Power-Reading the Bible
an occasional blog by Gary D. Collier
If free speech is a desirable thing, and if Christians are sometimes schizophrenic about it (see previous post), should we be thoughtful in how we pursue it? Such a question will cause most...
Free speech. An important concept. Worthy of discussion. Of course to do that, some measure of it has to exist already.
Saying "I believe in the importance of freedom of speech," is...
Like a timely chess move, during March 2023, the social media presence of IABC is moving off of Facebook and onto a platform called MeWe. Those who sign up for a free account...
A society, large or small, built on the pursuit of critical inquiry is a precious thing. Where there is a collective hunger for the genuine exchange of ideas, of testing and evaluating what and how...
A very hot topic—abortion as a religious value—was brought into focus today on a short Fox Entertainment interview of two people: (1) a pastor [Shane Idleman] and (2) the president of...
In the movie, Gladiator, young Commodus says to his father, Marcus Aurelius (emperor of Rome 161-180 CE):
You wrote to me once, listing the Four Cardinal Virtues:
- Wisdom,
- Justice,
- ...
I’m certain that I would not be considered a patriot by many people. I am grateful for many things about the country of my birth and life, and I could write extensively about those things,...
By Gary D. Collier (Index: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 )
I want to thank you, Alan, for kindly inviting us to look over your shoulder...
Response by Alan Mudd (Index: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 )
I don't know how to respond to the list of questions you made. To me, they do...
Response by Gary D. Collier (Index: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 )
Being in near total agreement with your entire treatment of this subject,...
Response by Alan Mudd (Index: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 )
(See editor's note at the end.)
I take it from your post that your position on...
By Gary D. Collier (Index: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 )
What do you think? Could Adam and Eve have left the garden on their own had they...
The list below—an instance of what I'll term CAD—was projected during a sermon I heard.
With some guidance, one might legitimately compare brief texts by six different authors...
My encouragement to all who would read the book of Revelation is this: Spend less time listening to theories about the book (how it is said to apply to this or that thing today or tomorrow),...
A reader has sent the following paragraph and granted the right to post it:
Yet, I see the author(s) of the book of Revelation giving their interpretation and ideas of what is going on...
By the time we get to Revelation 18:20, the beast-riding woman from chapter 17 is promised for swift destruction in a futile attempt at war against God. And so we come to this:
...
Yahweh was passing by.
Before him a raging wind
digging into the mountain,
...
5. Certainly there was Some Joy in the Roman Empire. Without it, Evangelism would be Impossible.
We are leading to the notion that...
4. A Government and Society and Culture that Thwarts “Joy.”
What about the Roman Empire? Beard wrote a chapter titled...
3. A Way to Understand “Joy” that Avoids the Tangle of Vocabulary.
As we seek to discuss the concept of “joy,” we will not seek a definition, but we will seek a way to...
One of the biggest problems when reading the Book of Revelation (the Apocalypse) is that Christians too often don't have any kind of historical sense about apocalyptic thinking or apocalyptic...
2. Seeking to Understand “Joy.”
What is joy? We would like to know how joyful the society and the individual people were. The problem with this question is finding a good definition of...
1. Could People in the Roman Empire Trust One Another?
In the New Testament we find few professions (or occupations) mentioned. The first of these few to come to mind is that of Paul, Priscilla,...
I talked about Supportive Engagement in a previous post. I would like to build on those comments now. It is very interesting to contrast two types of conversation:
supportive engagement...
