"Media" used to mean "print media" like books and newspapers, but the world has grown. Today media can also mean radio, television and movies delivered to personal computers, tablets and cell phones. As the world's best selling book of all time the Bible continues to make headlines, both good and bad, across all forms of media. This week in the Bible and Media: A double-secret version of the book of Leviticus apparently supports homosexuality and the LGBTQ agenda, and a Bible, "weaponized" by "twisted" and "monstrous" Christians, is removed from a military display for soldiers missing in action.
Before we properly met she knew that I was a regular attender and that I sat with my parents most every week. I knew she was an accomplished guitarist and singer. Even though we both knew something about the other we wouldn’t say that we knew each other. Knowing someone requires one crucial piece of knowledge: that person’s name. Which brought a question to my mind later in the day: Why should it be any different with God? Each Thursday for the next several weeks we will take you through the names of God to understand it's meaning and to know God more intimately.
Mark it on your calendar, Think-Biblically.com is officially declaring 2018 the Year of Bible Proofs. Technically it began in November of last year with the opening of the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC, which we covered here. While it opened in November, it now has all its exhibits up and ready for patrons. Just across the street from the world famous Smithsonian, it is a beacon of light revealing how the Bible has impacted America's history politically, and in civil rights and social justice issues. It does all this through the exhibition of 40,000 artifacts.
I've previously mentioned that I've taken an online course through the Israel Institute for Biblical Studies. That course was The Jewish Background of the New Testament and, I have to say, it was great. The caliber of the instructors was first rate, the material was unlike anything I've been taught from other Christian colleges and seminaries, and it was all live so students could ask questions of the instructor or each other. My only complaint with the course is the instructors used the camera built into their laptops and the very average lighting in their home or office.
"Media" used to mean "print media" like books and newspapers, but the world has grown. Today media can also mean radio, television and movies delivered to personal computers, tablets and cell phones. As the world's best selling book of all time the Bible continues to make headlines, both good and bad, across all forms of media. This week in the Bible and Media: Is China going to create their own "Communist-approved" translation of the Bible? Also, ancient scrolls that disappeared five years ago resurface, and a Hebrew prophets tomb is restored and open for visitors once more.
"Media" used to mean "print media" like books and newspapers, but the world has grown. Today media can also mean radio, television and movies delivered to personal computers, tablets and cell phones. As the world's best selling book of all time the Bible continues to make headlines, both good and bad, across all forms of media. This week in the Bible and Media: At a time when social media is attacking the Bible and Christian speech, politicians try to use the Bible to justify their political agendas and a famous composer's study Bible sheds light on his faith.
Once in a while I read something so backwards I wish I were dyslexic — if only to understand it better. An opinion article in Monday's Washington Post is one such piece. Written by a professor at Northeastern University, Suzanna Danuta Walters asks the question, "Why Can't We Hate Men?" As a feminist speaking to other feminists she admits that she's hated men for a long time and it rankled her when her more moderate sisters would say things like, "we don't hate men" and "men are not the problem, the system is." The article is an attempt to rally women toward a universal hatred of half the world's population.
Confidence in God and the salvation he offers to us has been a source of hope and conviction for believers since the earliest of times. At the beginning of Israel's monarchy King David longed to hear the words from God's own lips asking, "Assure me with these words: “I am your deliverer!” (Psalm 35.3) Toward the end of the monarchy, at the end of Jonah chapter two, the prophet proclaims, "Salvation belongs to the Lord!" What is most amazing about these statements is how many people misunderstand them. Most modern believer's think these are statements regarding eternal life, but they aren't.
The Psalmist writes, "I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your name..." (138.2a). When you give thanks to God, what name do you call him by? I bet you end your prayers "in Jesus name", but is that right? A while back a reader emailed me asking about the name Yeshua. For the uninitiated, Yeshua (also Yehoshuah) is the Hebrew name of Jesus and it means “salvation.” If this is Jesus’ Hebrew name, how did we come to know the Son of God as Jesus? The simple answer is language.
It's a joke we invented in college, and I confess I still use it from time to time. During a discussion or debate, should the other person accuse me of being judgmental, I remind them of this truth, "I'm not your judge, but I agree with Him." Usually said with a smirk. it is used to help lighten a conversation rising in intensity, but there is nothing light about the All-Powerful Lord, the Pantokrator (pant-oh-kray-tore). Pantokrator is a name for God that not many protestants are familiar with, but it is very old and very telling.
While we at Think-Biblically.com generally steer away from politics and sports as topics for articles, there are occasions when something is just too good to not comment on. What erupted in yesterdays news cycle (no pun intended, reader's in Hawaii) deserves a brief recap. During the last football season a player by the name of Colin Kaepernick started to kneel during the national anthem that is played before every game. He did this in order to bring awareness to social injustice particularly regarding police and low income black communities. President Trump has stated (repeatedly) that such behavior disrespects the nation and its flag.
In Christianity there are two types of theology, each supporting the other. There is Biblical Theology, which is all we learn about God through his Holy Word; then there is Systematic Theology, a vein of understanding that attempts to categorize and organize what we learn from Scripture and extend that knowledge through logical and philosophical disciplines. For example, the Bible affirms often that God is all-loving in regard to humanity. What, then, do we do with a passage like Malachi 1.3 where God proclaims "Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated."
