Read Psalm 19:7-11 … At one time, a group of 3rd graders played a game … perhaps it was called “Tell Me A Secret.” Everyone sat down in a line and the first person in the line turned and whispered a phrase to the next person, something like, “My mother likes flowers.” Of course, as … Continue reading What Influences Interpretation?
Authority
The Higher Law
Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 … In his book The Gagging of God, D. A. Carson reminds us of something the Founding Fathers of the United States recognized. “The Federalist Papers show that limited government was widely understood to be possible only where society was largely constrained by a moral consensus. John Adams went so far … Continue reading The Higher Law
Put Your Nose in the Book
Read Matthew 7:24-27 … Why, or more specifically for what reason, a Christian does something matters. In the secular world people make decisions all the time for any number of reasons and for the most part one person’s reasons don’t have to be another person’s reasons for choosing one action over another, one belief over … Continue reading Put Your Nose in the Book
A Christmas Question
READ Luke 2:25-35 … There are always questions about Christians and the celebration of Christmas this time of year, just like questions about Halloween or Easter occur annually. One question that recently came up, among the many, was presented in this way, “Does it matter to you that the Bible is silent about Christmas?” Of … Continue reading A Christmas Question
Christ Our Peace
Read Ephesians 2:11-18 … The wonderfully long chapter of the Bible starts … Blessed are the undefiled in the way,Who walk in the law of the Lord!Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,Who seek Him with the whole heart! (Psa. 119:1-2) In this clear and unambiguous message, the way of the Lord is praised as the ultimate path for the Child of … Continue reading Christ Our Peace
Scriptural Authority
Read Matthew 7:21-23 … The search for authority – the authority to act, the authority to believe – is always an important question. This question can be more specifically worded to ask, “By what authority does the Christian act? By what authority does the Christian believe?” For the most part many default to the most … Continue reading Scriptural Authority
It Bears Repeating
Read Matthew 10:27-31 … Two things bear repeating – often and loudly, but both seem to be getting more and more lost in a world consumed by individual rights and a constant appeal to science. Not that either of those things are bad unto themselves. Individual rights are something that every person is desirous to … Continue reading It Bears Repeating
The False Teacher
Read Jude … Jude is a wonderful little letter that can be located just before John’s Apocalypse in the New Testament Scriptures. Jude starts the epistle on a high note, telling his readers that it was his desire to speak to them about their “common salvation,” but because of current circumstances, Jude actually found himself … Continue reading The False Teacher
How Much to Know?
Read Acts 2:36-39 … An interesting question was raised online the other day which touches several different areas of biblical theology. The question as stated was: “If I don’t understand baptism and I am baptized is my baptism valid?” Typically, the first place to go with a question like this is discussing what the “rights” … Continue reading How Much to Know?
Skepticism
Read Psalm 119:9-16 … In 1860, James S. Lamar wrote The Organon of Scripture, or The Inductive Method of Biblical Interpretation, which is noted by The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement as becoming “a virtual handbook of ‘inductive’ biblical hermeneutics in the Stone-Campbell Movement.”[i] As might be expected from one of the times, Lamar looked … Continue reading Skepticism
the odd weekend preacher 