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The Wrath of God
My earliest memories of wrath are of my mom. She was a great mom, but she wouldn’t put up with nonsense or misbehavior. When I grew up, discipline meant spanking, so my mom would sometimes spank me if I had done something to seriously displease her. My earliest crime, maybe at the age of three,…
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Rest Requires Faith (or Exhaustion)
The first creation myth in Genesis ends strangely with God’s rest. Of course, in the stories that follow, the Sabbath and observance of the Sabbath often play major roles, and it’s unsurprising that the authors and preservers of Genesis would want to introduce the origins of the Sabbath at the outset. Yet it is odd…
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The Substance of Things Hoped For
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 KJV The Greek word here translated “substance” is “hupostasis.” It means foundation, substructure, support. In classical Greek, philosophers used it to mean essence or substance of a thing as distinguished from its attributes. Faith is the ground for…
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Why God Gives Us Power
The first chapter of Colossians includes Paul’s prayer for his readers. In it he prays that God will grant them wisdom and knowledge and enable them to bear good fruit and do good works. Then he adds, “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that….” I stopped there. What was it…
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Wanting Magic
One of the attractions of the Christian faith, at least for me, is the tall tales in the bible. You know what I mean: floating axe heads, parted waters, men unsinged in a fire pit, lightning from a cloudless sky that obliterates not only the sacrificial offering but the very stones on which it was…
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