Today’s Word

Today’s Word

  • The Invention of Religion (2)

    But I confess this to you, that in accordance with the Way, which they call a sect, I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and is written in the Prophets;  Acts 24:14 NASB The Way – After these recent studies about the development of heresy as a tool…

  • The Invention of Religion (1)

    But I confess this to you, that in accordance with the Way, which they call a sect, I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and is written in the Prophets;  Acts 24:14 NASB Sect – If you’ve been following my comments on Daniel Boyarin’s book Border Lines, you…

  • Painful Days – A Reflection

    Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am wretched.  Heal me, for my limbs are stricken.  Psalm 6:2  Robert Alter My limbs – On the 30th of April of this year, I wrote a piece about the excruciating pain I was experiencing in my left knee.  I asked for your prayers (thank you).  I wrote…

  • Israel’s Open Heart

    However, Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.  Joshua 6:25  NASB Spared – English nuances often make big differences in translated Hebrew.  In this verse, the Hebrew…

  • The Problem with Consonants

    Be still before the Lord  and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways,  when they carry out their wicked schemes.  Psalm 37:7   NIV Wait patiently – What do you do with a messy grammar?  Do you stick with traditional readings?  Or do you entertain alternatives?  And what do you do when there’s no…

  • Ignorance Is No Excuse

    The Lord spoke To Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelite people thus: When a person unwittingly incurs guilt in regard to any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done and does one of them–  Leviticus 4:1-2 JPS Unwittingly incurs guilt – “But I didn’t know!”  We’d like to believe that this justification…

  • When Is a Curse Invalid?

    At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: ‘At the cost of his firstborn son  he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest   he will set up its gates.’”  Joshua 6:26  NIV Solemn oath – Who is involved in this oath is…

  • Paradigm Blindness

    “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[a] but only the Father.”  Matthew 24:36  NIV No one knows – Theological paradigms are just as resistant to challenge as any other paradigm, perhaps even more so.  In the history of science we often find great thinkers making…