On my mind today

I'm back in my office this morning, following a quick trip to New Orleans / Baton Rouge for a conference and some R & R. It's not often I'll take a Sunday out in the middle of a series, but this conference was too good to pass up. The Greer-Heard Conference , held at New Orleans Baptist Seminary , was entitled "Can we trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus?" Styled in a point-counterpoint format, this conversation was headlined by two eminent scholars: Dr. Craig Evans and Dr. Bart Ehrman . While you may not recognize their names, in our little scholarly world, they are straight-up ROCK STARS! One of them - Dr. Evans - believes the answer of the question to be yes. The other, Dr. Ehrman, believes the answer to be no. So why discuss it if we know their answers before we begin? Because this is a key question many are asking today. To understand the answer, however, we've first got to understand the question. Can we "trust"? To t...

One of the things I enjoy most is the study of the Bible. Whether it's for use now or studying the ancients versions of it, my heart beats fast for it. The picture you see at left is the portion of a papyrus version of 1 Peter. It was only recently discovered. For those who say Biblical study is boring, I say you're not doing it right! Here's a link to the site where you can read more about it and learn more about the fascinating world of New Testament studies. Let me know what you think!

One of the things I enjoy most is studying the Bible, esp in it's ancient forms. Thus, with the release of the final digital version of a 4th century Bible, I'm pumped! Although it's appearance online may be a new thing to many, it's hardly new to scholars. Codex Siniaticus has a history akin to an Indiana Jones story, only it's too wild to be made into a movie - it's too unbelievable. And yet, it's true! Take a minute to read about it in the ABC news story about it and then go HERE to see it for yourself. Written on animal skin with a primitive ink, it's a wonderful example of an ancient text. It hasn't been all in one place in approximately a century so having it all at one's fingertips is unbelievable. It was written by hand, one letter at a time, one word at a time, one line at a time. Some have suggested it may be one of the 50 copies Roman Emperor Constantine ordered his church historian Eusebius to create in 317 AD. At any rate...

When I was writing my dissertation, one of the resources I used was a majestic work written by Dr. Reuben J. Swanson. Essentially, his works represent his life's blood. He poured his heart and soul into it and it showed. What a blessing those works were to me (and still are!) and to countless other scholars. Dr. Swanson passed away this week near Cincinnati, OH. A devout man as well as a scholar, Dr. Swanson's legacy of work survives him and not just in book form. His son is a pastor there and his memorial service will be held in his church. Furthermore, his grandson Erik produced a video about Dr. Swanson. An admirable tribute, I've placed it here for your viewing. My apologies - the video doesn't begin until about the 50 second mark. Dr. Swanson, you'll be greatly missed. May the Lord bless your family and here's to solving those textual problems by talking with the Lord Jesus himself!

(Hat Tip to Wendy Bristow for pointing this article out.) The Darwinistas are at once more (led by the so-called Texas Freedom Network). For fear that their death-grip on the ideology of school children across Texas, they have pressured the State Board of Education (the group that decides approved school text books) to remove the 20 yr old clarification that evolution is a THEORY (an unproven and unprovable theory I might add.). Whearas for the last 20 yrs, the strengths and weaknesses of the theory of evolution were presented along with the theory itself, that caveat has been discarded on the basis of "pure science." The clear implication is that Christianity has something to hide or fear from Darwinism. Furthermore, only a true simpleton would regard anything but Darwinistic evolution as a possibility. REAL scientists believe in evolution. REAL academics know that's the only plausible explanation. REAL smart people wouldn't dare consider Intelligent Design as ...

That's me - your pastor. I'm a mean-spirited angry bigot. Why? Because I believe the Bible speaks for itself and doesn't need to be a "living" document (whatever that means) to be authoritative for our lives. I believe the Bible is clear on the plan and expectations for humanity and provides an avenue for obedience if we choose to accept it. I believe the Bible expresses marriage clearly as one man-one woman for a lifetime. I believe homosexuality is an affront to a Holy God who doesn't "understand" such sin anymore than he "understands" any other sin. The Bible teaches acceptance, grace, mercy and love - qualities we all need - but never backs down from calling evil and injustice out. Furthermore, those who want to read the Bible as all grace, mercy, forgiveness and acceptance have missed much of the Bible's teachings about justice and righteousness. Finally, I believe there are many who will use the Bible for their own ends, ...

If you have any interest in seeing a 4th century copy of the Bible (portions of the Old Testament only right now), then visit this site . It will requires you to install Silverlight, an add-on for Internet Explorer, but I did it and haven't had any trouble. The site is in German, but not difficult to discern. Take a look!

