Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • Good Enough Most of the Time

    And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:4 ESV Perfect – Perhaps the most insidious mistranslation of a Torah concept is the idea of perfection.  Theology is filled with this thoroughly Greek idea.  So is rabbinic Judaism.  Thanks to the disease of Hellenism, the Parmenidean…

  • Hebrew Political Correctness

    So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. John 8:36 NASB Free – Freedom is an important idea in the modern world, so important that there’s a blessing about it in one version of the Siddur.  Here’s the blessing from a Siddur: But here’s the same blessing in the orthodox Siddur Ashkenaz:…

  • SUMMER 2021

    WHERE SKIP WILL BE IN THE SUMMER OF 2021 Here are the conference (group) meeting dates: July 9-11   Virginia Beach  (details to follow)  probably 1 or 2 sessions during some of these days July 17-18  Tacoma, WA  no conference schedule as yet July 24-30  In Flagstaff, Arizona August 6-8  Port St. Joe, FL.  Contact David…

  • Freeing Yourself (2)

    So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. John 8:36 NASB Free – eleutheróō.  “To set free.”  The Greek verb is contrasted to being a slave.  To be set free is to be redeemed from slavery.  This is not merely a political act.  To be really free is to experience independent self-determination. …

  • Freeing Yourself (1)

    So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. John 8:36 NASB Free – Did you read the statements of Jonathan Sacks from yesterday’s edition?  Oh, if you didn’t, then go back before you read this. Do you remember what he wrote? “Atonement and forgiveness are the supreme expressions of human freedom –…

  • Something from Jonathan Sacks

    Different cultures tell different stories. The great novelists of the nineteenth century wrote fiction that is essentially ethical. Jane Austen and George Eliot explored the connection between character and happiness. There is a palpable continuity between their work and the book of Ruth. Dickens, more in the tradition of the prophets, wrote about society and its…

  • Curious George Exegesis

    No one who is [a]emasculated or has his male organ cut off may enter the assembly of the Lord.  Deuteronomy 23:1  NASB Emasculated – You’ll notice that there’s a footnote to the word “emasculated” in this verse.  Oh, by the way, I would be very surprised if you have ever heard a sermon preached from this verse. …

  • The Mountain God?

    I will raise my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come?  Psalm 121:1 NASB From where – Does David really think God’s help will come from the mountains?  Is he just another version of the pagan idea of territorial gods, or the Canaanite religion of the mountain god, El?  Surely not!  David isn’t asking…