One of the challenges in reading the Bible is that we often inherit the meaning of familiar phrases rather than asking what they meant to the people who first heard them. “Be fruitful and multiply” is one of those phrases. Today it is commonly understood as a command to have children, or even as a…

The more I read stories about biblical Israel, the more they seem to mirror the story of all people. They are accounts of struggle, oppression, longing, failure, hope, and the deep desire for deliverance. Whether viewed historically, theologically, or symbolically, they reflect something universal about the human journey. Moses becomes more than a historical leader.…

A river metaphor is rich because it captures something that static metaphors—like buildings, machines, or legal contracts—cannot. A river is alive. It is always itself, yet never exactly the same. It is shaped by what it encounters without losing its essential nature. So, in thinking about a river. Not simply as a body of water,…

Here are some ideas which may be missed in discussions about the Bible: the biblical narrative frequently describes human behavior without necessarily prescribing it. One of the challenges in reading Scripture is distinguishing between what the text records and what it ultimately commends. One of the most fascinating aspects of reading the Bible is recognizing…

Here’s the fascinating part: the Bible never presents a single, fully developed doctrine of hell from beginning to end. What many people imagine today—a place of eternal conscious torment where unbelievers are punished forever—is the result of a long historical evolution. It emerged gradually as different cultures, languages, and philosophical ideas blended together over nearly…

It is interesting to look into and process various theories about how all that is came to be. What strikes me most is how each model is trying to answer the same question, but often from a different level of reality. We often assume they are competing explanations when they may actually be addressing different…

The opening chapters of Genesis raise as many questions as they answer. Take the familiar phrase, “the two shall become one flesh.” It paints a beautiful picture of intimacy, covenant, and relational unity. But then another question immediately comes to mind. If Adam and Eve were the first and only humans, how did the population…

There is a tension that has always existed between certainty and mystery. Every generation inherits a collection of beliefs, doctrines, traditions, and interpretations that attempt to explain God, humanity, and the nature of reality. Those explanations become the framework through which people understand the world. Yet history continually reminds us that our frameworks are provisional.…

There are few statements of Jesus that have been more misunderstood than, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Over the centuries, these words have often been interpreted as a call to self-denial, self-loathing, or enduring life’s hardships with quiet resignation. Yet that may not…

One of the most freeing phrases I’ve come to embrace is this: “I don’t know… but this is what I believe today.” Not a confession of weakness, but of humility. When we’re young, we’re handed a collection of beliefs by our parents, teachers, culture, and religion. We naturally assume they’ve figured things out. As we…