Full Metal Jacket What’s the first thing you think of when you hear that phrase? Maybe you remember the movie about the Vietnam War directed by Stanley Kubrick. The phrase is actually the name of a type of bullet that has a hard shell surrounding a softer lead core. The jacket enables the bullet to …
Lovey Dovey The Bible speaks a lot about love. The two most significant commandments, according to first century Judaism, were to love the Lord God and to love your neighbor. And, of course the establishment of these “laws” was first indicated in the Mosaic covenant of the Old Testament. Then with the advent of Jesus, …
Pyramid What’s the first thing you think of when you hear that word? Although the term can apply to various things, most people think of the pyramid monuments in Egypt: massive stone structures that were built to glorify the Pharaohs of the ancient world. They’re fascinating to see and the more we learn of them …
Lost in Space That’s the title of an old television show about a family being shipwrecked on a deserted planet, sort of a modern Robinson Crusoe. In a way we’re all operating on our own planets, shipwrecked within ourselves, seeking by various means to connect with others. It’s the case, isn’t it, that it’s …
Scuttlebutt You’ve probably heard that term even if you don’t use it. I associate it with the military, hearing it used in war movies. It makes sense since apparently it was first used to describe the gathering of sailors aboard ships. They would meet to get a drink of water, and the water was kept …
The Highest Virtue I remember watching a film in college about aboriginal people somewhere in South America or Africa. Apparently they were completely cut off from “civilized” society and had their own value system, a system that was strange indeed. They were cannibals, which I had heard of before, but what was really interesting was …
There’s an Atmosphere Here You’ve probably heard that phrase before. It pertains to something pervasive in the space that envelops a place. The earth has an atmosphere surrounding it; an atmosphere that contains the gases that we need to breathe in order to survive. We can’t see it but we can detect it. We breathe …
I pledge allegiance… We’ve mentioned in the past that the fundamental predicament of the human condition is isolation. We’re alone; we’ve been alone since we were estranged from God and driven out of the Garden. That’s the predicament, and in response to that we attempt to overcome that isolation by adhering to someone, or something, …
What Did He Say?!? I heard a sermon recently that focused on 3 John, the shortest book of the Bible by word count. It’s a letter to a church in Asia which was located in what is now modern day Turkiye, and there’s good reason to believe that it was written by the Apostle …
Hermewhatics etc. Why Bother? The question is: how do we understand what the Bible says? The obvious answer is: we read it. We read the Bible, and by reading it we learn about the Lord; we learn who God is and what He’s about in relation to us—those who’ve been created by Him. It’s like …