Have you been reading Genesis wrong all your life? One Wheaton College professor would have you think so. Specializing in the Ancient Near East (ANE) literature, especially the biblical Old Testament, Dr. John Walton provides colorful and controversial views on the ancient story of the beginning. He wrote them down in book series that have […]
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In the past, I have shared tools that I use to help me read the Bible. The tools really do help clarify certain concepts and help improve accuracy. This third iApologia Podcast, I will use some of those tools to help shed light on a tough passage: 1 Corinthians 11:17-33. This passage is ripe for […]
Maybe it has been ongoing for centuries, but atrocities against Scripture seems to be a norm in today’s contemporary church. The simple are deceived, the wise annoyed and the power of the Gospel is lost. Opinions are formed and preconceived ideas are read into the Scripture. Going to the Bible is more of an act […]
A recent conversation got me concerned. The ideas were not new to me, but what was interesting was the volley of ideas that kept coming, kept coming without biblical justification. A Christian of a number of years, explained it is not good when Christians have “head knowledge”. In other-words, we should not study the Bible […]
One biblical passage that seems to stump people is from Luke 16:1-14 (see below), where Jesus tells a parable of a rich man and one who was hired to manage his goods. Big Picture First we have to remember this is a parable and it is meant to convey a big picture message. The first […]
A depressed man once randomly opened the Bible for God’s will for his life. A verse caught his eye “And Judas hung himself…” Horrified, he again opened randomly, “Go and do likewise”. Dejected, he once more flopped it open, “What you must do, do quickly”. Fictitious story, sure. However, people do these types of foolish […]
Are Christians supposed to be “peculiar people?” At first blush this might seem true, and it is in some ways (1). However, it is false if one means that we have to be “strange”, “weird”, or “peculiar.” Biblical exegesis seems to be the issue here, the Bible passages are being confused on who is doing […]
We already talked about description vs. prescription. I want to give you a good example of this thinking in process. It is the story, “description”, in Jeremiah 35 about the Rechabites. Rechabites. This group of people obeyed their “father” by living in tents, not drinking wine and not planting crops. God blesses them because of […]
These “big thoughts on Christianity” have been rattling around in my head. These are areas in my life that I have been trying to work on. Hope you can also put these principles to use! Focus on Scriptural Integrity. 1) Reading passages/verses in context reduces error and poor exegesis.2) Coming to the Scriptures to understand a concept, […]
I have heard said that “knowledge puffeth up, so we should not study the Bible,” it causes pride and we should not have pride. The Bible really does say that “knowledge puffeth up”. However, this reasoning transgresses the first principle of exegesis by taking a teaching out of context. Also it is self refuting. The […]
