Switch Hitter

Since exiting Christianity, I have been forced to reassess many things, including particular ethical issues. And as the Bible was written, compiled and translated by the Church, I now consider it to be a questionable source for ethical formulation. All of which is a long preface to this statement:

Without a Biblical mandate, I am at a loss to see how homosexual activity is inherently immoral.

Question of the Day

I've previously argued for my own hypothesis explaining the literary relationships within the Synoptic Gospels.

Among the more popular are the Two-Source Hypothesis, the Farrer Hypothesis, the Griesbach Hypothesis, and the Augustinian Hypothesis.

Which hypothesis explaining the literary relationships with the Synoptic Gospels do you favor as the most likely?

If the Book of Genesis Was a Facebook Page

Click here for the full gallery. Hat tip: Geekologie

Noah's Blog

I have a feeling that the Bible would have been written differently if it had been composed on a laptop with WiFi.

Caption Contest

Picture via Internet Monk

Previous contest winner

WINNER: Jeff the Baptist:

The results of Vatican III were somewhat underwhelming.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind

Give Up Yer Aul Sins -- The Birth of John the Baptist

Give Up Yer Aul Sins is an Oscar-nominated animated short visually depicting scenes from the Bible, as told by children in audio recordings from the 1960s. This is the part about John the Baptist, part of the whole series.

[Video Link]

Blaming Sin on Eve

see more puppies

Question of the Day

1 Timothy 2:13-14:

For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

Do you agree with Paul?

The Ten Commandments as Road Sign Pictograms

This is cute. Artist Deborah Grumet has a series of works depicting the Ten Commandments as road signs. Here's the pictogram for #2 (graven images):

HT: Neatorama

Is There A Canon Within The Bible?

Thinklings is having an excellent discussion about this question:

Is there a canon within the canon? In other words, do some books of the Bible take precedence over other books of the Bible? Or at least are there books -- or a set of books within the Bible -- that could be construed as primus inter pares (first among equals) when compared to other biblical texts?

Sin for Fun and Profit

Leviticus 6:24-26:

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the sin offering: in the place where the burnt offering is slain the sin offering shall be slain before the LORD; it is most holy. The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the tent of meeting."

One of the curious things I've noticed whilst reading the Pentateuch is that it is in the financial best interests of the Levites for people to sin.

The Humor of Habakkuk

Jared at Thinklings has a good post up about the implicit humor in the Book of Habakkuk, as well as an exploration of Habakkuk's example of faith:

I'm trying to be humorous with that nutshell summation, and Habakkuk's faith is actually remarkable in that he continues to faithfully acknowledge God's goodness and holiness and righteousness even in the expectation of pain and suffering, but that is really the gist. God has an agenda, and it is not ours.

I've long treasured the third chapter of Habakkuk as one of the hidden gems of Scripture. It takes quite a bit of unpacking homiletically, but it is a very powerful expression of faith in the midst of disaster.

The God of Atrocities

Dan Trabue attempts to understand the loving character of God in the light of divinely-mandated atrocities in the Old Testament:

Now, I don’t think that God is atrocious. I think those OT passages that have God committing or commanding acts that are elsewhere condemned in the Bible (and indeed, are condemned by our own conscience – I think that it is within our own reasoning and soul that SOME acts are just wrong – killing children, kidnapping girls/young women to make them your wives – some actions are just wrong. Period.) need to be understood as a representation of God as the author understood God. NOT as a perfect understanding of God to be taken literally.

Clearly, I think, God is not in the atrocity business. I find it amazing that some would defend such actions. How can you do so?

How do you reconcile the character of God with these Old Testament commands?

New Bible

After being a Christian for about six years, I've reached that particular milestone: my Bible is now falling apart. For sentimental reasons, it's quite near and dear to me (e.g. my wedding is recorded in it). But it's really getting unusable.

This Bible is a NASB Study Bible, which incorporates the 1971 NAS translation with the study notes from the NIV Study Bible.

I've decided that I want to acquire a leather-bound NRSV to replace it, which I will use most often for personal devotions and preaching. The most handy features of my current Bible are the thumb-index on the side of the pages and the extensive verse references in the margins. The study notes aren't useful anymore, and some I find quite misleading. It would be nice to have personal reflection questions and comments in the place of study notes in order to deepen my devotional reading.

I want the NRSV because I'm no longer sold about the reliability of the NASB. And the NRSV is the unofficial translation of the UMC, so I'd better start adopting it across the board.

14 Old Testament Ways to Get a Wife

For the single men among you, this may be helpful. For married men among you, the last may still be helpful.

HT: Richard Hall

Question of the Day

Genesis 6:1-4:

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Who were these "sons of God" and "Nephilim"? Angels? Demigods? Marines?

Question of the Day

Luke 4:1-7:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.'" And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours." [Emphasis added]

Did Satan have a legal claim over the earth? If yes, does he still own the world?

Question of the Day

Matthew 12:30-32:

He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come

Mark 3:28-30:

Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-- because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

What is the "unforgivable sin"?

The Inspiration of Scripture

I tend to have a high view of the inspiration of Scripture. Something like this:


see more crazy cat pics

You can read the Bible in LOLCat here.