“…you must utterly destroy them…” (Deut 7:2)
Many people, non-believer and believer alike, regard the Old Testament as particularly bellicose. For many, in fact, this perception justifies a devaluation of the Old Testament generally or especially in comparison to the New Testament. This entry will examine whether the Old Testament deserves its reputation for ruthless violence, especially with Continue reading Concerning Violence in the Old Testament
Misconceptions continued (Lecture 4, final)
First Presbyterian Church, Richmond VA, Fall 2018
Matt 5:6
As naturally as apple trees bear apples, righteous people do the right thing. Indeed, citizens in the Kingdom of God, justified (made right) by the grace of God through Jesus, will seek out wrongs to make right.
English translations typically translate the Greek and Hebrew nouns dikaiosune and tsedeqah with “righteousness” and related adjectives with “righteous.” Unfortunately, centuries of usage in the contexts of piety and spirituality have given these terms the patina of interiority and other-worldliness. One hears them as references to purely Continue reading Hungering and Thirsting for Rightness
“Am I my brother’s guardian?” (Gen 4:9, my trans.)
The recent series of mass shootings, especially those at public schools, have brought the issue of gun control to the fore in public discussions. Many of the evangelical Christian voices in this discussion speak of the “right” to gun ownership, which obviously derives from the “right” to self-defense, as though both were “God-given.” I am increasingly Continue reading Is the ‘Right to Self-Defense’ Biblical?
“I will curse those who curse you…” (Gen 12:3)
I anticipated some negative reactions to the most recent blog entry and have gotten them. In it, I argued that the United States, driven largely by evangelical Christian misunderstandings of the Bible, effectively taking sides, treats Israel as though it were untouchable. Generally, objections center around Israel’s status as God’s chosen people and seem to reflect the idea derived from God’s promise of protection to Abraham that Israel enjoys almost untouchable status in God’s eyes. To be “on Israel’s side” is to be on God’s side; to Continue reading Is Election the Same as License?
One aspect of contemporary apocalyptic doctrine held by many evangelical Christians is the expectation that a “third temple” (counting Herod’s temple as a continuation of the second temple rebuilt in the early Persian period) must and will be built in Jerusalem prior to the apocalypse. It is but a component of Evangelical Christianity’s theological program Continue reading A Rebuilt Temple?
“Some speak rashly like thrusting with the sword, but the tongue of the wise heals” (Prov 12:18, my trans.)
Words can cut and wound. Words are groupings of sounds that represent ideas, actions, things, relationships. The aggregate sounds, themselves, have no essential “meaning.” They are conventions whose representations are tacitly agreed upon by native speakers of a given language. A given aggregation of sounds may, therefore, represent entirely different concepts in two distinct Continue reading Words that Cut
The sun will be turned to darkness…before the coming of the … day of the Lord.
Joel 2:31
Eclipses, hurricanes, and earthquakes have dominated the twenty-four hour news cycle in recent days and weeks. Total solar eclipses seem infrequent and are magnificent, but entirely harmless (unless, of course, viewed with the naked eye) and predictably regular; hurricanes and earthquakes, especially when of the magnitude of Harvey and Irma or the Continue reading Eclipses, Hurricanes, and an Integrated Christian Worldview