I’m reading “What’s a Christian to do with Harry Potter”. Overall, considering the subject matter, Connie Neal is great. She argues that Christians can read Harry Potter and use it as a platform from which to reach out to and convert non-Christians. Not something I agree with, but she’s fair, relatively impartial, and well-informed. Except [...]

A couple of Bible quotes make me think of the three little pigs. There they are, followed with an analysis of the theological meaning.
“Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of the sinners, and has not sat in the seat of [...]

www.biblemap.org is an amazing website; a bible student’s dream come true, with cool widgets and history and trivia and facts – all built over a map of Israel and the middle East. You can select any part of the Bible by book and verse number, and all the geographical places mentioned in the text will [...]

I should’ve been a Patriarch. Although the characters of the Old Testament repulse me, for their lies, tricks, and general lack of character, I like the Old Testament: where else can you find stories about dishonest sex-maniacs like Jacob.
Ok – he got screwed by Laban into working for 7 years for the wrong daughter (Leah) [...]

How does this picture make you feel? In the background there is a burning fort and a bunch of people (I presume Israel, with its king) praying to their God for victory.
In the foreground, a very angry and zealous prophet takes a sword and chops down the prophets of Baal, who flee for their lives, [...]

Isaac and Jacob are a real couple of bungling wanderers. They lie, cheat, steal and seem completely without moral character. Isaac is the son of Abraham that was offered up to God in sacrifice – an episode that likely freaked him out and led to perpetual trust issues. He married Rebekah and settled in Gerar, [...]

Abraham is recognized as the father of three of the world’s largest religions. He is also a contemptible ass-kisser and a loathsome coward. He is a terrible husband and a horrible father. But – like Noah, he did whatever God commanded of him, no questions asked.
In my view, following God’s commands does not make you [...]

In Genesis, God tells people to ‘Go Forth and Prosper’, and yet later he seems diametrically opposed to progress of any kind. When people start to live together and build bigger cities and make great towers like the tower of Babel, God says, “This is only the start of their undertakings. Now nothing they plan [...]

After his failed experiment in the garden of Eden, God removed himself from the world for a while. Like a spurned lover, He waited – hopeful that humans would find their way back to him. He had seen the results of his displays of power and was trying the other extreme – patience and distance. [...]

Although Adam and Eve – and through them the entire human project – has not gone as planned, God continues to observe and interact with humans, hoping to establish a relationship with them.
Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Able. Able was a shepherd and kept flocks, while Cain tilled the soil. When Cain [...]