Bible Accuracy

One of the truly amazing facts about Bible history is the phenomenal accuracy that characterizes the text.  Take, for example, Luke’s two New Testament documents, Luke and Acts.  These books combined constitute more than a quarter of the bulk of the New Testament. Within these narratives the author is very specific with reference to historical data including persons, places, and titles. 

In the book of Acts, Luke mentions 32 countries, 54 cities, and 9 Mediterranean islands.  He also lists 95 people by name, 62 of which are not named elsewhere in the New Testament (Bruce Metzger, The New Testament: Its…

    In one of my all-time favorite novels, Jayber Crow, the title character believes he’s received the lofty call to preach the Gospel. Unfortunately, Jayber’s idea of preaching is limited to “spending a lot of time reading and living in a town with shady streets and being well-loved and admired by the congregation.” When he inevitably finds out how flawed his conception of preaching is, he quits his ministry before it even begins and pivots to a career in barbering.

    I think Jayber’s initial conception of preaching, while almost laughably shallow, might be the dominant one in our culture. Many…

The Sixth Commandment

“Thou shalt not kill.”  Exodus 20:13 is often cited as a prohibition of homicide in all circumstances, which is patently absurd given the multiple crimes with mandatory death penalties under the Law of Moses.  In fact, this is sometimes pointed to by skeptics as a “contradiction” in the Bible.  So what does this passage actually mean?  What is being prohibited, why is it wrong, and what broader principles are there here for us to learn?

As we have previously noted, this passage may not be read as a prohibition of the taking of human life in all cases, because…

The Best is Yet to Come

There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So, as she was getting her things in order, she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, which scriptures she would like read, and which outfit she wanted to be buried in. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important…

    In Kenya, it is not uncommon for children to walk many miles to school. However, some do not lollygag around—they run! Why? Well, a reporter at the Sydney Olympics may have inadvertently stumbled upon the answer as he questioned Kenyan Kip Lagat. He wanted to know how Kenya kept producing so many great distance runners. Did it have something to do with their training? Lagat replied with a tongue-in-cheek laugh, “It’s the road signs: ‘Beware of lions!’” 

    My mom used to warn me about strangers. Do you think a Kenyan mother tells her children, as she hands them their…

    Have you been to the funeral home? Does your car break down? Has anything ever been stolen from you? Do you ever get sick? Have you had the frustration of buying something, and it quit working the day after the warranty expired?

    All of these questions illustrate one truth: this world is a decaying, rotting, disintegrating place in which to live. No matter how hard one tries, things still break, robbers continue stealing, and people still die. This world is, quite literally, going down the drain.

    Amazingly, mankind chooses to ignore the obvious. What many people seek the most,…

The Bride of Christ

Marriage is universal and timeless. The ancient world knew marriage just as modern man does, and even in cultures foreign to us the ceremony may look strange, but marriage itself remains a constant.

It is no wonder, then, that Jesus uses marriage as an example of the relationship between himself and the church. Since marriage is so timeless, all generations can understand how we relate to Christ and how Christ relates to us in a very tangible way.

The Holy Spirit, through Paul, draws a parallel between marriage and the relationship between Christ and the church in Ephesians 5:22-33.

The…

When Comfort Becomes a Master

Sometimes it’s dangerous to find ourselves being too comfortable in our life. May sound strange because most of us spend a great deal of life trying to become more comfortable. We want financial stability, peaceful homes, easier schedules, fewer problems, better health, and less stress. None of those things are wrong by themselves. In fact, many of them are blessings. But blessings can quietly become our masters. Comfort becomes dangerous when it starts deciding what we will obey, what we will sacrifice, what we will avoid, and how far we are willing to follow God. It…

    “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Tim. 1:15, ESV).

    Imagine what a comfort that was to Paul. According to 1 Timothy 1:13, he had been a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. According to Romans 7:8, his major downfall was covetousness of every kind. According to Exodus 20:17, the kinds of covetousness include coveting your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s servants, your neighbor’s goods, even your neighbor’s wife. Despite being a Pharisee and even blameless (Phil. 3:6), Paul knew his own…

Is God Dead?  An Answer in Song Form!

One of my personal favorite hymns we sing at church is “Our God He Is Alive.” I like this hymn for many reasons. The message reminds us that God exists and He plays an active part in our lives, while also being a good summary of the story of the whole Bible. But when I learned the background behind it, I appreciated it even more. “Our God He Is Alive” was written by Aaron Wesley Dicus in 1966, the same year Time magazine published a cover story titled, “Is God Dead?” In the…