How to Use Greek and Hebrew Fonts When Blogging

Tyndale has a nice set of Unicode fonts that you can download with instructions at this link. This converts your keyboard into having Greek and Hebrew fonts. There is a little keyboard icon next to the microphone icon on that thin blue bar in windows. I keep mine to the left hand side and auto [...]

Being a Bar or Bat Nabas

In ancient Hebrew culture children were of supreme importance. A child was considered one of the greatest blessings God could give. They were means of passing on one’s identity, heritage and lineage. They were tied to the covenant promises (Gen 15:5). They were connected with obedience to the law (Exodus 20:12). They were lauded as [...]

How Often Do Bible Verses Make You Laugh Out Loud?

I just love this translation of Proverbs 6:6-11 in the NLT. How often do verses in the Bible make you laugh out loud?
“Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
Learn from their ways and become wise!
7 Though they have no prince
or governor or ruler to make them work,
8 they labor hard all summer,
gathering food for [...]

I Think I Lost “The Bible”

It finally happened. It is missing. The Bible I used through graduate school, studied for countless Bible classes with and took notes in from dozens of commentaries has come up missing. I cannot tell you how many useful notes, references, connecting/parallel verses, and background info/dates of historical significance were written in the margins of that [...]

UFC - Jacob vs. Esau

How clever and pretty well done all things considered…

Worship that Reflects the Heart - Walter Brueggemann

“It is a curious fact that the church has, by and large, continued to sing songs of orientation in a world increasingly experienced as disoriented.” - Spirituality of the Psalms, 25

Scriptural Repertoires - Gaining an Appreciation for a Broader Range of Scriptures

When I was in high school I had an English teacher who was preparing us for the AP English examination. She would teach us about essay writing and literature and would say, “Put this in your repertoire.” She would constantly give us handouts and I finally got a manila folder and labeled it “Repertoire Incarnate” [...]

What do KJV only and Samaritans Have in Common?

The Old Testament was actually written in two distinct types of writing/scripts - one older and one much newer. The Samaritans continued on the tradition of keeping the Torah written in the older text type even when other Jews transitioned to the newer. According to Wurthwein they viewed the newer text types as “a flagrant [...]

Are the Red Letters Any More Important Than the Black Letters?

If scripture is inspired and from God are the words of Jesus any more or less important than all the rest of the Old and New Testament? And for a related brain teaser - who is speaking in John 3:16? Does John the apostle begin to narrate his own commentary about the events or is [...]

Crucifixion of Jesus Christ - The Bigger Picture

The temptation when teaching about the crucifixion is to talk about the Romans, Roman courts, Pilate, Crucifixion, and prisoner release customs when dealing with the first 15 verses. Then in the verses that follow to discuss the suffering of Jesus and how he died for our sin (15:16-47). I want to suggest an alternative approach [...]