1 Cor 8:1-13
Category Archives: love
For God So Loved
John 3:1-17
Keeping the Commandment – 1 Tim 6:6-19
A sermon preached at Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond VA
9/30/19
Sharing in God’s Dilemma
Jer 8:18-9:1
A sermon preached at Grace Baptist Church, Richmond VA 9/22/19
Concerning Violence in the Old Testament
“…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
Faith Must Take Root
Now, concerning the (seed) sown on rocky ground: it is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, but it does not take root. It is temporary. When trial or persecution comes because of the word, it causes that one to stumble immediately (Matt 13:20-21)
I wonder whether it is more accurate to describe the church today as shrinking or to appeal to the old distinction between the “visible” and the “invisible” church invoked frequently during the Reformation. Then, it referred to the supposed distinction between the members of an institutional church, which may include some who have not truly taken up Continue reading Faith Must Take Root
On Being Useful vs. Suffering Abuse
According to this morning’s news, the Paige Patterson/SWBTS saga continues. Its prominence in the news cycle has focused my thinking on Jesus’ call to self-sacrificial love both as properly understood and also as commonly misunderstood. Continue reading On Being Useful vs. Suffering Abuse
Spousal Abuse and Biblical Interpretation
Eph 4:21-33
A couple of weeks ago, the Baptist Blogger posted a video of a sermon preached in 2000 by fundamentalist SBC leader and president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Paige Patterson. In the sermon, Patterson related a story about a woman who sought his counsel concerning how to deal with her abusive husband. He advised her simply to pray, Continue reading Spousal Abuse and Biblical Interpretation
Is Election the Same as License?
“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?
Words that Cut
“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