A recent FB post containing a quote from the late scholar Søren Kierkegaard was used to defend simplicity and consequently vilify learning, criticism, and careful research. But was this quote used in context? Is simplicity equal to saintliness after all? Let's take a look.

Is there virtue to be found in a declaration of simplicity and ignorance? Or is it just a cover to veil a retreat from complexity?

I finish up our brief look at this phrase "the Word of God" and talk about why correctly using this phrase matters.

Today we're beginning a two-parter on the phrase "The Word of God." I hope it's a help to you.

As promised in the episode, here's a list of how the phrase "Word of God" is used in the Old Testament as follows:

It’s found 49 times across 48 verses in the while Protestant Bible, but only four of those times are in the Old Testament. Three out of the four times it’s found in the English Old Testament, it’s a translation of the Hebrew word “דָּבָר (daw-bar)” which it self simply means “matter of thing,” or “act, advice, affair, answer, counsel, decree,” and so on. All three of these times refer not to a written word, but a shown word (in the case of I Samuel 9:7) or a spoken word to a prophet (in the case of I Kings 12:22 and I Chronicles 17:3).

The other time we see in the Hebrew Scriptures, it’s found in the thirtieth chapter of the book of Proverbs, which is Agur’s proverb. It’s the Hebrew word “אִמְרָה (eem-raw)” and means “something said, answer, saying, speech,” and “word.” So it’s pretty clear we’re talking about edicts and declarations, just like in the other three cases — Agur has just chosen to use another word for it.

In this episode, I try to bring some balance to the commonly-used (and often abused, though I don't have the time to get into that in this episode) phrase, "The Word of God." Today, we almost exclusively use that phrase to refer to the 66 books we call The Bible, but is that how the Biblical authors used this phrase? Hope this helps.

Here's 15 little tips to help keep us from camping out in one extreme or the other. Hope this helps!

I've gone off the deep end. I've taken a sharp turn left, theologically and politically. I've compromised. I've been brainwashed by all those smart academics and all their degrees. You name it -- I've done it. Have a listen to know what I mean.

Is Christmas pagan? Is Santa Claus really "Satan's Claws?" How do we sort through all the stuff we've heard and read about this? Well, in the interest of balance, I try to disabuse us of the notion that there is a demonic boogeyman hiding under the Christmas Tree. Have a listen. I hope it helps.

For more on this, check out “TOP TEN Christmas Traditions (& their Origin Stories)” by InspiringPhilosophy on Youtube.

Also, check out https://www.macon.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article222666770.html

Music credit: "Cute Avalanche" by RKVC - No Copyright (Thanks, RKVC!)

In this second of a brief two-parter on individualism, I try to bring a little balance to the notion of individualism with regards to church life and community and Christ himself. I also provide a warning against running to the opposite extreme of a hard and fast "Extra Ecclesium nulla salus" stance concerning church attendance as it applies to final salvation for wayward sheep. 

Music credit: "Cute Avalanche" by RKVC - No Copyright (Thanks, RKVC!)

This is part one of a two-parter on how individualism has negatively affected Christianity. In case you get the wrong idea -- this podcast episode is not about me discouraging you from reading your Bible. I'm simply trying to get folks to read it with the right lens, from the right perspective. 

Music credit: "Cute Avalanche" by RKVC - No Copyright (Thanks, RKVC!)