Lee Harmon's Blog, page 43

Book review: Creation Strikes Back

By Robert Core

★★★★

If you begin with the Bible as God’s honest truth, and add an appreciative-but-critical respect for evolutionary studies, where does the journey lead you? For Robert Core, it led to a startling conclusion.

Before delving into the review, I should probably make my bias clear up front. Proper science cannot be shackled by religious belief, and thus I do not see a niche for this book outside already-believing Christians with a soft spot for science. My four-star rating reflects...

1 Corinthians 14:33-34, Women Must Be Quiet In Church!

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

//Much is made of this passage, particularly since in the other writings that scholars agree are authentically authored by Paul, he seems to grant women equality with men. Why this exception at Corinth?

Paul’s words do...

Luke 24:2, Why was the Stone Rolled Away?

And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.

//While I’m not a proponent of trying to harmonize scripture, sometimes it’s interested to do so and see where a story leads. Here’s a case where it takes three Gospels to arrive at an explanation for why the stone was rolled away from the tomb.

If, as the Gospel of John asserts, Jesus was able to walk through doors or walls in his resurrection body (see John 20:19), why do you suppose the stone was rolled away?Surely Jesus needed no help...

Book review: Messiah: Origin

by Mark Arey, Kai Carpenter, Matt Dorff

★★★★★

Are you into graphic novels? I’ve never considered them my thing, always picturing such texts as little more than a comic book. So I was surprised to enjoy this one as much as I did.

A graphic novel attempts to communicate on a different level, with penetrating images. The artistic lines and colors, at least in this book, are vibrant, stark, evocative, powerful… this is a visual journey with a serious tone.

Messiah: Origin is the beginning of the gosp...

Genesis 2:7, Altruism and the Moral Law

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

//I’ve speculated before about the existence of a God-given moral law. Why is it that we humans in general agree upon right and wrong, and why do our “rights” generally coincide with whether or not an action helps or hurts another? Is altruism a gift from God?

Let’s compare humans to other animals for a moment. Believers in God tend to place humans in a separat...

Luke 1:34-35, The Moment of Jesus’ Conception

Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.

//While it’s not quite as clear here in Luke as it is in Matthew, today’s verses appear to be saying that God—in the form of the Holy Spirit—will come down and impregnate Mary. Many Christians read this quite literally, interpreting the title “Son of G...

Mark 13:14, Pay Attention and Get Out Of Jerusalem!

“The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing where he should not be.”(Reader, pay attention!)”Then those in Judea must flee to the hills.”

//I’m sometimes accused of overstating the effect of the Jerusalem war of 66-70 CE on early Christianity and the writing of Christian scripture. Perhaps I do overstate the war, but I doubt it. Most of the New Testament was written in the shadow of this horrible war, including all four of the Gospels and certa...

Book review: John’s Gospel: The Way It Happened

by Lee Harmon

★★★★

I’ve been somewhat remiss in promoting my latest book, so allow me to repeat a review here from My Book Addiction.

*********

JOHN’S GOSPEL: THE WAY IT HAPPENED by Lee Harmon is an interesting Christian Book & Bible/Reference/Educational. It is “A Dubious Disciple Book” and the sequel to “Revelation: The Way It Happened”. What an interesting concept on the Gospel of John.

“A collection of individual writings, compiled over a thousand years, with the author of each one expressing...

Isaiah 5:1, The Lord’s Vineyard

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.

//Isaiah chapter 5 is a song about a vineyard in a fertile land. This vineyard is clearly identified as Israel, with this verse:

The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. –Isaiah 5:7

With that scriptural foundation, then, we...

Romans 16:21, Who Wrote the Gospel of Luke? Part II of II

Yesterday, I discussed the tradition that a companion of Paul named Luke wrote Luke-Acts, and presented a couple of possibilities from the writings of Paul.These two possible Luke’s are written as Loukion in Greek. But there is another Greek name, Loukan, which may be a better fit.Try these verses on for size:

And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas andLoukan, my fellow workers. –Philemon 24

Our dear friendLoukan, the doctor, and Demas send greetings.–Colossians 4:14

The book of Philemon is universal...