Lee Harmon's Blog, page 59
May 18, 2013
Book review: Natural God, Deism in the Age of Intelligent Design
by Beth Houston
★★★
The final two chapters of this book are inspiring. But since most readers will slog through the first 400 pages to reach those chapters, I’d better review the initial pages as well. So bear with me, here, until we get to the good stuff.
I opened Beth Houston’s new book to find a heated attack on Darwinism on the very first page. Surely, in this age of genetics and evolutionary biology,she’s not going to base her Deism on Creationism is she?
Nope. “Genesism,” says Houston, is j...
May 17, 2013
Judges 4:21, How Did Sisera Die?
But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
//In Judges chapter four, a female warrior named Deborah predicts that an enemy general named Sisera will die by the hand of a woman. Perhaps she imagines that she, herself, will slay Sisera; we don’t know.
Her prediction comes true. A few verses later a woman named Jael lures Sisera into a tent with her, covers...
May 16, 2013
Book Winners
We have four winners in the book giveaway! If your name is listed, and we were unable to contact you, please drop Lee Harmon a note at lharmon@thewayithappened.com.
Brian Hager
Glenn Woods
Gus Cole-Kroll
Darrin Niday
This was sort of a trial run to see if we wanted to host book giveaways from among the books we review. The results were both good and bad; while we tracked a tremendous amount of traffic to the giveaway page, the majority of visitors didn’t bother to enter the contest once they arriv...
Genesis 1:27, Is God Our Heavenly Mommy?
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
//Hmmm. So which one is in the image of God? The male or the female? Or is God both male and female?
God seems to relish the role of a mother as much as a father. In the male-dominated culture of the Bible world, the paternal picture clearly won out, but traces of Momma God still remain, as in this verse:
By the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the...
May 15, 2013
Book giveaway: John’s Gospel or Revelation
Just follow this link for instructions.
www.dubiousdisciple.com/book-contest
Book review: Daughter of the King
by Carlene Havel and Sharon Faucheux
★★★★
I enjoy Bible-based historical fiction, so long as it doesn’t get too romancy. This one pushes the limit for me (hey, I’m just a guy), but the gooeyness didn’t detract from the scholarship and culture. Do be aware that by “culture,” we’re talking about the very tip…royalty in the king’s palace, not us common folk.
Michal, daughter of King Saul and the first of many wives to David, tells the story of David’s rise to political greatness. Michal seldom gets...
May 14, 2013
Exodus 21:22-23, Is Abortion a Sin? part II of II
When men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows, the one who hurt her shall be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life …
//Yesterday, we discussed a few verses that might help pin down this slippery topic of whether or not abortion is a sin. In the minds of most people, it comes down to a question of when the fetus is...
May 13, 2013
Psalm 139:13, Is Abortion a Sin? part I of II
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
//Every now and then, I can’t resist weighing in on one of the more controversial issues among Christians, though it’s usually my habit to wimp out without taking a stance. I’m happier presenting the arguments and leaving you to decide. Today we talk about abortion.
Today’s verse indicates that it is God Himself who creates life in the womb. Thus, opponents of abortion point out that we are destroying what God has create...
May 12, 2013
Book review: Muhammed, A Prophet For Our Time
by Karen Armstrong
★★★★★
In 1991, Karen published a biography of Muhammed, the founder of Islam. In 2006, she published this updated biography, hoping to focus more on his life and teachings that contradict the image of Muslim extremism, so that we Americans could put September 11 behind us and recognize Islam as a religion of peace. I haven’t read the first book, but I definitely enjoyed the second.
This is not the story of Islam or an interpretation of its scriptures. It is just a sympathetic...
May 11, 2013
Psalm 8:4, Leave Me Alone, God!
What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
//Inspiring words, aren’t they? The Psalmist seems astounded that God, the creator of the heavens, the one who set the moon and stars in their place, should find in his heart to care individually for mankind.
Words for the heart, at least in times of comfort. But note how Job, in his misery, twists this verse around:
What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention,that you examine him eve...
