Israel, or rather the idea of Israel, has become an idol to some and a fulcrum to many more. The hatred of any people group absent their collective actions is sinful. The blind veneration of any people group is equally sinful. Jesus made it extremely clear that He is the…
Category: Discipleship
Losing My Literalism: I Am the Resurrection and the Life
John 11 is a chapter that really shows the heart of Jesus. Mary and Martha were close with Jesus and they had a brother named Lazarus. Lazarus was gravely ill and I find the statement starting at verse five to be extremely profound. “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and…
Losing My Literalism: We are All Born Blind
In John Chapter nine, Jesus heals a man born blind. His disciples asked the question of why this man had been born deficient in the way they had been taught. It was an aspect of the fall. Ever since Adam fell, his progeny was predisposed to error and disease. A…
A personal project
My birthday is a couple weeks away and I’ve asked for this set. My plan is to fill in every OT reference in the NT, and then return the favor adding NT references in the OT. This will be a rough draft document, meant to be transferred to my daily…
Losing My Literalism: I Am The Light of the World
In John 8, Jesus offers the next of His “I Am” statements. I would be remiss if I never included in this series that God has a long history of revealing Himself in ways that we weren’t expecting. When God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and Moses asked…
Losing My Literalism: I Am the Bread of Life
The book of John is highlighted by seven “I Am” statements. The first of these is today’s topic. To set the table, pun intended, the Jews were confronting Jesus, asking for a sign that He was speaking for God. Jesus responded that they merely wanted a meal, as the feeding…
Losing My Literalism: The Woman at the Well
The Pharisees and scribes aren’t the only people Jesus encountered who were stunted by a literalism that obstructed their understanding of the kingdom of God. The Samaritans were also encumbered by such interpretations. I won’t get too deep into the Samaritan/Jewish divide here, and I will be trimming the text…
Losing my Literalism: John 3
Allow me a moment to soapbox here. It is my understanding that the discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus takes place between verses 1 and 15, which everything after that being John’s commentary of what just happened. Does this mean that I believe John 3:16-17 ought to be in black lettering?…
Losing My Literalism: Jesus Cleanses the Temple
I’m just looking at a few passages that show the lunacy of reading the text out of context. Because text minus context is subject to all manner of distortions. And the highest concentration of such instances where woodenly literal reading leads to error if found in the book of John.…
Wooden Reading is for Wooden People
I was speaking with someone dear to me the other day when she decided to take the topic of discussion over to world events, namely the current conflict in Israel. I have had several such talks with her over the years, and I have tried to avoid stepping in any…