The nature of “warnings” has changed in the last few years. I remember the day when a “tornado warning” meant someone had spotted an actual tornado. But the other day I saw a warning issued because of circumstances that were likely to lead to a tornado. Twenty miles offshore. I mean no disrespect to the…
Lobsters are not immortal. You may have heard otherwise, but it isn’t true. They do have a remarkable way of reproducing cells that retards cell death indefinitely. But turns out, getting old brings on a host of health difficulties, each of which may eventually become fatal. They ward off the natural processes better than most species, granted, but death will inevitably get them in the end, as it will all of us.
One of the oddest parts of my brief exchange with Bro. Jesse Winn, to which I have made considerable reference over the last few weeks, was something he said about me personally. In my experience, “about me personally” is a prepositional phrase that is hardly ever a good thing in the context of brethren debating doctrinal differences. But this was an exception.
I was always a “better safe than sorry” kind of kid with regard to Biblical concepts. For instance, Jesus said, “Swear not at all” in Matthew 5:34, so I wouldn’t say the word “swear.” I’ve come to realize that isn’t the point of that passage; still, I can’t help cringing a bit when I hear someone say, “I swear to God.”
I say that to bring up another passage from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:22 reads, ‘But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”
I bought a package of roasted and salted Brazil nuts. The package has a label. The label includes a warning. My nuts, it seems, were processed in a plant that produces nuts. Wow. That’s just, … what’s the word I’m looking for?
I preached a sermon Sunday in which I mentioned how discouraged I am over people’s obsession with sports, how completely irrational and destructive behavior is permitted and even bragged about because of “team loyalty.” Just an hour or two later, in a (probably) unrelated incident, Mark Wahlberg walked out on his beloved Patriots at the Super Bowl (they were behind 28-12 at the time) and began receiving an unceasing stream of vitriol from other fans.
Most references to “love” in the New Testament use one of two Greek nouns — agapao or phileo. (Hide the children! Hal’s faking a knowledge of Greek again!) But there is another Greek word included in the compound word astorge, which is usually translated “unloving.” The root storge is generally defined as “family love,” that…
