John 14:6 is one of the most soundbite-able quotes in that incredibly soundbite-packed work, the Book of John. In response to a question by the disciple Thomas, Jesus replies: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!” Very catchy. But what does it mean? Deconstructing John 14:6 According to Wikipedia, ‘the Way’ was a […]
Revelation 12:9 describes “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” (New International Version) Satan, the devil and ‘the enemy’* are generally used interchangeably to name God’s chief opponent. This conflation has been going on for some time. According to a footnote in Wikipedia, “Both the words satanas and diábolos are used interchangeably […]
Genesis 3:16 records one of the critical consequences of the Fall—the domination of the masculine over the feminine which laid the patriarchal foundation for what we call civilization, and which underpins the whole of Christianity: “Then the Lord said to the woman, ‘You will suffer terribly when you give birth. But you will still desire […]
In this blog I’m going to write about one of those pesky verses in the gospels that we all know is there yet it’s often easier to pretend it isn’t, Matthew 16:24: “Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take […]
There are two trees in the Garden: The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The trees are metaphors for the way we live, work, interact, feed, and function. Our human operating system, our paradigm, our perception. One represents holistic vision. The other is a cracked lens. The cracked lens […]
If the message of Jesus had to be summed in one phrase, one of my contenders would be Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven.” Arguably, Jesus’ primary message is to love one another (John 13:34). Or perhaps it’s his instruction about the importance of the first two commandments (Mark 12:29-31). What about […]
“You can see the speck in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the log in your own eye.” (Matthew 7:3) It’s one of many truth bombs that litter the early chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. For a long time, it surprised me how little this verse seemed to pop up in Christian discourse […]
I’m concluding this series on New Earth emotional tools with what may seem an unlikely tool: play. What kind of bizarre tool is play? Surely, that’s the world of children, not gown-ups, of garages and workshops? Yes. Absolutely. And the New Testament makes some pointed comments about that world. “Childish ways” Perhaps the most famous […]
Honouring? Eh? What kind of a tool is that? A very powerful one. Many years ago, when I was a young man, I left New Zealand on my own on a world trip. My first stop was Tokyo, where I spent several days. Cleaning ashtrays One day, I was walking along a footpath. There were […]
For this nineteenth tool in the New Earth series I’d like to discuss a tool whose power I have only recently come to recognise: compassion. That itself seems weird, because I consider it to be one of the four key values of Jesus: non-judgment, forgiveness, compassion, and unconditional love. Although the word doesn’t appear in the Bible […]
