I’m not the first to be amused by the irony of human profession, being that everyone likes to believe that their opinions and rationalizations are based on facts, reality, and careful reason, while the truth for most is closer to assumptions, controlling visions unthinkingly absorbed from one’s society,...
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March 26, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Society
In an earlier post, “Progressives Don’t Want to Help the Poor to escape Poverty—Entitlement Programs aren’t Charity or Charitable ” I began a discussion on the misguided equalizing of Biblical laws of charity with modern entitlement programs. The problem with this equation is one part poor understanding of...
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March 23, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Society
One of the frustrations I face as a biblical theologian is the confusion that biblical laws regarding the poor cause Christians who cannot tell the difference between charity and entitlement programs sustained by governmental confiscation and redistribution of personal wealth. This confusion is created, I believe by two...
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March 21, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies, Society, Theology
There is little doubt in my mind that there is a constancy to human nature that maintains a vital unity and relevance for human experience from age to age and culture to culture. Documents rooted in principle are not invalidated by changes in the external elements in society,...
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March 19, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, HAGALAH, Society
Being that few of my friends and neighbors have names that really mean something to us, (Other than Marsha Mello, Amanda Lynne, and Justin Case Yelle). I am intrigued about the psychological impact of living in a culture that makes you feel like you stumbled into a mafia...
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March 16, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies, Text Criticism Issues
I regard myself, perhaps wrongly, as a decent communicator, even if a bit snarky at times. I’ve dedicated most of my ministry energy to explaining complex ideas in biblical studies to determined church attendees. I’ve always liked to think that I could explain anything to anyone… until now....
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March 14, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Society
After discussing, in my recent blog post, “Hallelujah is a Sentence,” that the biblical “term” Hallelujah has grammar and that we should both be aware of that grammar and use the phrase accordingly in our worship songs, I received two types of criticism. Let’s call them sniveling and...
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March 12, 2018 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
As a good Evangelical… just a second, I have to adjust my halo… Okay, it’s got that 20s-gangster-hat tilt I like so much… So, as a good Evangelical who has studied at no less than seven Christian institutions, I was trained to preach according to an exegetical model....
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March 7, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Communication, Inductive Study Methods
If there is one thing I can say about the church I was raised in, indeed I can say many things about it, but this blog is rated PG-13, I suppose, so, I can’t repeat most of them in present company, it is that they had some of...
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March 5, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, NT's Use of the OT, Theology
Today we have a guest Blogger. John Donnelly, Biblical Literacy Ministries Educator, Church Planter, Part-year missionary to India. Several years ago I was in Iguaçu Falls Brazil, planting churches with a group of North Americans, Brazilian nationals and a group of translators. We had a bus and a...
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March 2, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Communication
I’m not sure which is worse, the constant misuse of Proverbs 29:18a (KJV) or how many times I find myself saying, “That’s not a good translation,” whenever I try to explain the whole proverb. Now, I have to say, “the whole proverb,” because I’ve never heard anyone actually...
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January 12, 2018 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
Today’s post is brought to you by Amy Kinder who has her Master of Arts in Biblical Studies with a concentration in the Old Testament from Ashland Theological Seminary. She is presently a stay at home mother of two beautiful children, and wife of a wonderful husband, and was, until...
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January 8, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, HAGALAH, Old Testament Studies
In my previous post “The Inanity of Nain,” I introduced the importance of the physical association of Jesus’ raising of the widow’s son with Elisha’s wondrous raising of the Shunammite’s. (2 Kings 4:36-37) Nain and Shunem, not two full miles apart, share the western edge of the hill...
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January 3, 2018 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
Geography is part of historical context. Yaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnnnnn!!!!! No! Not just maps and boring stuff, but real places and the experience of living and moving and having one’s being there. Like the wise one said, “God created war so that Americans would learn geography.”~ Mark Twain… ooops wrong quote…...
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December 29, 2017 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, HAGALAH, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
Categories, they are like crack for the left brained; they can’t get enough of them, can’t build barriers between them that are high enough, or thick enough. If the government made categories illegal, the left-brained would pawn their grandmother’s TV sets to purchase a few high quality categories...
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December 27, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Society
First, let me say that we need an easier way to speak of those souls who find themselves on the wrong end of a bully’s attention. Bullies get the easy to spout label, it’s like an automatic membership to a special club… Hi! I’m a bully. They should...
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December 20, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Society
Bullying is a complex topic,[1] one that elicits extreme emotional reactions no matter what a person has to say about it. So I thought I might just make a few highly controversial remarks based on anecdotal evidence drawn from my own experiences as both bully and bullied. And...
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December 18, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Society
When I talk about Biblical Theology I usually intend an approach to Scripture that envelopes many things. Like ordering a car and understanding that it will come with a lot of parts already put together… hopefully. Some of my friends prefer kits. Biblical Theology’s subject is specific. It’s...
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December 15, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Theology
One of the problems with being a biblical theologian is the discomfort I suffer whenever someone’s question crosses lines between biblical and “Christian” categories. We have our way of talking. Biblical authors had their ways of talking. A simple question like, “Were the Hebrew prophets monotheists or henotheists?”[1]...
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December 13, 2017 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Theology
Words for Holiness in Greek, Hebrew & Aramaic appear over 1000x in Scripture. Issues of holiness were important to those in the biblical era. Almost every aspect of life was impacted by shared and contended ideas of The Holy. Yet, nowhere in Scripture is holiness clearly explained; it...
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December 11, 2017 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Theology
