasionally, or all the time. Someone who has a generally pietistic cast of mind cannot just throw a word in here or there — that would be like trying to play …
To Win Christ
[Speaking of Phil. 3:8] The King James is better than most, translating one particular word here as dung. The word is skubalon, and means in the first place some kind of animal excrement. And this verse helps show the problem we are in–Paul does teach elsewhere that we are to avoid filthiness in our speech, …
Urged to a Life of Love
“The truly astonishing thing for many modern readers (were we to notice) is how Paul continues. Right after he says that he wishes his theological opponents would overachieve and cut off more than they were currently advocating, he then goes on, in the next breath, to urge the Galatians to a life of love. The …
Metaphorical Foundation Stones
“A man’s words reveal, first, the man. The words are not the man, and yet they reveal him faithfully. Out of the abundance of the heart the man speaks. The foundational nature of all language is therefore metaphorical because every word a man speaks reveals him–just as God reveals Himself though His Word. Every word …
Choosing Sides
“Also we should look very carefully at what he actually says here; we are to be kind to one another. Sheep are to be kind to sheep. Shepherds are to be kind to sheep. But if a shepherd is kind to wolves, that is just another way to let them savage the sheep. Kindness to …
Nicer Than God
“Before we can answer this question rightly, we have to ask it rightly. This is one of those situations where even to ask the question–“How do we tell the right time for satire and the right time for tenderness?”–answers those who want to say that there is never a time for polemical speech. But of …
And Lo
“I have sometimes thought about writing an article advocating the courtship model found in the book of Ruth — work hard in the field at harvest, have enough to drink to make the heart merry and sleep sweet, go to sleep on the threshing floor, and wake up in the middle of the night to …
Audio Reading of Post
Real Discernment
“Not only is the fashioning of deity hard physical labor, it takes a good deal of shrewd discernment. It is not just anybody who can look at a log and see which end of it should be used for cooking dinner and which end should become the object of worship and adoration” (A Serrated Edge, …
Sugar Levels
“When God rebukes Job our of the whirlwind, Job has the humility and sense to cover his mouth with his hand, thoroughly abashed. But modern evangelicals chatter on. They have embraced the theology of the foolish women Job mentioned at the beginning of the book, and, judging by the posters in their Bible and bauble …
A Place of Dubious Honor
“The Bible even goes in for a little bimbo humor. ‘As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion’ (Prov. 11:22). Here, let us consider the parable. Is feminine beauty worth anything? Absolutely, between three and four hundred dollars an ounce. But what is her lack …