Way back in the mid 80’s when I first started teaching Bible studies at work (during lunch time), I had a diverse audience of Engineers and Managers. I remember when I was about to start a Study on prayer, one of those managers stopped me and asked me to give him a summary of what we were going to be talking about before he would decide if he was going to stay on.

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans has the reputation of being complex. Some people will tell you it is because it is a treasure trove of Pauline theology, and they relish that. Others, that find it a slow read, may cite those very same “theologically” technical passages as contributing to the difficulty. Maybe both ways of reading it miss the point.

The question today is:  Why do some people believe the Gospel and others don’t? And by that I mean that you can have two persons, similar upbringing, similar education, similar life experiences, both exposed to the same story of Jesus… and one will believe and receive it and the other will reject it.

Read More › about To hear or not to hear. (Series on the Gospel of Luke #4)

The Gospel of Luke used to drive me crazy because it is so obviously out of chronological order. And, as an Engineer, I like order. But as an Engineer I also like Logic; and it wasn’t until this go around that I realized that a logical exposition was precisely what Luke set out to give us. Two blogs ago, I began my excursion into this Gospel by focusing on what I called, the formula: Repentance + faith = forgiveness of sins which produces Love. Today I want to continue where I left off. In doing so, I need to flesh out in more depth some of what I talked about then.

Read More › about The sign of contradiction. (Series on the Gospel of Luke, #3)

I have been going through the Gospel according to Luke with his admonition in mind that what he has written there was done with method: arranged to teach us, the way Greek tutors taught their pupils. As he says in the introduction to the Gospel, his purpose is to enable us to know the certainty of those things in which we have been instructed, the things we have believed.

Read More › about Logically, my dear Luke

If there were a formula for turning paper into gold, and you had it, what would you do with it? You’d use it and get rich, why not? If there were a formula for turning water into gasoline, and you had it… Hey, no more $3, $4 a gallon fill ups, right? If you knew the formula for living a successful life, and you could apply it, wouldn’t you?

What’s a formula?

Read More › about The formula