Category Archives: Bible

5 Things You Can Learn from Jesus’ Dysfunctional Family


Part of a weekly series on Matthew. This week: Matthew 1:1-17. From the top. A homeless man, schemer and incestuous sexual predator. Then a prostitute and a Gentile woman. An adulterer and murderer. Devout kings and apostate rulers. Slaves and masters. Poor and rich. Men and women. This, my friends, is . It would be…
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The Dead Stage a Welcome Party for This Pagan King


This is one of the reasons I find the Bible so fascinating. It’s also one of the reasons that thousands of people consider the Bible good literature–in spite of its claims to being redemptive history. I’ll take redemptive history any day over good literature, but fortunately I’m not forced to decide. The text in question at the…
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Is 2 Kings 8:15 an Example of Waterboarding in the Bible?


Not really sure why I was excited when I found an example of waterboarding in the Bible. But I was. This was one of those epiphanies that should be marked as “Disturbing but Sublime.” Like as in I think I found something nobody else knows about… But it’s kind of creepy–do I even want to…
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What the Song of Solomon Really Means


  The sexually-charged language of Song of Songs [or Song of Solomon] makes it a provocative read… But one wonders if it actually makes a major theological contribution to Judaism or Christianity. In fact, one wonders why it’s even in the Old Testament…why it’s even in the canon at all. I mean, what was the original author or editor hoping…
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New Testament Slavery: A User-Friendly Guide


Why you shouldn’t be troubled by the New Testament’s failure to challenge the first century institution of slavery. Modern readers are often troubled by the New Testament’s failure to criticize the first century institution of slavery. This concern is often born of the idea that first century slavery is like pre-Civil War American slavery. That…
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The Right-Brain Thinker’s Guide to Bible Study: 10 Creative Steps


Ten creative steps to help sequential, reductive, computational-challenged types understand the Bible to the fullest. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get into . What is Bible arcing? It’s the graphical tool used to determine and document the flow of thought in biblical texts. It’s a hot item in Reformed circles. But I just can’t…
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