Jesus At 2am - A Humorous, Intelligent Look At The Bible, Church History & The Life Of Faith

Revelation has now granted us a look at the very nature of evil itself, as well as the means by which it exercises power in creation – namely violence and deception.  The question that remains is:  Why does humanity so willingly (and repeatedly) ally itself with such powers of destruction?  Why do the false promises […]

Kirk’s 2nd Rule of Biblical Study:  Attend to the context!  That is to say, we must always keep in mind the historical, literary, social…elements that underly any passage of scripture (or any ancient literature).  And Revelation 14 is one of the chief examples of why.  Without understanding the context, Rev. 14 is one of the […]

Interpreting the Bible well requires that we understand  the central conflict – the dilemma that God must resolve.  Last week we had our clearest glimpse of  the Enemy (symbolized in the dragon) – the one opposing the loving purposes of God.  But how does the the Enemy exercise its power?  After all, most people have […]

Throughout the biblical story there has been a sense of an enemy.  From the Garden of Eden, to the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, to the cross itself…there has always been something (someone?) lurking in the shadows, seeking to influence events in a manner contrary to God’s intent.  It would be too much to […]

The driving question of the book of Revelation is:  Why the delay?  What purposed is served by leaving time between Jesus’s resurrection and the consummation of the kingdom of God on earth?  To an oppressed church – facing what seems to be imminent persecution and martyrdom – it appears that there is little to be gained and […]

To a church facing persecution and fearing abandonment, John describes the vision granted to him of the heavenly throne room.  God sits in ultimate glory – suddenly placing Roman imperial power in cosmic perspective – and holds in his right hand the plan for the consummation of the age.  The scroll he holds is sealed with […]

Interpreting the book of Revelation requires we first understand the genre of “apocalypse” (from Gk. apocalypsis: “to reveal” – as in a secret, or in pulling back the curtain on a stage).  Though it feels quite foreign to us, it was a well-known form of literature in the ancient world, particularly within 2nd Temple Judaism.  The […]

While the early decades of the church’s history were hardly easy, they were nevertheless filled with optimism: Jesus was risen! But…, as the decades passed, questions about Jesus’s delay began to mount. And with the disastrous events of 70 AD (the destruction of Jerusalem, the fall of the second Temple and the massacre at Masada), things changed dramatically. By the mid-90s, Roman persecution would rise again (having done so once before – under Nero in the 60s) and force the church to reflect on how to carry on her mission amidst a very uncertain future.  It is out of these events – and the call to live faithfully through them – that John received his vision.  And it is only by grasping the historical context behind the book of Revelation that we can interpret it correctly.   

No biblical book inspires a broader spectrum of interpretation than the book of Revelation. Filled with symbols that range from multi-headed dragon to streets of gold, from doomsday battles and the mark of the beast to the New Jerusalem, the Apocalypse (literally the “revealing”) is meant to guide the church in the last act of […]

Paul’s teaching on the role of wives and  slaves in the Christian household are among the most (tragically!) misinterpreted passages in scripture.  In this episode we examine the tension between ideals and reality, between what is ultimately true and how close (or not) we can approximate it at any particular moment in time.   As […]

If, as Paul argues, salvation is by grace alone (a gift of God and not achieved by any act on our part), what does that imply for Christian ethics?  Can we therefore “sin boldly” — indulge our impulses and enjoy the party…?  I mean, if all is forgiven in the end, why not make good […]

Every philosophical and religious tradition has a view on the requirements of membership – what it takes to belong to the community of “salvation.”  In early Judaism, for example, membership within “true Israel” belonged to those who were at least: descended from Abraham, circumcised (men), obedient to the food laws and observant of the Sabbath.  For […]

What happens when you take people from different geographical regions, religious traditions, languages and cultures and tell them they are now “one in Christ” – the family of faith…?  As anyone who has ever sat in a church committee meeting will tell you, the answer is:  arguments!  Since there has been church, there has been […]

If confessing the full divinity of Jesus, or God who is simultaneously three Persons in one, strikes you as quite an intellectual stretch, know that you are in excellent company! After all, it is one thing to regard Jesus as a great religious teacher, a political leader or perhaps even some sort of (human) messianic figure. […]

Every Sunday Christians all over the world gather to sing, pray…listen to (a brilliant!) sermon… Styles may vary, but the pattern and basic content is stunningly consistent.  The question for today is:  Why?  What are the origins of Christian worship?  Why these particular elements?  And how do we know if we are “worshipping correctly”?  Can […]

What does the mean by spiritual gifts?  Are we to believe that Jesus bestows super powers upon his followers – healing people by laying on hands, speaking in tongues, foretelling the future…???  Are spiritual gifts signs of true faith (those who really believe can be distinguished from those who do not by their display of gifts)?  Are they […]

How do we know the Bible is true?  That is to say, why should we trust the biblical vision of reality is anything other than wishful thinking?  Or is faith inherently “blind”? Such questions are often met – both inside and outside the church – with philosophical arguments about the nature of being, first principles, Prime Movers and so […]

It is one thing to be declared “family,” and quite another to live out the relationships implied – particularly when new siblings come from communities deeply divided with one another.  And yet this is the first work of the church.  Those who have been called to bear witness to love’s triumph, to carry on Jesus’s […]

“Saved by works or saved by faith?”:  It is one of the oldest debates in Christianity (albeit not the most helpful).  By now, I hope it is becoming clearer that the idea of “being saved” refers to far more than simply one’s fate after death and relies neither on obedience to a divine law nor […]

Before we can understand Paul’s letters, we must first understand the man: the Pharisee, the zealot, the convert, the missionary and indeed the church’s greatest theologian.   In this episode, we examine Paul’s early life, his fervent commitment to Judaism and the extraordinary humility he demonstrates in his willingness to be wrong.  Saul of Tarsus […]