Are You Evil?

Let yourself be challenged here. "God loves the sinner but hates the sin" is not a strictly biblical phrase.

How Does the Bible Measure Pi?

An acquaintance challenged me on the "error" in the Bible by assigning the value of the mathematical constant Pi (the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter) as 3.

I'd never heard this before, but a quick Google search led me to this fascinating analysis that suggests the Bible references an extremely accurate value for Pi.

We had a good conversation after that about the integrity of the Bible accounts!

If someone presents you with a puzzle or conundrum you don't know the answer to, don't bluster or act as if you do know. Simply say, "I had not heard that. Shall we investigate it together?" That generally leads to constructive dialogue.

The Biblical StoryLine

Graeme Goldsworthy has produced an excellent summary of the biblical storyline. This is different than a detailed chronology of the events of the Bible.

Not only is this ideal for those of you going on the read-the-Bible-in-30-days challenge with me, but this is a fabulous teaching tool for new believers. Ground them in this storyline, and then they'll be better equipped to study the Bible as a whole!

Here's the summary:

Creation by Word	Genesis 1 and 2
The Fall	Genesis 3
First Revelation of Redemption	Genesis 4–11
Abraham Our Father	Genesis 12–50
Exodus: Our Pattern of Redemption	Exodus 1–15
New Life: Gift and Task	Exodus 16–40; Leviticus
The Temptation in the Wilderness	Numbers; Deuteronomy
Into the Good Land	Joshua; Judges; Ruth
God’s Rule in God’s Land	1 and 2 Samuel; 1 Kings 1–10; 1 Chronicles; 2 Chronicles 1–9
The Fading Shadow	1 Kings 11–22; 2 Kings
There Is a New Creation	Jeremiah; Ezekiel; Daniel; Esther
The Second Exodus	Ezra; Nehemiah; Haggai
The New Creation for Us	Matthew; Mark; Luke; John
The New Creation in Us Initiated	Acts
The New Creation in Us Now	New Testament Epistles
The New Creation Consummated	The New Testament

Read through details here.

Listen to the Bible

I know some people are more listeners than readers, and everyone will do well to listen to the Word of God as well as read it. Therefore you might consider this "podcast" approach to listening to the Bible.

Seminary Courses Online

I'm delighted to see that more and more seminaries are offering distance learning programs, and many schools offer a wide range of free training as well. Serious Bible teachers are always in learning mode -- we will never exhaust the well of Scripture!

A number of seminaries are now putting actual classes online. For example, Dallas Theological Seminary has what they call iTune University. Sometimes schools offer video and PowerPoint slide decks to accompany audio recordings of lectures. Some schools like Gordon-Conwell Seminary will even mail you CDs to listen to.

These are excellent training opportunities. I encourage you to check out different seminaries and consider what they offer. A seminary geographically closer to you means that you might even be able to visit there and meet with some of the faculty.

I'm not going to make a specific seminary recommendation for you. The readers of this blog span a wide theological framework, and you need to investigate the perspective and history of a seminary before you invest time in their courses. Make sure you're comfortable with their doctrine statements. Talk with your pastor if you need counsel on this.

Humor -- Kids Say the Most Fun Things

One of my subscribers sent these to me. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A little boy was overheard praying:
'Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.
I'm having a real good time like I am.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the christening of his baby brother in church,
Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.
His father asked him three times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied,
'That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home,
and I wanted to stay with you guys.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One particular four-year-old prayed,
'And forgive us our trash baskets
as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they
were on the way to church service,
'And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?'
One bright little girl replied,
'Because people are sleeping.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3.
The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.
Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.
'If Jesus were sitting here, He would say,
'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'
Kevin turned to his younger brother and said,
' Ryan , you be Jesus !'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A father was at the beach with his children
when the four-year-old son ran up to him,
grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore
where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
'Daddy, what happened to him?' the son asked.
'He died and went to Heaven,' the Dad replied.
The boy thought a moment and then said,
'Did God throw him back down?'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A wife invited some people to dinner.
At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said,
'Would you like to say the blessing?'
'I wouldn't know what to say,' the girl replied.
'Just say what you hear Mommy say,' the wife answered.
The daughter bowed her head and said,
'Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?'

Eugene Peterson on Reading vs. Studying the Bible

Read the Entire Bible in 30 Days

The Heavens Declare

"The new Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken the deepest image yet of the Universe in near-infrared light. The faintest and reddest objects in the image are likely the oldest galaxies ever identified, having formed between only 600–900 million years after the Big Bang. The image shows thousands of galaxies, some more than 12 billion years old. The field view of this image would fit behind a grain of sand held at arm's length against the sky. Almost every dot in this photo is an entire galaxy of stars and who knows what fascinating undiscovered mysteries.

Astronomers use this photo to estimate the number of galaxies in the known universe by counting the visible galaxies shown and multiplying the number of such photos it would take to make a composite of the entire sky. Their calculations estimate that the observable universe contains about 100 billion galaxies."

Source

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. -- Psalm 19:1