Bible and Mission

   'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' The Declaration of Independence  of the thirteen united States of America ,  July 4, 1776 In light of July, 2026 being a celebration of 250 years of American independence—really, a celebration of the end of the claim that the king, claiming a divine right to rule, was the law—I would like to offer a few paragraphs on the meaning of the  Declaration of Independence’s  (1776) phrase that people have natural rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  I have often wondered what this ‘pursuit of happiness’ means.  I believe I now know the source and direction of thought in this phrase, and to that end I have updated my essay, ‘Social Cohesion, Populism, and the Church's Prophetic Role in the State’. ...

In arguing for the resurrection, Paul puts forward a strange argument in the paragraph in 1 Corinthians 15.29-34: Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? (v. 29, ESV). I might prefer to translate the beginning, 'Otherwise, what are those baptising on behalf of the dead doing?'  What is baptism on behalf of the dead?  Commentaries offer a variety of interpretations for this obscure reference, and this interpretation that I have garnered from my own reading is one I believe is along the right track.  First, the word ‘baptism’ is broader than Christian baptism itself and means to dip in or under a liquid such as water or wine.  We should not read our Christian view of 'baptism' into the meaning of this verse. Note, second, that Paul does not say, ‘You’ do this or that Christians should do this.  He says that people do this.  These 'people' are those...

  I wonder if Fyodor Dostoevsky’s tale about Jesus’ return might have been inspired by an actual story of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum.   In The Brothers Karamazov , the character Ivan Karamazov tells the tale of a Grand Inquisitor who puts Jesus on trial upon His return to earth.   The Inquisitor claims that the Church has improved upon Jesus’ work and no longer needs Him.   This Church, whatever it is, does not need Jesus, does not want Him.   The shocking story Ivan tells is shocking mostly for how true it is in so many contexts, denominations, and local churches. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus attends the synagogue of His adopted home in Capernaum and immediately encounters a man possessed by an unclean spirit.   The man—or the unclean spirit in him—cries out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?   Have you come to destroy us?   I know who you are—the Holy One of God’ (Mark 1.23-24). Beyond the connection in these stories of a ...

  In setting up a law on sex for his proposed colony, the Athenian in Plato’s Laws forbids sex outside marriage between a man and a woman, mentioning in the course of his discourse breaches of this law in the form of adultery, incest, uncontrolled passion, pederasty, same-sex acts and orientations, and transgenderism.   The reason for such a law is to keep people from ‘those desires which frequently plunge many into ruin’ (8.835). [1]   His concern in having a law governing sex is not only that, without it, people will ruin themselves but also that they will injure the state.   What a state allows regarding sex is not a private matter as sexual practices have many consequences (8.836). Regarding same-sex sexual acts, he says that they are not natural (8.836).   The Law should ‘follow in nature’s steps’ in opposing males having sex with males as with women. [2]   In Romans 1.26-28, Paul is concerned with what is natural and what is against nature, that i...

  The origin of identifying ‘saints’ apart from other believers and of praying to them originates from Greek culture (we might says 'Graeco-Roman' culture).    This is an example of how a culture might, and often does, influence Christian practices and faith.   The Reformation rightly rejected such accretions to Biblical Christianity.   The pressure to honour, even fear, dead ancestors is something Christians face in Africa and Asia today, and so the topic remains relevant culturally if not in Protestant rejection of the Roman Catholic practice.  This brief essay will examine the cultural practice in Greece as found in Plato's Laws.  Prayer to heroes was well-established in the culture before the early Church arose in the 1st century AD. Plato, in laying down good practices for worship, says, Next after these gods the wise man will offer worship to the daemons, and after the daemons to the heroes.   After these will come private shrines l...

In a work titled Laws, Plato discusses the officials ( archontōn ) needed for a colony or city-state.  The officials selected should be ‘keepers’ in three areas: city stewards, market stewards, and the priesthood ( Laws 6.759; cf. Aristotle, Politics 6.1322b).  As to the priesthood, Plato describes three groups: the priests and priestesses, a group of interpreters of religious laws, and treasurers.  In the imaginary colony Plato is describing, he has in mind four classes of citizens defined by economic status.  People in religious service are to be drawn from the highest class. We should note that Plato’s famous student, Aristotle, wrote a work that identifies the various supervisors of institutions in a city-state in greater detail.  One such group is the priesthood.  Like Aristotle, he insists that they should be drawn from citizens and not ‘tillers of the soil’ (slaves) or artisans.  Aristotle also says, like Plato, that priests should be older....