Category Archives: Uncategorized
Eat and Drink, but Be Wary (via With Unveiled Face)
Yesterday, we looked at Mark 7:1–13, in which Jesus confronts legalists for inventing their own moral rules and using them to replace God’s law. I mentioned alcohol consumption as one possible arena in which this plays out. In a timely manner, Drew Humphrey has posted a terrific (as usual) summary of a biblical approach to alcohol. Check it out.
An encore in Wordle form
If you’ve never tried out Wordle, you’re totally missing out on hours of enjoyment and procrastination. Here’s a sample from my most recent 4 Minutes in Mark entry:
I like how the three biggest words produce the sentence “Jesus wants disciples.” That pretty much sums it up.
Sense appeal
It always puts a smile on my face when I run across a story that exemplifies a topic I’ve been studying. Here’s an example. I’ve been making my way through the book Preaching with Purpose by Jay Adams, and today I happened across this helpful nugget:
Most homiletics [preaching] books speak about “illustrating” truth and making it “vivid.” But those terms refer to communication by means of appeal to but a single sense: the sense of sight. That failure, so inherent in the very single sense vocabulary of homiletics, has led to dull, lifeless preaching.…If you wish to communicate biblical truth effectively without squeezing it dry, you must learn, rather, to appeal to the range of human senses as the Bible itself does. (pp. 87–88)
Adams then turns to Proverbs 25–28 for a cluster of evocative proverbs which appeal to the senses of hearing and touch as well as sight.
With this in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed today’s ridiculous entry in How to Write Badly Well (one of my new favorite blogs): Focus on one sense to the exclusion of the others.
Immediately, immediately, immediately
One of the most distinctive features of Mark’s writing style is that he seems addicted to the word immediately. The word shows up 42 times in his gospel, 12 times in the first chapter alone. (After that, Mark settles down a little.) In most versions of the English Bible, not every occurrence of the word is translated from the original language. Trust me, though—it’s used a lot.
This has led many people to declare that Mark’s gospel is a gospel of action and that he uses immediately to communicate “a sense of speed and urgency” (ESV Study Bible footnote, Mark 1:10–11). Odds are, though, that immediately is, like, just a filler word for Mark, like, you know, like is for us. And that Mark’s got a writing style similar to this imaginary author.
(That is a very funny blog, by the way.)
Self-promotion
As I’m looking for a position on a pastoral staff in a church somewhere in North America, I thought I’d put together a website to help potential churches get to know me better. The idea is that this site will help complement my résumé by including photos and links to some of the teaching and writing I’ve done. Check it out!
