A blog by Tom Sheepandgoats (aka Tom Harley)
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Replace “Woke” with “Shipwreck of Faith”
Out of nowhere comes a brand new definition of a very old word: woke. When applied to faith by someone who has left there’s, cannot one wonder why? There already is a fine phrase that means exactly the same thing: shipwreck of faith. “Woke” is not found in the Bible. “Shipwreck of faith” is. The two terms are synonymous. Plus, there are dozens of closely…
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The Muslim Man I Spoke With in the Ministry
The Muslim man I spoke with in the ministry was a retired college professor. He responded to the query of what ill would he fix had he the power to do so. Peace, he said. It was humankind’s greatest need; however he was quite sure the world was “regressing” in that department. He remembered warfare well from surviving it in his native Bangladesh before fleeing…
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Putting Lipstick on a Pig: Paul to the Philippians
Nobody in Bible times was better than Paul at putting lipstick on a pig. Nowhere does he do it more than in his Letter to the Philippians. Here he is in the hoosegow, enough to discourage anyone, and those at ‘TheWaySucks*com’ and the liars at ‘WeLovetheWay*com’ are saying it’s his own fault. They’re hoohawing and making catcalls over his imprisonment, saying his brothers sold him…
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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…