Two Thousand Eight! It is coming to a close. It has been one heck of a year. What can I say about it...Well, first, it began in the pits of hell. An 18 year relationship ended like a supernova in the night sky. That sort of set the tone for the rest of the year. With many apologies to many folks 2008 when I learned to cry and cuss. I learned that many folks, preachers in particular, have no clue what divorce is like. To say it any plainer (more accurately) would require a stronger word that some would find offensive. There is no kinder way to...
Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
In our last post we noted the emergence of Campbell's Living Oracles. Though at the time it was reviled by fundamentalist preachers, especially among the Baptists, it has been viewed by scholars since in a positive light. Marion Simms classic, The Bible in America: Versions That Have Played Their Part in the Making of the Republic, makes this statement about the Living Oracles,"Campbell was a man of scholarly attainments, and it was the unsatisfactory...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
One of the bright gems in the crown of the Stone-Campbell Movement has, historically, been dedication to a Bible based on the best manuscripts available and in the best vernacular of the day. "Opposition to modern translations" has usually been more a fundamentalist trait than ours (see here). A vocal minority has produced some literature with some outlandish claims too. Foy E. Wallace, Jr., for instance, produced a huge tome titled A Review of...
Friday, December 19, 2008
What do you think of around Christmas? What do you normally see at a Nativity ... even one at a church? There are usually animals. Mary, Joseph, Wise men all have there place. There is usually a star of some sort. And of course there are angels. Most Nativity's are a whole lot of Luke with a little bit of Matthew thrown in for good measure. The opening of Matthew's Gospel is considerably different than Luke's. He opens with that seemingly irrelevant genealogy (its not by any means!). We are then confronted with a scene that is horrific in...
Friday, December 12, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Churches of Christ were, seemingly, birthed in hermeneutical controversy. Alexander Campbell expended considerable effort on pointing to proper methods of interpretation of Scripture. As years went by more and more focus was placed upon some sort of "pattern" within the Bible and especially the New Testament. "Patternism" has been incredibly divisive throughout our history and continues to be with one group of Patternists contending that the other group of Patternists have invented patterns where there are none. What is interesting with...
Sunday, December 7, 2008
What a dangerous title! I am after all a "preacher." Here it is Lord's Day afternoon and I got home a little while ago. Here sitting on my couch lamenting BAMA's loss (but hey it was a great football game. Florida over Sooners!) reflecting for a brief moment upon what I have done on this day. I gathered with God's People in the Presence of his Majesty. We opened the "book divine" to hear afresh the empowering, liberating and convicting Word...
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
We often hear today that our world is undergoing, or has undergone, a worldview shift, that is from Modernism to Postmodernism. Some wail and bemoan that Postmodernism has caused the church to forsake sound doctrine for some cream puff political correctness. But could it be that the Postmodern shift is actually forcing the People of the Cross to recover sound doctrine that was sacrificed on the altar of Modernism as we became such a "cultural church"...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Well it is that time of year again. The mountains are brown. The saguaros are thinner. The coyotes and mountain lions are prowling. And the palm tree in lights has reappeared in Corona commercials. Yep, it can only be Christmas time in the desert. Every year people ask about a couple good books for the minister, elders, or just the reading disciple ... and for themselves. It stands to reason that most books are simply junk. Millions of titles...
Monday, December 1, 2008
What a holiday weekend! I have had Rachael and Talya all weekend long. We cooked Big Bird together (an 18lbs Turkey!!). We made home made stuffing (inside Big Bird). We made home made mashed potatoes. We had rolls (not home made) and pie ... we had fun peeling, chopping, cooking and finally eating. Thanksgiving was very different this year but it was still very good. I have never cooked any of those things before but now we have. The girls...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Beginning With A StoryA couple of high school sweethearts had been dating for a while. He was nervous and she was shy. That night sitting on the swing he decided to "boldly" make his move. "Can I kiss you goodnite?" She looked at him adoringly and simply gave him a big smile but said nothing. Not knowing how to interpret such language he thought maybe he said it badly. "MAY I kiss you goodnite?" Once again she dazzled him with her smile and...
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Courage to Do the RightIn 1958 a group of college football players at the University of Buffalo rejected a bid to play Florida St in the Tangerine Bowl because two African-American players on the team would not be allowed to play. Here is a video of the boys turned to men fifty years later. It is one of those many hidden victories for the kingdom of God. Watch this short video:It is often the youth that show us our blindness. Here is a longer article about these men of valor. The article is on ESPN.com called "All or Nothing." We still...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
I share this post with a degree of hesitancy because many so are emotional to nearly the point of irrationality this subject. Any reasoned critique is seen as an attack.The origin of this post is the hundreds of emails I have received in the last week or so about the election of Barack Obama. Chain mails, forwards, email list ... all with one thing in common. Some of the most recent emails hail the the notion that we are not a "Christian Nation"...
Friday, November 14, 2008
Here, There. Everywhere: Weekend ReadingsHere are a collection of writings on the net that range from interesting to challenging and all points in between.Did you read of the Pastor's "Sex Challenge" to the married couples of his congregation. Find it hereIndia now joins the elite few of nations that have landed on the moon (here)OPEC thinks oil is getting to cheap (here)N. T. Wright's speech "Paul's Gospel and Caesar's Empire" bristles with insight into numerous Pauline texts (here) Maybe the gospel is political after all ...Walter Brueggemann's...
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How It Died (HarperOne, 2008)In the modern era, Christianity has been viewed as a “western” religion. And in particular it has been almost seen as European and now “American.” This has profound implications. Perhaps we are almost taken in this direction because of the Book of Acts traces, for theological purposes,...
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Beatles - Top Ten Non #1sOk last Friday I posted a video and promised to list the best of the Beatles tunes that did not hit #1. This has proven to be a difficult exercise for me because there are so many songs that I like. The criteria was fairly simple: The song had to be performed by the Beatles and could not have have been included in 27 number 1 songs on the CD The Beatles 1. So I have collected my CDs, surfed YouTube, and jammed. One is struck by the breadth, development and (in my opinion) the quality of the music that in a few short...
Friday, November 7, 2008
The Beatles were innovators. One area was making a video for a song. "Rain" is one of my favs that did not reach #1 nor was it ever released but was the "B" side of Paperback Writer. In a few days I will be listing the "Best Beatles' Tunes" that did no reach #1. I have been struggling with this list for a few days because there is such a great and diverse body of work. Be thinking what your list would have for the Top Ten NON-#1 Beatles tunes. Happy Friday,Bobby...
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Thoughts on President Barack Obama: A Historic ElectionWell it is, thankfully, finally over! We can all collectively exhale at least for a couple of months before some one decides to start campaigning again. This election, regardless of political affiliation, has been historic. The major candidates for the Democratic Party were a woman, Hillary Clinton, and an African-American, Barak Obama. The Grand Old Party (Republican) broke great new ground...
Monday, November 3, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Out loud Musings on JudeGood commentaries on Jude are few and far between. Richard Bauckham's in the Word Biblical series is the best I have seen. Of course there are numerous mediocre commentaries but the good ones are a little rarer to find. There are a number of helpful articles on Jude out there too. There are a number of issues that surround this small letter. Significant issues in fact. I have come to the conclusion, based both on the actual...
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Redeemed refugees should make good neighbors. This is the point of the vast teaching in the Bible on justice towards the poor and the oppressed.It has been noted that God's people are often characterized as aliens within this fallen world. Near the beginning of the story, God's people were literal slaves, literally without rights, literally without justice, literally without hope. There arose a Pharaoh who oppressed them and suppressed their growing...
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