The ongoing coronavirus epidemic and the resulting lockdowns have placed us under new pressures and brought new qualities to light. The quality I’d like to discuss today is fortitude. The entire Book of Job is a lesson in fortitude. It seems extremely relevant today, with many suffering from health issues and questioning their faith. Fortitude […]
The Christian mystic William Blake wrote that “It is an easy thing to triumph in the summer’s sun / And in the vintage and to sing on the waggon loaded with corn”. At such times it’s easy to be content with out lot in life. What happens when the waggon of our life isn’t loaded […]
Famine appears in both Books of Kings: “For three years no rain fell in Samaria, and there was almost nothing to eat anywhere.” (1 Kings 18:1-2) “The Lord has warned that there will be no food here for seven years.” (2 Kings 8:1) Famines in East Africa in the 1970s revealed the impact of environmental […]
We know that the Old Testament took place in the context of the desert. That’s not precise enough. It actually took place in the context of desertification—the onset or increase of desert. The difference is crucial. The Middle East wasn’t always a desert. The Middle East wasn’t always a desert [1]. Prior to about 4000 BC […]
Discernment is the art of learning what is right for you. Isaiah 44:19-20 is a classic example of discernment—or the lack of it. “They don’t have enough sense to say to themselves, “I made a fire with half of the wood and cooked my bread and meat on it. Then I made something worthless with […]
We’ve all been raised with at least some awareness of the 7 deadly sins. What exactly are these sins, so fundamental to the Christian concept of original sin? Mark 7:20 contains one of Jesus’ most damning verdicts on the human condition—one of many. I don’t think I have ever heard anyone quote it. Matthew 15:10-20 echoes […]
For over two decades, geographer James DeMeo [1] has offered evidence that patriarchy arose in the Middle East, North Africa, Arabia and Central Asia in the period following 4000 BC in response to long-term drought and desertification—the spread of desert conditions. Iraqi stalagmites provide evidence of this long-term drought. These early patriarchies coalesced into violent […]