Theology for Everyone

Some Bible passages are perplexing. That may be an understatement. We wonder about some of them. Like unruly children who cannot be harnessed and corralled these passages too are hard to handle. When we have finished our daily chores and obligations we ponder them. Better than the illustration of...

There is an interesting view that circulates around the church about the Holy Spirit. It goes something like this. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit did not indwell anyone but only remained with people. However, in the New Testament the Spirit literally dove into His work. In other words, He...

Roald Dahl provided for my wife and I, when we first got married, a proper philosophy of home with his memorable instruction, “Please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away. And in its place you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall.” 2019 saw many more books added to that...

Have you ever wondered why Matthew 1:23 quotes Isaiah 7:14? Perhaps the ready answer is that the quote substantiates the virgin conception and birth of Christ, which is true enough. However, the text raises a number of questions. For instance, why did God promise a virgin conceived and virgin born...

In Anthony and Cleopatra (3:2) Shakespeare described it as the “ green sickeness”. In Othello, he called it the “ green eyed monster ”. Immanuel Kant described it thus: “inherent in the nature of man, and only its manifestation makes of it an abominable vice, a passion not only distressing and...

At face value, the 9 th commandment could be read as merely a prohibition against committing perjury or lying under oath. However, this commandment encompasses so much more. According to both the Westminster Shorter and the Baptist catechisms, “The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and...

…he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. John 12:6b NKJV We often consider stealing to be a minor sin. Especially if it is only shaving a few dollars off of our tax returns, borrowing a few items from work, adding a few minutes on our timecards, remaining a...

Anyone who might still hold to the classical liberal perspective that the God of the Old Testament was this angry, vengeful, “bad-hair-day” deity that frankly hated everyone and everything ,while the New Testament Jesus was a veritable hippie, spouting free love and holding forth no judgment of any...

The sixth commandment is “You shall not murder.” (Exo 20:13), [1] or, in the memorable KJV, “Thou shalt not kill.” The later vividly captures the word picture of the original, meaning, “to slay, or strike down”. The former is, however, more precise given occasions when taking life is authorized...

I’m not a morning person: I struggle to sit up, let alone stand up—and to think, let alone thank. My wife is similar. She jokes that she was known in college (due to long days and nights studying) to grumble back at “Good morning!” with, “Good morning for you , not for me !” I too often roll out of...