Playing hopscotch over the surface of the Bible

Two momentous events occurred in 1955: I became a teenager, and rock ‘n roll was born. I am thus a child of the rock ‘n roll era and still recognize the songs that were hits in that era, especially the 1960s. Those songs are still often heard as background music in the malls. Yesterday, as … Continue reading Playing hopscotch over the surface of the Bible

It’s been quite a journey

August 1, 1970, St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Robert Goodnough and Christine Vance stood side by side, answered questions posed by Rev. Kenneth Vickers and were pronounced husband and wife. Today we go by Bob and Chris and marvel at the journey. We have lived in five provinces of Canada, and attended many … Continue reading It’s been quite a journey

Humanism versus humanity

[First posted in August 2013.] If anyone is wondering what is happening to our society, a little time spent reading the Humanist Manifesto of 1933 will provide considerable illumination.  Here are some excerpts: Religious humanism maintains that all associations and institutions exist for the fulfillment of human life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation, control, and direction … Continue reading Humanism versus humanity

Light up the darkness

Image by Pexels from Pixabay There is a mystical teaching among Hasidic Jews that the world is sustained by 36 righteous men. These men are unknown to each other, indeed most of them do not know their own role. Their number has been maintained for many generations, but if ever one of them would die and not be … Continue reading Light up the darkness

Cornered by God

I was 27 when I decided to read the Bible for myself. My parents had enrolled me in Sunday school by correspondence soon after I learned to read and write; later, my father began to read the Bible and pray with the family before bedtime. We began attending church when I was 10, and I … Continue reading Cornered by God

It all began on Mount Sinai

Summit of Mt. Sinai, photo by Mohammed Moussa, This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Western thought patterns are highly abstract, compared with Eastern. There developed in the West, and only in the West, a group of innovations that constitute the basis of Western thought. These include (in addition to the alphabet) … Continue reading It all began on Mount Sinai

Thought for the day

If you can't get along with other people, God can't get along with you.

The sacrifice of Isaac

As we approach the time of year in which we commemorate the death and resurrection of our Lord, it is fitting to look back and see how clearly God portrayed this in the event recorded in Genesis 22. The birth of Isaac was foretold in an angel visit. His birth was miraculous, his mother was … Continue reading The sacrifice of Isaac

How to read the Bible

I grew up in a home where the Bible was read every day, my father often talked bout things he read in it. We attended a church, the Anglican Church of Canada, where every service had a reading from the Old Testament, another from the New Testament, and several other passages from the Bible were … Continue reading How to read the Bible

Who was “John the Revelator”?

It has become common in some Christian circles to speak of the writer of the book of Revelation as being "John the Revelator." Who was this guy? This nom de plume seems to have originated with German Bible scholars of the 19th century who approached the Bible as literature, simply a series of writings produced … Continue reading Who was “John the Revelator”?