January 2012 Biblical Studies Carnival

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Darrell Pursiful

The most recent Biblical Studies Carnival is now posted at Dr. Jim’s Thinking Shop. I can’t quite decide if it’s silicon-based or something even weirder, but it is definitely not a Carnival as we know it.

Posted in +Fellowship, Bible | 1 Comment

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

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Christian Egalitarianism

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Go read Ken Schenck for a succinct, Bible-affirming defense of gender equality in the church and the family.

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The Author of Hebrews Discovered At Last!

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

I’ve got to admit, I’d have never suspected William Butler Yeats, but if you can’t trust the New York Times, who can you trust?

He welcomed visitors with large-print messages on the walls. “Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise,” was one, quoting Yeats.

So, there you have it. Mystery solved.

(H/T: GetReligion)

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Basic Christian Decency 101

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. (Acts 10:34-35)

Just sayin’.

Posted in +Fellowship, Ethics, New Testament | Tagged | 2 Comments

Prepare to Be Discouraged

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

If you don’t want anything to upset your Christmas spirit (or your faith in humanity), please click away.

A church’s decision to ban a couple from its congregation, simply because their skin color is different, has cut through the heart of a Pike County community.

Suzie Harville, who is engaged to a black man originally from Zimbabwe, is no longer welcome at the church. Neither is her fiancée, Tichna Chikuni.

Some members of Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church voted Sunday to prohibit interracial couples from joining their church. They’re welcomed to attend, just not so welcomed to stick around for too long.

I cannot express how infuriating this story is. It is a blatant and premeditated repudiation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If I lived in Pike County, Kentucky, I would be willing to sue this whites-only organization to remove the word “church” from their name, because they are clearly anything but.

But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! (Col 3:8-11)

Kyrie eleison.

 

 

Posted in +Fellowship, Ethics, Ministry | 2 Comments

Right and Left and Wrong and Stuff

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Imagine my surprise to find this rant in my feed reader this morning:

No one to my knowledge has ever been kicked out of the Evangelical Theological Society for being too conservative, and frankly I don’t think anyone could get kicked out for being too conservative. Why? Because going right is never wrong. Go as far as you want, you’ll never get into trouble. You can believe in dictation theory, in views on the authorship of books that are more miraculous than anyone needs to believe, in snakes talking to Adam and Eve (as a result of a miracle, mind you), in a 10,000 year old earth and in young earth creationism, in radical views of complementarianism, you can deny women their rightful place in ministry (it’s in the Bible, after all, that women were prophets and apostles and leaders of the whole People of God), you can equate right wing Tea Party libertarianism with what the Bible is teaching, you can be as Calvinistic as you want to be (and more), and I could go on and on … no one ever gets in trouble for espousing these views among conservative evangelicals. Ever.

But if you wonder if science might have a few things to offer us when it comes to Genesis 1-3, if Isaiah didn’t write that whole book, if something in one of the Gospels just might be midrash (did Peter really grab a coin from a fish’s mouth?), if maybe God made a world where there is divine self-limitation (some forms of open theism), if Jesus rides (or will ride) on clouds, if justice is at the heart of God’s mission in this world, especially through the church … well, then, you’re on the slippery slope. Going left is wrong (for the right); going right is never wrong. Even if you can show that your view is justifiable biblically, many think any move away from the right is wrong.

Here’s my thesis: the slippery slope, if there is one, is on both sides.

I love it when really smart people agree with me. :-)

Posted in +Apostles' Teaching, +Fellowship | 2 Comments

Gigantic November 2011 Biblical Studies Carnival

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Did I say “gigantic”? It’s practically brobdingnagian!  Go see for yourself at Remnant of Giants.

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On the Observance of Christmas

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected.
—Samuel Johnson

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Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

I’m thankful for

  • The love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
  • A loving, longsuffering wife
  • A brilliant, happy, healthy ten-year-old daughter
  • Freedom to practice my faith without anybody looking over my shoulder
  • The King James Version of the Bible
  • The Screwtape Letters
  • A warm house with a full refrigerator
  • Parents who care, help, and advise without being pushy
  • A job where I’m appreciated
  • Ray Charles
  • A church where I’m both challenged and comforted
  • The Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
  • Archbishop Malkhaz Songulashvili
  • The unforgettable experience of celebrating a Baptist Eucharist that involved vestments, chant, and real wine in a golden chalice
  • Writers who help me see Scripture in different ways
  • Interstate 75 (except around Atlanta)
  • The Charlie Brown Christmas Special
  • The Mercer University Children’s Choir
  • Two arms, two legs, and all five senses
  • The Internet
  • Students who indulge me by laughing at my jokes
  • Bedtime stories
  • Socks

What are you thankful for?

Posted in Life as Prayer, Who? Me? | 1 Comment