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EXTRA GOSPELS ABOUT JESUS exist. But they’re not in the Bible. For good reason, most Christian scholars say. Take the Gospel of Thomas, probably written about a hundred years after Jesus. At least that’s when scholars of the day started criticizing …

JEWS WEREN’T THE FIRST people on record to pitch the “one God” idea, some scholars say. Egyptians were. At least they are the first with archaeological evidence to back them up. About one hundred years before many Bible experts say Moses led the …

OOPS. I forgot to write today’s blog article. It’s pushing 8:30 p.m. as I write this, and the article posts at 6 a.m. I haven’t eaten supper yet. The wife left three hours ago for her job as a night-shift nurse. So it’s just me and Buddy the Dog. And …

GRINDING TREE STUMPS or lying on a beach. That was the vacation question this summer. I chose to grind tree stumps on a stretch of rolling hills where Mom lives, in an Amish-built house on what used to be a Christmas tree farm. It’s not that I’m a …

I ADMIT IT. I’ve got some humans in my extended family who could not possibly live far enough away from me. Tell me I’m not alone in this. I just spent a week visiting none of them. Instead, I visited family whose company I could not possibly enjoy …

FUNNY HOW FOLKS can read the same sentence in the Bible and come away with opposite ideas about what to make of it. I got a taste of that last week when someone tripped over a couple of old blog articles I wrote back in 2013 and posted the links in a …

LIKE ME, JESUS HAD ODDBALLS in his family tree. I’ve been thinking about my family a lot lately because I’ve been scanning old family photos, some dating back a century. I don’t have any vintage photos of my family members in high society. I’ve got …

THERE AREN’T MANY VACATIONS going on in the Bible. At least not many that are reported. Bible folks were herders, farmers, and merchants for the most part. Those were year-round jobs except for people rich enough to hire workers or buy slaves to do …

CHRISTIANS GET UPSET about the darndest things, as far as many Americans are concerned. Like the recent Supreme Court ruling that legalizes same-sex marriage throughout the country. Many Christians – possibly most who go to church each Sunday – say …

I’VE GOT TROUT on the brain. But I want it in my stomach. As I type this, I expect to rise at 5 a.m. the next day and spend a well-deserved day off by fly-fishing. I’ve done that only once before. I spent a two-day weekend with a couple dozen guys …

A DIRT GUY FROM ISRAEL sent me a comment this week adding weight to a theory I reported in the Bible video When the Jordan River Stopped for Joshua. In that video I reported a theory about how the Jordan River stopped so Joshua and the Jews could …

STOP EVERYTHING. That’s what writers do when the postal worker delivers their newest book, fresh off the press. The publisher usually, but not always, sends us a copy before the book goes public. It’s a courtesy because they know we are eager to see …