Posts

After we’ve decided that its a great idea to learn Greek, figuring out where to begin can be daunting. Especially if we aren’t part of a group committed to encouraging and holding one another accountable. Here are a few free resources (There are many good books that you can purchase, but I’ll focus here only on the free ones) to help get started: Greek Tools For Bible Study by Bill Mounce Little Greek online textbook NTGreek.net online textbook Teknia, which has a lot of great resources including several songs in Greek, Greek fonts, as well as PDFs for learning Greek grammar Flashcards for Android mobile device Flashcards for your computer courtesy of the Crosswire Bible Society Make your own flashcards Xiphos, an all around free Bible study application Greek alphabet songs in a variety of forms. Two of my favorites are the techno version and the story form Here’s a great bare-bones introduction to Greek: ...

One of the saddest things to watch is when a business fails by refusing to recognize the reality of their market. What’s even sadder is when these businesses decide that the solution is not to invest in learning, but rather to spend more time and energy in establishing a plethora of new establishments in hopes that a few will find purchase and become productive. The problem with this approach, however, is that by ignoring market conditions, they are just as likely to accelerate their own demise as they are to facilitate growth. (For a good example of this market phenomenon, think about the recent mortgage crisis and how banks decided to employ a staggering amount of leverage to squeeze more profit out of a saturated financial market. Sure, the fact that the lending practices were flawed to the core didn’t help either, but that could have been easily corrected for if they had taken the time to grow slowly and deliberately.) ...

Philip Stott once wrote: First, is the climate changing? The answer has to be: ‘Of course it is.’ Evidence throughout geological time indicates climate change at all scales and all times. Climate change is the norm, not the exception, and at any moment the Earth is either warming or cooling. If climate were ever to become stable, it would be a scientifically exciting phenomenon. To declare that ’the climate is changing’ is therefore a truism. ...

Church planting has been a hot topic (quickly becoming an obsession) in the Souther Baptist Convention for the last few years. And after examining the issue, I plan on writing a series of 6 posts intended to outline what I believe are the pitfalls inherent in the modern church planting movement. But first, I believe a helpful foundation for any fruitful discussion on the subject will be to define a few key terms. ...

Non-profit entities depends on begging for money. And contrary to popular belief, the market for begging is finite. The market for begging depends primarily on two factors. 1. The supply of empathy we possess towards others 2. The supply of disposable income we have available to spend. A popular belief is that Americans are not a giving people. On the contrary, the market for begging is generally over-saturated. There are simply too many non-profits begging people for money. A cursory glance around at the number and size of non-profits ought to be enough to dispel the twin myths that Americans are not a giving people and that non-profits are just that, not for profit. ...

Climate heretic Judith Curry posted recently on the dogma that exists among most climate scientists. She writes: My posts on positive feedback loops (here and here) have engendered some interesting discussions, particularly at Collide-a-scape and Die Klimazweibel. While many are pondering the points I raise, most of the “insiders” don’t like the idea of “IPCC dogma.” What did I mean by dogma? As per the Wikipedia, “Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization: it is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practioner or believers. . . The term “dogmatic” is often used disparagingly to refer to any belief that is held stubbornly.” The issue of dogma is tied to how dissent is dealt with. ...

A report from The Economist on the use of biometrics in security systems concludes with the line And everyone would be better served if a good deal more was known about what it is, biologically, that makes each and everyone of us a unique human being. This, after the report outlines how biometric systems can and have shown how biometrics such as fingerprints and even our very DNA (separate source) have been shown to not be as unique as we once believed. The final question, then, comes from operating on naturalistic assumptions that humans are merely the sum total of their physical components. ...

My friend and preeminent resurrection expert, Michael Licona, has just released his latest book titled " The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach" If you are unfamiliar with Mike’s work, here are a few of Mike’s debates: Did Jesus Rise From the Dead?- A debate between Mike Licona and Dan Barker ( audio) On the Resurrection of Jesus Christ- A debate between Mike Licona and Richard Carrier ( audio) On the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - Michael Licona and Richard Carrier faced each other in debate for a second time. ( audio, Q&A audio) Can Historians Prove that Jesus Rose from the Dead? - A debate between Bart Ehrman and Mike Licona held in 2009 ( audio) Can Historians Prove that Jesus Rose from the Dead? - A debate between Bart Ehrman and Mike Licona held in 2008 ( audio) Mike is also very skilled when it comes to debating Muslims. Here he is taking on Shabir Ally on the topic of, what else, the resurrection: ...

Here’s another post in my “dispelling the notion that the Bible contradicts itself” series: Does the Bible require circumcisions? Did it in the Old Testament? Why not in the New Testament? Yes the Bible requires circumcision. And, like the ritual purity required in order to be considered clean before God, it is still required today. It’s just that the means of circumcision as well as the means of attaining the purity required by God are different today (they were fulfilled in Jesus and the benefits offered freely to us) than they were back then. ...

Cultural literacy is nothing more than being aware of popular cultural references. It is not, contrary to popular opinion, the same thing as being intimately aware of all the current trends of culture. Why is it important to be at least minimally aware of current trends in culture? Well, as any good marketer knows, the timeliness of a message is just as important as the message itself. And as Christians, our goal is to tell others about the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. To do that we can and should use as many cultural references that we can. ...