Posts Tagged "bible"

Is the NIV truly “Apostasy in print”? As a pastor, I often get questions about the Bible.  This is a good thing, of course, not only because people need a place to go with questions, but also because it gives me the chance to study topics and ideas I may not normally have the occasion to explore. Now, I’ve also realized that “theology” isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so a steady diet of it isn’t always the most helpful thing to be posting, at least not one hopes to reaching more readers!  So, I’ve decided that when I have questions or topics that come up that tend towards a more academic or scholarly feel, Thursday will be the day to post them. Why Thursday?  Because it starts with a “th” just like...

Do you ever find yourself reading the Bible, but not really “getting much out of it?” There are certainly lots of different ways to approach it, but these are some things I’ve found helpful to consider when I study.  Enjoy! - Pastor Phillip   Did you like this post? >> If you haven't already, click here to subscribe and have new posts delivered right to your inbox. >> Also, why not use the buttons below to share it with a friend, or click here to leave a comment and join the conversation! Related PostsWhen the world tells you what you lack…We live in a world that tells us to compare. Compare ourselves with our friends.  Compare ourselves with what we see on TV and in the movies.  Compare ourselves with "statistics" to find

“What does he know that I don’t?” David, the writer of Psalm 119, says, “How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.” (Psalm 119:103) Granted, there are some nice things in the Bible, but really, “sweeter than honey?” Here’s what David understands that we often miss when we read the Scriptures.  ALL of the Bible is good news. Good news that God made the world a beautiful place and will return to make it new again. Good news that God made a way for Adam and Eve and has made a way for us. Good news that God is always faithful to His people no matter how long they wander in the desert or how far they go. Good news that His commands lead to life, and life abundantly. Good news that Jesus is the...

Why bother with the genealogies in the Bible? For most of us (myself included), it’s hard to really “get something” out of the long lists of names scattered throughout the Bible. However, with a little digging, you can find some pretty interesting things. For instance… Matthew 1:1-11 records the genealogy of Jesus Christ. I was told that in the original Greek language in which it is written: The total number of words is evenly divisible by 7. The total number of letters is evenly divisible by 7. The total number of vowels & consonants are also divisible by 7. The number of words that begin with a vowel is divisible by 7. The number of words that begin with a consonant is divisible by 7. The number of words that occur more than once,...

New years are new chapters in the stories of our lives. For me, the dawn of a new year is always an exciting time to look back and see what’s unfolded in the year gone by, and begin to plan and think and dream about what God may have for me in the one to come. Each life is a story, unfolding year by year. This year will be my fourth reading of the entire Bible, and I’m pretty excited. Normally I read and dig and cross-reference and look up commentaries, but this year is different. This year I will put aside the commentaries for every verse, the cross-references for every passage, and focus instead on the flow of events as they unfold, asking God to help me read not like a scholar, but like a child, caught up in the wonder of it all. This year I will...