How to Grow as a Person
A Google search of the phrase “how to grow as a person” (or even just “grow as a person”) reveals 520 million related links. For points of reference, let’s look at the results of some other popular Google searches: “how to make money” 426 million, “world peace”...
How Can I Know God?
How can I know God? Paul’s Letter to the Romans tells the important true story about who we are, what we need, and what God has done for us. Paul writes that “There is none righteous not even one…there is none who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). We have all...
Kaizen and the Biblical Model for Continuous Improvement
Kaizen means improvement, or literally, good change. Identified by author Masaaki Imai as “the key to Japanese competitive success,”[1] kaizen is the philosophy undergirding continuous improvement at every level of the organization, and involving all personnel. As a...
“The most effective leadership, management, and efficiency models share traits common with each other, and traits that are ultimately traceable to the pages of the Bible. While these models are often not intentionally rooted in Biblical concepts by those that promote the models, the models illustrate how applying Biblical principles can set a trajectory of success in enterprise and in life. Led By a Lion is designed to introduce some of these leadership, management, and efficiency models, but goes a step further in identifying the Biblical genesis of many of the core traits that fuel the success of these models.”
Sovereignty of God and Human Responsibility: Nehemiah and the Daniel 9 Prophecy
Daniel 9:24-27 is a monumental passage, emblematic of God’s sovereignty over human events. It provides the chronological skeletal system of Biblical prophecy, recording Gabriel’s revelation to Daniel in around 516 B.C., of a 490-year timeline for Israel’s future: “for...
A Brief Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry and Components of Worldview, Part 2: Science and Justifying Presuppositions
Epistemological inquiry is the first step in developing a worldview. Determining how we can know with certainty is a necessary exercise, and requires that we identify the source of authority upon which the worldview is grounded. For example, Hume’s empiricism...
Dealing With Loss: A Hero Named Larry
I have always appreciated the old hymn “It is Well With My Soul.” The melody is hauntingly beautiful. The words are especially touching, as they were written while Spafford was crossing the Atlantic when he was near the place where his four daughters died after the...
“This approach has the advantage of seeking to view all knowledge through the lens of Scripture, and to subject all knowledge to the authority of Scripture. It encourages science and research within the field of psychology. It offers a Biblical balance of description and prescription. Of course, if the Bible is unreliable, then the refractive power of Scripture is distortive rather than corrective, but the epistemological premise of this approach is that God’s word is authoritative and sufficient for our understanding, for our equipping, and for our practice. There are many extra-biblical resources that we can employ, but in seeking out how and when to do that, we mustn’t lose sight of the one reliable constant that God has provided for us – the Bible.” –Chapter 9
Review of Integrating Exegesis and Exposition, by Rubén de Rus
By Rubén de Rus, published at Resources for Ministry/Recursos Ministeriales. There are many books in the Christian market that cover exegetical issues and many others that cover biblical exposition. But there are few books in the market that provide readers with a...
The Impact of Redacted Dominionism on Birth Control and Killing Animals
The common interpretation that the Genesis creation account grants humankind a lasting and comprehensive dominion over creation has been critiqued as being destructively man-centered.[1] To such critics anthropocentrism seems not to offer much promise for a positive,...
The Daniel 9 Prophetic Calendar
Daniel chapter nine finds Daniel examining the prophet Jeremiah’s declarations of a seventy-year exile (Jer. 25:14, 29:10), and responding humbly to the Lord in prayer, as the time of the exile was drawing to a close. The personal humility that Daniel demonstrates in...
“The Green Tree is an exceptional work…provides a vital tool for every Bible interpreter…Just as the root system is the foundation of a tree and directly impacts the health of a tree, hermeneutic method is at the root of one’s worldview. This illustration demonstrates that the hermeneutic method that an interpreter of the Bible employs will significantly affect the outcome. The tree will either be healthy, or it will not be healthy…The authors provide a unique examination of Revelation, Genesis, and Job that demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is derived from within Scripture, something that other hermeneutical methods fail to demonstrate. This is perhaps the most crucial principle demonstrated in The Green Tree, and it effectively demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is also the Biblical hermeneutic.” – Andrew Friend (Amazon Review)
Christmas Thanks and Joy to the World, in Good Times and in Bad
I’m sitting at my desk, writing thoughtfully, with Christmas music in the background. I am able to focus on the writing until Julie Andrews’ Joy to the World begins with its introductory repetitions: “Joy to the…Joy to the…Joy to the…Joy to the…” I realize after a few...
“Wheaton Tiff” Highlights Differences Between Islam and Christianity, Invites Higher-Ed Integrity
The Bible’s claims are hard to miss that there is one God who exists in three persons (Deut 6:4, Is 48:12, 16, Mt 28:19, Jn 1:1, 8:56-59, Col 1:15, Heb 1:3, Rev 22:13). The biblical claims especially revolve around assertions that Jesus Christ is divine, and not...
Special Thanks to Southern California Seminary and Calvary Bible College and Seminary
How does one make a choice between amazing and fantastic? That is the challenge with which my family and I have been faced in recent days, as we considered where God would have us serve in higher-education ministry. Nearly two years ago my family and I had the...
Design for a Healthy Church, and the Four Legs of Outreach
The ultimate purpose of the church – as individual members and as a corporate body – is to glorify God (1 Cor 10:31, Eph 1:6, 12, 14; Col 3:17). The recipe for achieving that goal includes four major prescriptions: (1) Bible teaching, (2) fellowship, (3) praise and...
Helpful Bible Study Solution for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad: e–Sword
e–Sword is outstanding, free Bible study software, that bills itself as, “a fast and effective way to study the Bible…feature rich and user friendly with more capabilities than you would expect in a free Bible app. The fact that e-Sword is free is just one of the...
Gifted makes Amazon’s Hot New Releases list for Kindle (Christian Theology/Pneumatology)
Thank you to all the supportive readers who helped the Kindle version of Gifted: Understanding the Holy Spirit and Unwrapping Spiritual Gifts reach #22 on Amazon's Kindle Best Sellers (for Christian Theology/Pneumatology) yesterday, and put it on Amazon's "Hot New...
The Book of Revelation is Not Apocalyptic Literature
It may seem odd to suggest that the book entitled Apocalupsis does not belong to the genre of literature commonly referred to as apocalyptic, nonetheless that is my suggestion here. The term employed in the title of the book denotes a revelation or disclosure.[1]...
A Biblical Perspective on the Use of Music: Knowing and Feeling in the Psalms
The Psalms are a helpful Biblical pattern for contemporary worship in song. Colossians 3:16 instructs us to instruct and admonish one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in our hearts to God. And there is no better example in...
Considering Some Biblical Goals for Teaching
"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,...
Isaiah Overview
A downloadable synthetic overview of the Book of Isaiah.