Imagine

Justice, Racism, Social Commentary

I haven’t blogged since January. Of course, as we all know, much has happened in the world since then. But so much has already been written from virtually every conceivable perspective regarding COVID-19. I’ve certainly had plenty of my own thoughts, but I’ve had opportunities to share those thoughts on Sunday mornings.

Between helping my church navigate through this challenging season, and also devoting significant time towards my next book project, I just haven’t had much time to give to blogging.

I’m making an exception today. But rather than compose my own piece, I wanted to share a post I read a few days ago on a New Orleans Saints message board (of all places). These thoughts were written and posted in the context of a discussion of the Ahmaud Arbery murder three months ago. And now, just within the last couple days, two more race-related incidents have occurred, one of which resulted in the death of another unarmed black man.

This post was written by a fellow Saints fan who goes by the handle “First Time Poster.” His comments were a response to another person who took exception to a third party making an unfair generalization in reference to Arbery’s murderers (“Whites gonna white.”). I felt his response was powerful and worthy of sharing with my readers. With his permission, I’ve re-posted his comments below for your own reflection:

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The Very Basics of Bible Translations

Christian history, The Bible

A few days ago I came across an image that someone shared on social media that caught my attention (see the image below this paragraph). I see posts like this one fairly often. I also regularly read and hear comments from Christians who express concerns and questions about Bible translations. Over the years, I have encountered much confusion and misinformation regarding this topic. So I thought a quick primer on Bible translations would make for an interesting blog post.

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The implied assumption of this image seems to be that the NIV has omitted Bible verses for the sake of some sinister agenda. For the actual explanation, keep reading…

“WHY IS THIS VERSE OMITTED IN MY BIBLE?”

First, we do not have any of the original documents of any of the biblical books. But over time, people made copies of the original documents of Scripture. Many copies. And copies were made of those copies. And copies were also made of those copies (and on and on it goes). There are currently over 5,000 ancient manuscripts in existence of all or parts of the New Testament in our possession.

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People are Always the Point

Gospel of Mark, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Salvation

(NOTE: This post is part of a blog series on the Gospel of Mark. I am sharing a few little tidbits from my own personal study of Mark over the last few months. Below are a few of my notes from Mark 3.)

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. (Mark 3:1-6)

Notice that there is no mention of the man asking for healing. Jesus intentionally seeks him out on this Sabbath day. By healing this man in this fashion, Jesus wants to make an emphatic statement about what God values. People are always “the point.” When we elevate agendas, rules, or tasks over people, we are out of sync with the heart of God.

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