This essay on the Federalist will be of interest to those who follow my work and have read The Unseen Realm: Why We Should Question God in Response to Evil and Tragedy The essay is by Aaron Gleason. He’s familiar with the divine council and the sorts of things I...
Doctrine of God
New Motion Graphic Video: God vs. the Sea Monsters
Note: This had been posted earlier, but was taken down after a few minutes due to an error. There’s also been a scene added to this rendering. Did you know the Bible says that God destroyed Leviathan when he created the heavens and earth? Genesis 1 isn’t...
John Piper Blogs on Psalm 82 — and Doesn’t Fudge the Text
I just wanted to extend a thanks to John Piper for his recent essay on his Desiring God blog. Dr. Piper’s short essay on Psalm 82 was entitled, “Putting the Gods in Their Place.” I hope you’ll all give it a read. (Thanks to those who brought it...
Gender Insanity and a Witless Rabbi
Someone sent me this editorial today from the NYT: “Is God Transgender?” The article is by a rabbi who (intentionally? ignorantly?) thinks that metaphor and the “inconsistencies” of grammatical gender in the Hebrew Bible mean that God is either transgender...
The “I AM” Statements of Jesus – a Slightly Different Approach
You hear a lot about the “I AM” statements of Jesus, particularly in John. Honestly, though, I don’t think the phenomenon is taught clearly and therefore loses it’s impact. Or maybe I look at it a little bit differently. (Surprise!) What...
Journal Article on Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls
My thanks are due to the generous policy of Tyndale Bulletin for allowing me to post a link to a scholarly article that appears in the most recent issue. The article is entitled: Monotheism and the Language of Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea...
What is it with the Hebrew Roots Movement?
[Addendum, April 9, 2013: A week ago I did a podcast interview (“Extraordinary Intelligence”) where the host asked me about the Hebrew Roots Movement. I made the comment that I didn’t think all the HRM was cultish legalists or bizarre. Apparently...
Anti-Semitic Bible Study
I often get asked about the "true pronunciation of the divine name" or "the authentic meaning of YHWH, the Tetragrammaton." I've often wondered why people care -- why is it that they can't be content with the scholarly convention of "Yahweh" in this regard, especially...
ETS-SBL Musings: Imprecatory Prayer
Just got back from the week of conferences. A tough trip getting there (15 hours due to flight delays and three flight legs . . . I have a history of hard travel experiences). But easy coming back, thankfully. One of the papers I attended was on the theology of...
Can Unbelievers Ever Please God? Part 2
While I won’t repeat what I said in Part 1, the comments to that post have left me thinking that some readers still don’t understand what I’m saying and not saying and so are missing the point of the question. So, by way of review What I’m...
Can Unbelievers Please God? Part 1
Most readers are familiar with the idea of “total depravity” as taught by many Christian theologians over the centuries — the idea that (in overly broad strokes) humans are unable to turn themselves to God and are inherently sinful. Those who have...
How Human Was Jesus?
A trick question? Depends on how much theological and logical clarity your thoughts about the question are. I was reminded of this issue (which, I’ll admit, is one of my pet issues) last week as I had the honor of hosting Doug Bookman at Logos. Doug was one of...
The Limits of Divine Omniscience
That’s the focus and/or question in this article (entitled: The Limits of Omniscience). I thought it was an interesting thing to have you all read on the heels of the election and predestination discussion. The last paragraph nicely highlights the issue, but...
Lying and Deception
As a follow-up to the “God and deception” post, let me sketch out my position on the issues I raised. I define a lie as the deliberate utterance of a falsehood — something contrary to reality — with specific intent to deceive or conceal the...
Does God Lie?
This has been on my list of things I really want to dive into (having taught ethics for a number of years). We know that there are specific statements asserting very clearly that God does not tell lies (e.g., Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2). However, God does use deception. ...