A blog by Tom Sheepandgoats (aka Tom Harley)
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The Tesla that Drove Itself
There was someone recently who bought a Tesla and the Tesla drove itself to his home. That’s a selling point. Usually, if you buy a car, you have to go fetch it. This car fetched itself. It comes to you; you don’t have to go to it. Someone at the congregation meeting (was it me?) said this is kind of like our Bible study offer.…
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He Could Have Played with HankWilliams
A brother died not long ago—and I attended the memorial talk—who once toured with Hank Williams. He’d been a roadie, one of the support team. It was a plus when they discovered he could sing. One evening when, according the memorial speaker, Hank didn’t show up and he was pressed into service. How did it go afterwards, family asked him. “Well, nobody asked for their…
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Is the Kingdom of God “Within You,” “Among You,” or “in your Midst?” Part 2
So why do so many who identify as Christians today claim the “kingdom of God is within you,” when it is based on outdated* scholarship? (*see part 1) Might it be because it reduces the kingdom of God to a personal motto that otherwise allows the prevailing world to call the shots? Whereas, if the kingdom of God is “in your midst,” you begin to…
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Is the Kingdom of God “within you,” “among you,” or “in your midst?”(Luke 17:21)…Part 1
Is the Kingdom of God “within you,” “among you,” or “in your midst?”(Luke 17:21) Prepositions are flexible—in Greek no less than in English. In both languages, context helps determine how they are best translated. Older Bibles are likely to say that “the kingdom of God is within you.” The Wycliffe Bible (1395), the Tyndale Bible (1530) Coverdale Bible (1535), Great Bible (1539), Geneva Bible (1560),…
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Do All Christians Need to Preach? (A Question More Complicated than at First Appears)
An apocryphal story that I believe: You might not, but I do because it was told by someone I consider trustworthy and who was there: Sometime during the 1980s there were “high-level” discussions at Bethel over, of all things, is it necessary for all Christians to preach. It only took 40 years to reveal that the answer is no. You wouldn’t think it necessary to…
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Why Reason Fails: Insights from the Cake-Fruit Experiment
It was irksome when atheists put up their ‘Let Reason Prevail’ billboard right next to that Illinois State Capitol Nativity Scene back in 2009; that much was immediately apparent. But putting my finger on just why it was irksome required more effort. Was it the presumption of the atheists that they held a monopoly on “reason?” Partly. Was it the crassness of plunking it next…
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Who is Michael?
Who would have thought that Jehovah’s Witnesses were not alone in identifying the archangel Michael with Jesus? That the idea is also found in the writings of Martin Luther and John Calvin? That a host of other theologians have said it too? It was news to me. Really enjoyed this exhaustive article. Were it not for the Michael/Christ identification running afoul of trinitarian concerns, I…
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Jesus and Socrates: It’s Amazing the Parallels that can be Drawn
Jesus and Socrates Both Socrates and Jesus had a way of buttonholing people, prodding them to think outside the box. Both attracted a good many followers in this way. Both were outliers to the general world of their time. Both were looked upon askance for it. Both infuriated their ‘higher-ups’—so much so that both were consequently sentenced to death. Their venues were different, and so…
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Jehovah’s Witnesses—“Micro” “Macro” evolution and abiogenesis
In the main, Jehovah’s Witnesses have no problem with “micro-evolution,” the stuff of bird beak variations that Darwin found on the islands. Where they object to it, it is because of correctly anticipating the truckloads of dogma that atheists will drive through the door it cracks open. One can always argue with “macro-evolution” but there hardly seems a point. Plenty of religious people will say:…
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At the Darwin Martin Frank Lloyd Wright Home
Not too long ago we visited the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Buffalo. FLW is regarded as an artist who brooked no interference from his clients. In one bedroom, the built-in bed was 4 feet long. When the clients complained, he told them it was their own fault. They had insisted upon a closet, so he put it at the head of the bed. Couldn’t…