Tried With Fire

When my pastor was preaching on Revelation 9, he mentioned that a popular Christian author interpreted the locusts in this passage as modern-day helicopters. Hmmmm. He then went on to say that if this indeed was correct, how would it have been possible for the historical church to accurately interpret this passage prior to the invention of the helicopter? Bingo! Why would the Apostle John write a portion of Scripture to local churches in Asia minor that would be next to impossible for the original recipients to understand correctly let alone the rest of the church prior to the 20th century? It makes no sense at all, but this is what happens when we ignore the historical context and read our current situation into the text. Unlike the song, we are not the world. Then what about this? In Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey has documented that the 1950's concept of womanhood has its roots in the Victorian era . This was a byproduct of the Industrial Revolution when men began to ...

I was going to write a review of  Hidden Figures but it's hard writing a review when you only have an audio version. Even though I listened to it twice, I can't go back to a particular page, but I can share what I remember and the thoughts and questions it has raised. Hidden Figures tells the story of the African American female mathematicians who helped the US win the space race and provided the math know-how for aircraft design during WWII. These women worked as human computers - solving advanced mathematical calculations with only their brains, data tables, and rudimentary calculators before the advent of the modern computers that we know today. One of these women was Dorothy Vaughan . Dorothy was a wife, mother, and public school teacher in Farmville, Virginia. She declined the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics to become a teacher, one of the few professions open to black female college graduates. At that time, Virginia was in the bottom 25% for U...

There has been some lively discussion in social media over the extent that headship and submission go beyond the home to opposite-gender interaction in general. For the record, I affirm male elders in the church. I believe Ephesians 5:22-33 still applies to marriage today. But I do not believe that the human race should be divided ontologically by gender into those who lead and those who follow. Being made in the image of God, which does include gender, is much more complex than that. I am also concerned that practices, which would fall under the heading of Christian liberty, are taught as principles, thus binding the consciences of believers. Therefore, I concur with the concerns of the folks at the Mortification of Spin. (Read the posts here:  Aimee #1 , Carl , Todd , Carl #2 , Aimee #2 ) I especially appreciate Aimee sticking her neck out and writing about this issue. I've had many concerns over the years, but I've been a chicken about expressing them. Maybe I haven't ...