I couldn’t feel more the opposite to Margaret on the 2 Tim 2:1-13 passage. But this should come as no surprise, I rarely agree with anyone on this blog fully. After all, that’s the purpose of this blog. I will credit Margaret with being a “good Methodist.” What I feel the opposite of her discomfort. [...]

2 Timothy 2:1-13- “The Spirit of a Real Christian” Soldier for Christ. Bound with chains. Die with Christ. Deny. Suffering. This passage from 2 Timothy includes a lot of language that makes me uncomfortable. I prefer to focus on the positive image of a kind, loving God. Soldiers, death, and denial just doesn’t fit. Further, [...]

Genesis 22:1-19 The Bible contains many troubling stories that require us to wrestle with them. Not since I was a young child could I accept that God would ask Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Sure, verses 11-12 seem to suggest that God was testing Abraham, and I could accept that as a child, [...]

I’ll admit, when I got first got this assignment for the blog I was a little disappointed. I really wanted some sort of highly debated Methodist topic, something that would be really interesting and everybody would want to read. And what do I get? John 9:35-41. Seven verses in the gospel of John. Baller. So [...]

There is a lot of good to be gleaned from Deuteronomy 4:1-20, a lot of nice things about loving the Lord your God and making no idols and keeping the statutes God has given. I want to talk, though, about how we read this passage as American Christians. To read such passages as this concerning [...]

I am going “cold turkey” on the reading and understanding of Deut 4:1-20. What I mean is – no commentaries or study Bibles. It’s me and the Lord for this reading and for this blog. However, after two years of seminary I have learned enough to detect the red flags in scripture. One does not [...]