Category Bible
Owed
Romans 13, verses 1-7, is particularly vexing for a believer who values liberty. On its face, it tells the Christian to submit to governing authorities. Fair enough; in a free nation this is both logical and right. What about under a tyrant, or, in worst cases, evil tyrannies such as the Soviet Union or Nazi […]
Jimmy Carter’s Bible
Jimmy Carter is one of my least favorite people. His incessant bleatings against Israel amount to anti-Semitism. What else to call a double standard where Jews must be perfect and Muslims excused for heinous behavior? As president, he was an abject failure, second only to the incumbent in his cluelessness. So, John Luke, you don’t […]
“poor, nasty, brutish, and short”
Thomas Hobbes (the fellow not wearing a New York Knicks uniform) may be best known for this quotation from his work Leviathan: Life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short…a warre of every man against every man.” This might be seen as an argument for liberty, but is actually an argument for the social contract […]
The narrow gate
Today’s Bible verse is Matthew 7:13-14: Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few. These […]
John the Calvinist
There are many verses in the Bible that make at least one fact clear: God chooses whom He shall save. Not me, not thee. Our free will? We exercise it, yes, but our mightiest efforts can not change that which God has ordained. A very strong example, from John the Evangelist, my namesake, verse 6:44: […]
Peer pressure
Fifth graders have been receiving Gideon bibles at their school in Tennessee (story here). Handed out by their teacher, with the admonition that the kids weren’t required to take one. Yet being called up, in class assembled, row by row. Think there might be some peer pressure? The ACLU, natch, has challenged this bible distribution […]
I’m gonna sue
It is said that we are a litigious society. Much too quick on that legal trigger. I just happened across what may be a first: a man has sued Bible publishers for, well, publishing Bibles. The story at WND is from last year, but this moke is claiming many years of “emotional distress.” Seems this […]
Excluded
“Gallery invites visitors to deface Bible” is the headline. And, this is exactly what happened, although it was (perhaps) not intended. From the story: The Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow has invited art lovers to write their thoughts down in an open Bible on display as part of its Made in God’s Image exhibition. […]
Submit to government?
Romans 13:1-5 is trotted out in many churches for patriotic occasions, to remind us to submit to our government: 1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, […]
John 6:44
I tend to over-think things. Those things include citations from Scripture, which I (usually) insist need to be carefully weighed in context, to avoid accepting things that are logically not possible. Yes, yes, with God all things are possible. But, contra to many atheists, God is never illogical; it is we humans who are. And […]
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