Recent content by Deacon

There are stories of unscrupulous funeral practices with all burial forms in all ages. When women died in ancient Egypt, they would wait until decomposition began before delivering the body to be interned. The burial practices of the ancient Jews are odd in a different way. In Israel, a year or...

Genesis 2:7 (ESV) ... the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground... Genesis 3:19 (ESV) ... till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 18:27b (ESV) ...I who am but dust and ashes. Job 10:9 (ESV) ...you have...

I wouldn't call bad dreams sinful... but they're certainly undesirable. It calls for self reflection... what might have directed the dream? Current news out of Europe about foreign gangs might have provoked such a dream. Certainly a conversation with the Lord would be a proper response. Rob

Perhaps there's some wiggle room... ...didn't the Lord ally himself with the pagan King Cyrus (Isaiah 45)?

Being a bibliophile, I've got quite a few biographies, a few of my favorite books are about uncredentialed autodidacts, those rare individuals who have tread their own path and become scholars in their own right. Just from my collection: I think of George Smith, an early pioneer in the...

Connecticut isn't going to elect a conservative politician. Particularly one that advertises a background of religious extremism. Stephen Anderson posted on the BB until he was banned. He has quite an uncomplimentary history. And is on my top 10 list for memorable sermons (sometimes that's not...

It's a given: Without God, one cannot change themselves. But Anthony's preaching to the choir... ....Baptist's (at least most of us) have professed belief in our Savior. So the battle is not becoming what we are not. The battle is becoming what we are. Upon belief, we become the children of...

That brings to mind the idea: 'Let go, let God.' As a young Christian I struggled terribly with this idea. But the Christian life is a struggle (Eph 6:12) ...a race: (1 Cor 9:24; Phil 3:12; 1 Tim 4:7; Heb 12:1) ... a fight or battle: (Eph 6:10f; 1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 2:3; 2 Cor 10:3; 1 Pet 5:8-9)...

AI can be a useful tool in translation, but it is one tool among many others. When AI is pushed into supplying data on a topic where it has minimal, ambiguous or contradictory data, its answers are drawn from scarce, often statistically irrelevant data. This is where the AI systems default to...

My family is mired in grief as well, though in a different situation. This short book has been helpful: Grieving With Hope: Finding Comfort as You Journey Through Loss by Samuel J. Hodges IV and Kathy Leonard BakerBooks, 2011. 160 p.

Adam and Eve's being "naked" was not in itself a sin, but exposure, once sin had occurred, was something that they immediately knew must be hidden, covered. That particular word in Gen 3:7, "covering" (NIV, NLT, NET, LEB, GNB...) is translated as, breeches (Geneva), aprons (AV), loincloths...

In other words, you're asking, 'Was Jesus ever selfish?' As God incarnate, everything Jesus did revealed something about God. He is the very image of the invisible God (Col 1:15). Rob

True: God is the source of all truth; Scripture is his word to us. I've got an old friend that has read the bible cover to cover for decades - one of the most ignorant people I've ever met. I think what he reads goes in one ear and out the other. Nice guy, but he's no example to follow. Simply...

Yeah, so I read, …I read a lot! I’m retired now and have become my church’s librarian. The goal, beyond the simple salvation of souls, is to encourage young and old to develop their mind by reading books that inspire godly living. The truth is that more books were published last year than...

That passage is so familiar... That portion of Psalm 14:5-7 (1602 Bishops') that you posted is found in the Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible (translating from the Latin Vulgate), and is found in Romans 3:13-18. Romans 3:13–18 (D-R) 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they have...