Spirituality in the 21st Century

I noticed an online acquaintance the other day becoming extremely agitated that someone had referred to Christmas using the colloquialism Xmas. She felt that this was insulting, and offensive in the extreme. What she didn't realize was that Xmas as a shortened form for Christmas has a venerable, and solidly Christian, history.

The word Christmas is a compound of Christ + mass; we see it first in Old English in the form Cristes mæsse in 1038, according to the OED. The Old English form eventually evolved to the Middle English Christemasse. The word Christ is derived from the Greek word Christos, meaning "anointed," a literal translation of the Hebrew cognate of messiah. Read more

Tibetan Prayer WheelIn Col. 2:20-23, Paul rejects a modern trend that emerged in the 60's.  Not the 1960's.  The 60's.  :- )  This trend was towards a "voluntary will-worship" that, said Paul, gained no favor from its Target.

The Greek word thelothreskia -- will-worship -- comes from two Greek words.

The second, threskia, was the word they used for ceremony.  If your sister is getting married Saturday, then very likely she'll be at a rehearsal on Friday night.  Rehearsing what?  Rehearsing the threskia.  The formal sequence of acts that is performed as a ritual towards the function of marriage.  In religion, threskias are the worship sequences. Read more

.Hebrews 2:1-3 tells Christians that they have received a "great salvation." 

What is "great" about your salvation?  Dylan and Jack sit and read Heb. 2:1-3 and smile ... "Yep, it's a great salvation.  I went to a great movie yesterday.  I have a great Persian kitty at home.  I have a great stereo in the car, and a great salvation into the bargain."

Nope.  Actually, "great" in this sense comes from a Greek word, telekautes, that means colossal.  Mighty.  Heavy. 

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A hope about to be made livingIn 1 Pet. 1:3, Peter says that Christ "has begotten us again into a lively hope." 

Begotten again?  Yeah, you betcha.  One day we were born into the earth, sky, the realm of oxygen, carbon, gold, and nitrogen.  Another day, we were begotten into a living hope.

Jesus came preaching the Kingdom.  He walked past a fisherman and said, "I am going to restore David's kingdom now.  I need a second-in-command.  Are you in?"  Peter walked away from his nets.  I think I could have shown that much faith, you?  :- ) Read more

Writing drunk . . .The Bible is deep. 

Forget about "mastering" the New Testament; forget about mastering a particular book of it.  Forget about "mastering" Peter's explanation of a "living hope" (?) in 1 Peter 1:3-9. 

Let's see if we can comprehend the first phrase in Peter's seven-verse sermon:

Blessed be the Father ...

Yep.  Inside 3-4 words, Peter has lost me already.  Do you get that?  Really get why he talks like that?  I don't.  Read more

What does Frodo have in common with Christ?In Acts 18, the preacher Apollos is described as "an eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures," who "mightily convinced the Jews publicly" that Jesus was Christ. 

In this context, "eloquent" describes a man well-educated, reinforcing his arguments with many appeals to logic and to outside authorities.  Whether the Book of Hebrews was written by Apollos or not, it is a blow-for-blow example of the kind of ultra-sophistication that Luke ran into, in Acts 18:24-28.

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In Hebrews 3, the inspired writer points out that with all of the other things that Jesus accomplished, He was also the greatest Apostle of all time: Read more

Temple of HerodThey used to have a cooler way to say "A biochem degree is my goal."  They'd say, "The end of my studies is a mastery of biochemisty."  They wouldn't ask, "Hey, I see that Iraq has enriched uranium.  What's their goal?"  They'd ask, "Why have they enriched uranium?  To what end?"

The word "goal" causes us to visualize a target and a moving projectile.  The convention "To what end?" causes us to visualize a series of #1-2-3-4 steps that we take, and a final, impactful #5 result-step that occurs because of our actions. 

I like the "end" construction.

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We spend a lot of time thinking about life and the nature of being, as humans. Perhaps it's simply a byproduct of being sentient animals, perhaps—as the more spiritual among us would insist—that level of introspection is a mark that we are indeed God's deliberate creation, superior to and different than other What if the Big Bang didn't create life at all, but rather, life created the Big Bang?animals.

A thought-provoking recent article on msnbc.com abridges and presents part of a new book, Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe, by two leading scientists: biologist Robert Lanza, M.D., and astronomer Bob Berman. Read more

Psalm 26: 1 NASB: Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity,
And I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

VINDICATE from Hebrew shaphat: pronounce sentence on me (favorably), prove me correct, support me, justify me.

Psalm 26 was probably written when Saul and his men were chasing him around the wilderness, seeking to murder him, and slandering him to everybody who would listen while they were at it. Vindication might not mean as much to us if we weren't standing in a courtroom. Or reading an audit from the IRS. Or running from an angry lynch mob, as the young David also was.

But there are times when vindication will be the most important thing in our lives...

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John 12:20-26: Read more