“as I explained the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to the children, the more curious each child grew. Before I knew it, I was inundated with questions about the Trinity” - Word by Word

“DeSantis’ net favorability among white evangelicals is +36, placing him at a slightly higher net favorability than Trump. Haley’s net favorability among this group is +20. White evangelicals are more than twice as likely to say that they have not heard of Haley (42%) than they are to say the same of DeSantis (18%).” - PRRI

“MacDonald was once pastor of what had been one of the largest churches in the Chicago area and the voice of Walk in the Word, a broadcast Harvest shut down in 2019.” - RNS

“By contrast, the share of Latinos who identify as Protestants – including evangelical Protestants – has been relatively stable, while the percentage who are religiously unaffiliated has grown substantially over the same period.” - Pew

Another Easter season has come and gone. It’s Easter Monday (yes, that’s really a thing) as I write this, and I thought it might be a good time to share a few thoughts about the meaning and significance of the season, as I understand it.

These ideas really crystallized in my mind as I was driving home from a ministry appointment on Good Friday afternoon, searching for something meaningful to listen to on the radio—yes, even Christian radio—as the traffic raced past me. How many of these people, I wondered as I watched the cars, even know that today is Good Friday? More importantly—how many people in our churches remember that it is Good Friday?

An “illustration of this is the difference between light and darkness. Light actually exists. There are waves and particles; there is such a thing as light, but there is no such thing as darkness. Darkness is simply a lack of light.” - Ligonier

Lifeway study for Faith for Just Lending: “More than 3 in 4 believe it is a sin to loan money in a way that the lender gains by harming the borrower….Still, 1 in 3 have obtained a payday loan themselves, and a growing number see such loans as helpful.” - Lifeway

“While the concerns animating National Conservatism are real, its reduction of today’s problems and tomorrow’s solutions to issues of nationality, if stubbornly held, will lead to stalemate and irrelevance.” - Acton

“One-third (32%) would be ‘disappointed’ if their congregation moved online, and 27 percent would feel ‘disconnected.’ This disconnection, they assume, would manifest in the loss of members (44%) and the loss of relationships (32%).” - Barna

“The courts eventually got those cases right, and the First Amendment did its job.” - BPNews

Read the series.

6 Ways Biblical Word Studies Go Wrong - TGC

“Root your thinking in the Word of God first, but be informed about the world around you. Resist being spoon fed by others. Do your own reading and research to form your own opinions. Read from original sources.” - P&D

“Among those who claimed no faith, religious hypocrisy was far and away the most cited response, identified by 42% as behind their doubt about Christian beliefs.” - Breakpoint

“Churches across denominations have seen young people stepping away from faith, and researchers at the Fuller Youth Institute say they don’t need a pastor in skinny jeans or a hip meeting space to make them stay.” - CToday

“A majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (73%) say medication abortion should be legal in their state, while fewer than half as many Republicans and GOP leaners (35%) say the same.” - Pew

“…the god of evolution is an ogre who used a wasteful, brutal process to create life and the universe! At least Schneider is honest about what the evolutionary story means for theology (though, of course, he goes on to invent a way to explain evolution and a loving God).” - Ken Ham

“To illustrate, Gioia appeals to Christ’s crucifixion: ‘Christ’s sacrifice is beautiful—it reveals through Jesus’ pain the shape of God’s design for human redemption. It reveals those secrets not despite the pain but through it.’” - Law & Liberty

“If you’ve seen some Christian media programs, you might be tempted to think that the Spirit is some kind of a bizarre force that knocks people down and causes them lose control of their minds or bodies.” - P&D

“Twelve students and faculty sued four members of the university’s board of trustees for refusing to scrap an employment policy that bars the hiring of people in same-sex relationships.” - RNS

ABS 2023 State of the Bible survey: “Scripture engagement remains down among Americans, but a widespread curiosity gives ground for evangelism” - BPNews

Read the series.

So we’ve seen that Daniel’s specific prophecy of the rise and fall of Alexander the Great was at best very unlikely to have been written after Alexander’s death in 323 BC; and if Daniel describes Antiochus IV in chapter 11, then the skeptic’s position is even less likely. Daniel is accurately predicting future events, not faking it.

What say we go ahead and dispense with the skeptic’s position? How about if we demonstrate that it’s just impossible?

“I see so much to celebrate and to encourage, and so many opportunities to call them toward the young men and women they are created to be.” - Church Answers

“It is a peculiarity of Catholicism and the issue of last rites that consigns suicide to the category of the unforgivable sin…. it is surprising how deep-seated that view of suicide is among Christians.” - Ligonier

I have only pastored two churches, and neither had a budget (but we did have spending limits in certain categories). One was a small church of about 45, the other not as small (about 200 for at least a decade of my time there). My last church didn’t have a loan for over 25 years and both churches stayed in the black.

Of course, a lot of things factor into this, like buildings that were paid off, etc. I know of a Christian organization that did well financially until they got a budget.

“people have been predicting the extinction of Christianity in the US for over two centuries, and it hasn’t happened yet.” - CNN

“…we desire it precisely because God intends for us to be raised to new life on the New Earth. It is God who created us to desire what we are made for.” - Randy Alcorn

President Pettit’s resignation “prompted 17 faculty and administrative leaders to write to the full board, declaring the university in ‘real and imminent jeopardy’ and demanding the resignation of both Chairman Lewis and Vice Chairman Hantz Bernard.” - BGN

“A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas has ordered a hold…. an Obama-picked judge in Washington state issued a competing ruling, ordering that access to the drug be preserved in 17 states.” - BBC

Read the series.

In my previous article, I mentioned how my specific use of the term “midrash” is one possible strand of meaning for this multi-stranded term. I use the term to refer to a New Testament midrash that I consider an elaboration of an Old Testament text. That’s it. I refer to the Old Testament text as the “mother text.” The mother text plus its New Testament midrash equals a couplet.

In the world of Biblical academics, however, the term “midrash” can mean several different things. Jacob Neusner clarifies what midrash could mean:

The word “midrash” is generally used in three senses: