11/21/2023
How Are We Supposed to Understand the Bible?
A Five-Part Discussion
Part One:
The two words most commonly used regarding the Bible are infallible and inspired. The problem is that different religions—even different Christians within the same church—mean different things by using those words.
The words infallible (incapable of failing) or inerrant (without error) are often used of the Bible in order to express the belief that the Bible is trustworthy and reliable. If I can count on the Bible to be true then I am much more likely to live my life by what it teaches.
When some people use these terms what they mean is the Bible is absolutely and literally correct in every statement and every detail. For instance, they would believe that the earth was created in 7, 24-hour days. There are those who may use words like infallible or inspired and mean that the Bible can be counted on as being true in the things that really matter, but each detail does not have to be factually accurate. For instance, they may point out that the Hebrew word translated in Genesis as ‘day’ doesn’t mean what we think it does, or that the passage is to be understood poetically not scientifically. What is important to understand is that God is creator and His act of creation moved forward in a planned and evolving way, and was judged by God to be good....
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Archived Posts
What I wanted to say
but ran out of time this Sunday
Here is the benediction I was going to use before discovering the excellent MLK Jr. video.
The Storm that Comes To Us as Helplessness
I want to share with you a small portion of my conversation with Artificial Intelligence online. Some of you know, I use Chat-GPT as a thoughtful sounding board for the questions and insights I’m working with on whatever scriptures I’m studying each week. What follows is an example of those discussions...
One Final Scene About Scrooge
There was one more scene in Dickens’s novel that reveals something of what has happened to Scrooge over the years. I did not have time to share it on Sunday, but I believe it reveals a great deal about the regrets in Scrooge’s life....
What Jacob Marley Would Do,
If He Could Do It…
I thought about using the following for a benediction—since Jacob Marley was warning Scrooge about the danger of loving money and what it could buy. Ends up with the Cantata and everything else going on, I didn’t have the time. So here is what you might have heard if the sermon itself was 5 minutes shorter!
A Confirming Word on Old King Herod
I just want to echo what Rick said in his fine sermon yesterday (Nov. 23). Herod was a ruthless tyrant and skilled politician. When the Magi don’t report back to him, he decides to kill all the male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2. That’s one paranoid dude.
Power Without Conscience?
I ran out of room for this vignette in Sunday’s sermon. Remember the quote that could be the headline for Ahab and Naboth: “All that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” The following reinforces that truth.
The Cars Are Looking for A King
I don’t have a thing to add to Pastor Jessica’s excellent sermon this last Sunday. The fable/parable she shared has been one of my favorites for all the lessons she pulled from it in her message. I was playing around with my friend Chat GPT and after several abortive attempts, we came up with the following modernized version of Judges 9:7-15.