Discussion of a biblical passage or topic.
We normally think of Jesus’s parables as teaching tools to help the hearers understand spiritual concepts. Yet, in Matthew 13 Jesus’s disciples ask why he speaks to the people in parables, and his answer is that he uses the figurative languages of parables so the people would not understand. Doesn’t that seem surprising? In some cases Jesus used parables to separate serious learners from casual listeners. See what he says in verses 13-15. Matthew 13:13-15 …
In the book of Deuteronomy Moses recounts to God’s people all that had happened during the previous forty years of their wandering in the wilderness. That time of suffering began when the adult generation that came out of Egyptian slavery failed to enter the Promised Land as God commanded. The sight of the tall, powerful inhabitants of Canaan filled the Israelites with the fear the Canaanites would kill them and take their children captive. God’s…
In my novel, True Status, one issue the characters grapple with is who gets to decide what is right and wrong. In the real world, each individual has the God-given responsibility to make correct judgments about right and wrong. Does that mean each person gets to decide what is actually right and wrong for them? Yes and no. In Romans 14, the apostle Paul discusses disputable matters in which each person can decide for themselves…
No. There is nothing as scary as hell. I just finished a novel in which one of the main characters had a near-death experience of going to hell; the author created a terrifying imaginary scene. Jesus and his apostles said hell is a real place of endless regret, darkness, burning, and pain; we do not need a fictional account to be very afraid of it. Bible phrases to describe hell include: “the lake of fire”,…
Jesus often sought solitude to pray; sometimes he rose early in the morning to pray other times he prayed well into the night. Jesus knew his heavenly Father always heard his prayers and he thanked God for hearing him. Jesus also thanked God for revealing the gospel first to the common people and not the learned and powerful. When his disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, Jesus taught them to address God as…
When Jesus rose from death he completed the most heroic mission in the history of the world and the greatest comeback of all time. It opened the way to eternal life for anyone willing to believe in and follow Jesus. We can have a new life now Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are steps all of his followers emulate in baptism and in the good life we begin after baptism. So we don’t just look…
Early on the first day of the week, the angel told Mary Magdalene and the women with her that Jesus had risen from the dead and that he would meet his disciples in Galilee; the women ran to tell the disciples. At the same time, the guards who witnessed the angel descend from heaven and roll away the stone that covered Jesus’ tomb went and reported what happened to the chief priests. I am amazed…
After Jesus died on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body, but Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, so he asked the centurion if Jesus was dead. After verifying the fact, Pilate released the body to Joseph. Joseph, a secret disciple of Jesus, was also member of the Jewish ruling council, but he had not consented to executing Jesus. With the help of Nicodemus, Joseph took Jesus’ body…
Today, I heard an Alicia Keys song entitled “Pawn It All”. In the chorus, she said she would pawn a watch, chain, diamond ring, everything just to start over again. How many people wish they could start over again, but are afraid the cost would be too high? I have no idea if Alicia Keys had a spiritual or biblical intent when she wrote that song, but it made me think of Jesus’ words in…
One of the mysteries about God is how God maintains sovereignty over everything in the universe and still allows for human free will and responsibility. For example, God inspired the writing of the scriptures, but he allowed people to be involved in the process. This is what the apostle Peter wrote. 2 Peter 1:20-21 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for…