The New Testament begins very Jewishly. After listing Jesus’ Jewish genealogy going back to Abraham himself, Matthew explains how Jesus’ birth fulfills what the Jewish prophet Isaiah had prophesied long […]
I was blessed to discover the riches of reading the Bible around the age of 16, and although I cannot directly recall the first time I read that footnote to […]
A few years ago, a family friend jokingly called me a philistine. In a modern context, the term is meant to imply a person’s willful ignorance toward culture. Being the […]
I love words. I love how they sound, how they interact, and how they bring your thoughts to life. I love words so much that every time I write something, […]
Luke 2 is the most famous Christmas passage in the Bible. Every Christmas pageant is based on it. Every nativity set is inspired by it. Linus even quotes from it […]
To speak of holy Baptism primarily as a legal necessity is to speak of it in a way largely foreign to the biblical witness. It certainly misses the register of […]
You need to make a big congregational announcement about your facilities, budget, hiring decisions, or a theological change. An email might be tacky and word of mouth feels dangerous. This […]
Where do you find Jesus’ birth in the Bible? The answer is the Gospels, but which ones? The two Gospels which begin with Jesus’ birth narratives are Matthew and Luke. […]
*Editor’s Note: Students of the Bible have often found themselves confounded by how to interpret sections of the book of Revelation, especially regarding Jesus’ second coming. Will there be a […]
The train’s whistle pierced the morning air as it thundered past young Douglas’s childhood home. But this morning was different. Through the settling dust, he watched a man—ravaged by leprosy, […]
What does it mean that “pride cometh before a fall”? Pride is inordinate self-exaltation. Because it forgets God and distorts reality, pride puffs us up only to eventually burst, as […]
After being part of the traditional American church model for over 40 years, we got moved by COVID into the backyard with our neighbors. While new people continued to show […]
