At a recent Ken Boa Bible Study, we discussed Ezra 5-7 and Nehemiah, which detail the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, along with the city itself, at the end of the Babylonian Exile from 521 to 435 BC. There are many interesting truths in these passages, but what I want to focus on here, given the terrible events in the Middle East since Hamas launched its brutal attacks against Israel on October 7th, is that Israel’s return to the Promised Land from Babylon and the rebuilding of the...
Several years ago my friend and teacher, Ken Boa, in his Wednesday morning Bible Study, mentioned how Moses, in Psalm 90, instructs us to number our days for a specific purpose. “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (v. 12) Just before that, in verse 10, Moses states that it’s reasonable to expect a lifespan of 70 years, but we might make it to 80. “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures;” After thinking about it a bit, and already...
We all occasionally reflect on the larger decisions we’ve made, and on how those choices have impacted us. Like where we decided to go to school, our first and subsequent career moves, and whom to marry. Today, at age seventy-five, I want to reflect on the decisions I’ve made and the opportunities I’ve followed that, at the time, seemed like no big deal; but then, looking back, have had a profound impact on virtually every aspect of my life, and on others, over a long period. I call those...
This month I have another Summer Quick-Post on a few problems, the solutions to which seem so obvious to me that either I am a simpleton, or the ruling class makes everything far too complicated (to try to stay in power?). Here they are: 1.There are millions of people desperately braving the worst possible conditions to get to America across our wide open and therefore dangerous southern border, mostlyhoping to work for their families. And there are millions of jobs going unfilled in America,...
I don’t have an erudite solution to a pithy issue this month. I really don’t even want to look for one. Perhaps like you right now, I find myself pulled down by events and headlines. The world is unhinged, and the headlines are not good. Evil seems to be on the rise. And not just bad actions, like the terrible revelations of sexual abuse by trusted leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention. No, Evil associated with human beings choosing to kill other human beings. Putin’s unprovoked attack on...
Critical Race Theory is a lie at war with Christian faith because of its belief in permanent cycles of conflict and oppression. There is no hope for anything better. According to CRT, every white person is always a racist and an oppressor, even if she or he admits the error and actually changes. CRT teaches that racism for whites is as unchangeable as skin color. And the American system is “systemically” racist because it was created for and continues to be run by white people. People of color...
I wrote the original version of the following story almost twenty years ago, as the second chapter in an anthology of short stories, Ten Lies and Ten Truths. I have rewritten parts of the story this week, to capture the new realities of History 2021 A Story Harrison Gillies sat alone in the teacher's lounge of a prestigious New England private high school grading English essays. Paintings donated by the Art Department, an oriental rug, and a couple of decades' accumulation of furniture lifted...
One of my favorite sayings about Truth is: “Truth is simple, and delights in simple statements. It expects to make its way by its own intrinsic force, and is willing to pass for what it is worth. Error is noisy and declamatory, and hopes to succeed by substituting sound for sense, and by such tones and arts as shall induce men to believe that what is said is true, when it is known by the speaker to be false.” Albert Barnes‘ New Testament Notes Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia...
Many aspects of this post will not be easy to read—they’re not easy to write. I’m working on a fourth novel, set in D.C., with angels and demons which are visible to the reader, though not to the characters in the story, similar to my first novel, On The Edge. This new novel requires a scene about a non-believer being escorted to the Throneroom of God by spiritual beings, to face God at the Judgment Seat. There was a similar scene in On The Edge; I have to recreate it here following the death...
I initially watched with alarm the process through which President-elect Biden filled his Cabinet and Executive Branch nominations. A key criterion for selection appeared to be one’s skin color, gender or sexual orientation, not experience, ability or past performance in a related role. As a conservative, my default position on such matters has always been that America is a meritocracy, and that all forms of advancement and selection should be based on skill, performance, facts and...
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