Altared Perception

The Bible is God's Word.  And it's chock full 'o stories about God and people.  These stories take place over the course of thousands of years.  They were written by different people for different people.  Some were written in times of famine, others in times of feast. So, with all these different stories, what holds them together?  There must be some theme that flows through them, right? Bible scholars have spent countless hours pouring over the Bible, trying to find its unifying theme.  Many different themes have been proposed, some making more sense than others.  But there's one theme that seems to come back again and again--one that I believe holds everything from Genesis to Revelation together. Here it is: God dwelling with his people. Think about it.  God walked with Adam and Eve in the Bible ( Gen. 2 ).  When they sinned against him, they were separated from him by being kicked out of the garden ( Gen. 3 ).  Ever since the...

So I grew up Baptist.  If you know anything about Baptist stereotypes, you know we're known for our long list of "No's": Don't smoke, don't drink, don't chew, nor go with girls who do.  It's easy to make a list of Don'ts.  But how often do we stress the Do's? There's this verse in the Bible that commands us to embrace Do's.  You find it in the last chapter of Philippians (4:8), and it is worth quoting: " Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just , whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable--if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise --think about these things ." How good of a job do we do at thinking about these good, pure things?  I mean, it's easy to get negative and critical and focus on all the things that aren't right in the world.  What about thinking about the things that are ? Well, I'd like to share some things that I t...