Welcome to my website. My goal is to help you & me grow in our ability to understand, love & live the Bible. On this site you can find training help, resources for your church, and inspiration for engaging the Scriptures. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago, as I was preparing to teach the book of Philippians in Israel, I was translating the fourth chapter. Phil. 4:2-3 reads like this:
"I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to align their perspectives in the Lord! Indeed, I also ask you, true companion, help these women (literally, "them") who have labored alongside me, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers whose names are in the book of life!" (Phil. 4:2-3)
In my last post I discussed briefly two wonky things we do with words: the root fallacy and the time-frame fallacy. In this post let’s discuss two other ways we throw Bible terms under the linguistic bus.
The words of the Bible are your friends. Some are extroverted, linking arms with the words around them they communicate fairly clearly and openly. Other words are complex introverts, shying away from speaking the obvious. Still others seem clear but reward the time spent getting to know them. Suddenly you see that they are not who you thought they were at first blush. But all of the Bible’s words are your friends. Be kind to them.
Do you know what you call a person who speaks 3 languages? Trilingual. Do you know what you call a person who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual. Do you know what you call a person who speaks 1 language? An American! (My European friends, most of whom are bi- or trilingual, love that joke).
One of the greatest comedy sequences in a contemporary movie has to be the kidnap and escape scene from The Princess Bride. Inigo, Fezzik, and Vizzini, a band of mostly-good bad guys, kidnap Princess Buttercup, taking her across the sea and up the cliffs of insanity.
