There have only been a couple of brief times in my life when there wasn’t any dog in the house. For most people, it goes without saying that dogs are great companions, entertaining, and protective. But their loyalty is legendary and often puts us to shame. Even if we take them to the vet, which… Continue reading»
Have you ever noticed that evil never creates or initiates, but only reacts? Recently there was a report of atheists un-blessing a highway with “unholy water”; the Christians do something and the anti-Christians try to undo it. The name “atheism” itself is a reaction, an anti-stance, a mirror image. Criminals destroy what others build up;… Continue reading»
It used to be that employee management was called the personnel department, but then it was changed to human resources. Most people don’t think about the name change, but in my opinion it was deliberate (by some at least; others would dispute this): to devalue human beings into mere resources, cogs in wheels, things to… Continue reading»
My dad was a music major in college, and he told of a prank the students used to play on a certain music professor. They would wait till the prof was on the top floor of the building, then go to the basement to play the scale on a piano– but omit the final note.… Continue reading»
Almost two years ago I wrote one of several posts about fallacies, and today I came across a prime example of “illegitimate totality transfer” and/or “one meaning”, and possibly a few more. Though the premise of the article is easily dismissed on its face, it’s always good to give specifics and know why something is… Continue reading»
There’s a good and concise treatment of the issue of apostle regarding Junia here, including a list of all the other links in the series. I’ve written before that the essential meaning of apostle seems, from the examples we see in scripture, to be primarily that of what we now call a missionary, but more… Continue reading»
This oft-uttered bit of Christian jargon comes primarily from James 4:13-17 about people being too self-assured. But it has become an excuse to go to the other extreme: we do nothing, we decide nothing, we control nothing, we are responsible for nothing. It’s the ultimate fatalism, bearing its most ripe and obvious fruit in the… Continue reading»
I just left my last “Christian” board, and I’m not the only one. People no longer know how to discuss anything of importance, follow a train of thought or argument, disagree with civility, or separate the argument from the person. The boards run rampant with double standards, gossip, and betrayal, not to mention heresy and… Continue reading»
Rev. 2:9 and 3:9 speak of people “who claim to be Jews though they are not”, and there is much controversy over who these people were. But this phrase came to mind due to what seems to be a veritable tsunami of eagerness for Christians, most of whom were never Jewish, to immerse themselves into… Continue reading»
In my previous article I wrote about the fact that altars and sacrifices, pulpits and preachers, etc. send the message that Jesus changed practically nothing in this life. But it raises another question related to the one we ask near every national holiday in the US about whether Christians should celebrate secular holidays based on… Continue reading»