“I do not like to be called a Christian magician,” David Garrard, a retired children’s minister and magician from St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, says. “I’m a magician who is a Christian.”
The deeper truth behind end-times speculation: Be ready!
The Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Advent (Matt. 24:36-44) is one I remember from the days I clutched a Scofield Reference Bible. Along with Scofield’s infallible notes I carried around a copy of Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great…
Putting the common in good
It seems clear to me that biblical texts reflect varying degrees of inspiration. Some texts simply perpetuate the status quo, even offering justifications for national exceptionalism, violence and the stratification of society. It’s difficult to find any positive benefit from…
Can we talk about sexuality?
Can we talk about sexuality? Recently a pastor in Kansas has been challenging my school and me personally on our position concerning our faithfulness to Scripture concerning human sexuality. It reminds me of the sustained conversation in Southern Baptist life…
Good enough to be saved?
“Remember the psalms were written by the people to God. These are the thoughts of a human about God, not the word of God spoken to humanity.” My Sunday school class had gathered down the street from our church at…
Survey finds teens reading Bibles — but are they retaining it?
New research reporting American teens have more respect and use for the Bible than some might think comes as no real surprise to Gavin Rogers. The “2016 Teen State of the Bible” project, commissioned by the American Bible Society and…
For some imams, Ramadan is a month-long revival, Muslim style
Imad Enchassi likens the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to what some Christians described as getting some of that old-time religion. “I call it a revival camp” for Muslims, said Enchassi, imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City….
What if we actually applied the Bible to our politics?
What if the lens we viewed politics through was the Bible? No, really! Seriously. For me, it might go something like this: The way of Christ compels me to love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. The…
‘The Sin of Certainty:’ Peter Enns’ journey from belief to trust
Like most seminary professors in the 1970s, Bill Treadwell wrote a lot of stuff on the blackboard, but I only remember two simple messages. The first day of class, he strode to the board, picked up a piece of chalk…