Blog Features

I’M WORKING ON GENESIS at the moment. Odd, I know, given the Christmas season. But Jesus shows up in Genesis, too. At least that’s what one writer says: In the beginning was the one who is called the Word. The Word was with God and was truly God…. …

THERE ARE NOTHING BUT GUESSES about what exactly led the wise men to Bethlehem. Clues in the Bible: It pointed toward Israel. The star led them initially to the capital of the Jewish homeland, not to Bethlehem: “Some wise men from eastern lands …

HELLO CHRISTMAS. There’s just one more Friday between us and the biggest holiday on our plug of the planet. When we’ve lived through enough Christmases, we build ghostly memories of Christmas past. There was the Train Christmas. Mom and Dad …

I APOLOGIZE for talking so much about social issues lately. But doggone if it’s not all over the news. Like egg on Wolf Blitzer’s face, it’s just too hard to ignore. Torture is the headline of the moment. It captured the world’s attention with …

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE reacting to  news about police officers killing unarmed black men and boys: Friends of the living. Friends of the dead. I got some pushback from the article I wrote on Friday, Christians doing nothing for nobody. It was …

I’M WHITE. More accurately, I think, light orange. I held my hand up to a color palette on my computer. The closest match I could find was #ffe39f. In the CMYK color mode that my publisher uses to print photos in books I write, you get that Caucasian …

IT WASN’T THE DEVIL that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. Not according to the story’s anonymous writer—which ancient Jewish tradition says was Moses. It was just a snake with a vocabulary. Another Bible writer does, however, ID the talking critter …

HERE’S HOW JEWISH SONGWRITERS said thanks to God more than 2,000 years ago. Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Psalm 100:1 Lord, it is good to praise you. Most High God, it is good to make music to honor you. Psalm 92:1 Our God, we thank you …

WHAT IF WHENEVER WE COMPLAIN, we try to think up one reason to be grateful? Not that I’ve done it. I’m just wondering if I can. Let me give it a try. It can’t be much harder than putting money in a jar every time we cuss. Complaint: I got word that a …

IT’S A FAIR QUESTION that gets asked a lot. Last month, another reader wanted an answer to a scholarly twist he put on that same question. You can read my answer here: Why did Jesus die? But I just got the question again from a reader who seems more …

I’M A NEAT FREAK. Always have been. When the kids were growing up, it used to bother me when I came home from the office and found it hard to plant my feet anywhere since the living room was covered with toys and dolls and blocks and books and …