King is sailing, they say

…or do you accept only on faith?
Faith is a cop-out.  It is intellectual bankruptcy.  If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t be taken on its own merits.
–Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist

We do not hear many sermons or homilies derived from books like Leviticus or Judges.  Probably because there are some very embarrassing passages in there about the God we believe in.  Here is God demanding and accepting human lives as sacrificial offerings.  I’ll just let the Bible speak for itself.  First, the LORD ordains it:
‘Nevertheless, anything which a [...]

Responses to 101 Questions on the Bible by Raymond Brown 
Catholic priest Raymond Brown was an unquestioned authority on the New Testament.  He is most well known for his numerous New Testament commentaries, although I must say that 101 Questions on the Bible is the first thing I have read from him.  Being primarily a Protestant, [...]

…that God will never forgive him? 
Many years ago, my mother got involved in the so-called The Jesus Movement, and I fondly remember Bible believing hippies living a peaceful communal lifestyle.  They were young, good-looking, earthy, did not mind milking goats, and enjoyed singing “Blowin’ in the Wind” as a Gospel hymn.  We also had a strong [...]

I don’t follow current pop culture, and I don’t intend to anytime soon. If a movie or song came out after 1985 or so, it is generally off my radar screen. Having said that, Anna Nicole Smith died just the other day. I know nothing about this woman, except she cannot sing, act, dance… in [...]

Quoting from Paul is very difficult.  His sentences are so long that to get a manageable length means dissecting the sentence.  But the most effective passages are those that are in some sort of context.  With that said, consider this passage (beginning mid-sentence, of course):
Colossians 1:22-24
in the body of His flesh through death, to present [...]

In yesterday’s post, I wrote that I was not doing much research or reading on the internet.  I need to revise that.  I am reading some articles and doing some research online, but I am trying very hard to consider my sources and watch out for hidden agendas.  Being the techno-neophyte that I am, I [...]

heissailing is a website which asks the questions that I bet most Fundamentalist Christians have in the backs of their minds, but are generally afraid to ask.  This is a very young site right now, and who knows what I will type about or what this will turn into, but I am hoping there are others out [...]

 Amazing what Google will bring up when searching for ‘faith + quotes’ (not that I necessarily agree with any of these):
Confronted with the impossibility of remaining faithful to one’s beliefs, and the equal impossibility of becoming free of them, one can be driven to the most inhuman excesses.
-James Baldwin
Here is an oldie but a goodie [...]

For the Christian who is disillusioned with the fundamentalists (and the fundamentals), along comes Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz, supposedly the youthful and honest voice of modern Christianity (I wouldn’t know for sure - old fart that I am).  Miller writes with a very casual style - more fitting to random and disjointed diary entries.  But I suppose [...]