On April 8th, I wrote about a conference I attended in New Orleans with Dr. Bart Ehrman as a speaker. I wrote to you that Dr. Ehrman had at one time been a Christian but has since renounced it. He offers us a little bit of why in a dialogue with Dr. N. T. Wright. If you're interested in reading a fascinating discussion on theodicy (the question of why God allows suffering), here's the link to it.

The Dallas Morning News was kind enough to run an article on Dr. Dan Wallace and the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. Here's a link to the article . I got to meet Dr. Wallace his hand when I was in Washington D.C. for a meeting in 2006. He is passionate about the word of God, founding the Center for the Study of the New Testament Manuscripts . That's him, seated at the desk, photographing manuscripts in a library in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey). (Incidentally, take special note of what brand computer he's using - you'll notice it's a MAC! :-)) He'll be on sabbatical next school year photographing manuscripts in Europe and Asia Minor. Incidentally, he's going to be in New Orleans at that lecture I spoke to you about last week. One of the questions I get when I discuss this with people is "Darin, what do these pictures look like and what do you do with them?" Below, you'll find a couple of pictures giving you an idea of ...

I don't frequently encourage people to see movies and I'm not necessarily endorsing this one, but it's definitely food for thought. Back in January, one Sunday evening we discussed Darwinism and the "cult-like" following it has. To be a scientist and be respected by the scientific community, you must join the cult and follow it in lock-step fashion or risk being "outed" as a weak thinker, non-scientific theist with an automatic agenda for foist religion on people with or without their permission. Pretty heavy, no? Especially for people who claim to aspire to the high ideals of academic freedom. But what, exactly, does that mean if we all must agree Darwin was right? Is there NO room for discussion? That's the question asked by Ben Stein in a new movie about to be released called "Expelled." All I've seen is the trailer right now, but even that makes me say maybe Ben, after having given away all his money (you do remember the show ...

When people find out I'm a New Testament textual criticism guy (and once they gather in what that means - :-), one of the first questions I get is usually "hasn't all that been done already?" The answer is an unequivocal NO! Why not? Because we keep finding things! Here's a link to a story that broke this week about a stash of manuscripts just located in an Egyptian monastery. While the evaluation of the manuscripts is far from complete, it's a wonderful discovery fraught with possibilities. BTW, if you'd like to discuss my hobby of New Testament textual criticism, drop by and let me bore you with it for awhile. It's a fascinating field constantly growing and changing as it evolves. Relatively young, the science of textual criticism really took of in the mid 1800's under the leadership of B.F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort, both of whom were British professors and church leaders. Google their names to learn about these amazing men and their b...

The press release they promised regarding the New Testament Manuscript find is slightly delayed. Heaven only knows what the hold-up us. Nevertheless, here's the link to where they WILL announce it.

On this date in 1859, Constantine von Tischendorf ( click here for his Wikipedia biography ) found Codex Sinaiticus at St. Catherine's Monestary at Mt. Sinai. Codex Sinaiticius (pictured below) is a wonderful example of 4th century Greek script. It contains the entire New Testament, portions of the Old Testament and a few non-canonical books like The Shepherd of Hermas and The Epistle of Barnabas . It's one of the earliest complete copies we've found anywhere in the world. As you can see from the picture, it's exemplary in its clarity and precisons. In all of its 346.5 pages, the lines and lettering are equally crisp and clear making far easier to work with that some of the other documents. Many have surmised that it's a sister manuscript to the Codex Vaticanus residing at the Vatican. Many more have surmised that both belong to the group of 50 manuscripts commissioned by Emperor Constantine in the early 325 AD. Share with me in marking this special day!

So you've decided you want to read the Bible this year. May I make a serious recommendation? Get a Bible you enjoy reading. I grew up reading the King James Version and I remember clearly my Grandmother Terrell introducing me to the Living Bible. It really wasn't until I got to college that I was introduced to the other versions. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with them simply because I understood better than I ever had before (this is not intended as a strike at the KJV). After college, I took up reading in Greek, both in the New Testament and the Greek Old Testament. As I studied, I realized the great disparity between the translations and wondered why. I reviewed the translation in comparison to the original languages. Here's what I discovered - there's not a lot of difference. The real difference betweeen the major translation is readability. As for me, I personally use the New International Version (NIV). Julie uses the New American Standard Bi...

Have you ever heard of the Aleppo Codex? Probably not. But I bet you know what it contains - the Old Testament. According to tradition, it's the oldest copy of the Hebrew Old Testament in the now-standard Masoretic text. I had the privilege of seeing it last year at this time at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D. C. While it may not sound like that big of a deal, trust me when I say it is. Whereas we have more than 5,500 Greek manuscripts that comprise the New Testament, we have less than 100 Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament. Any find related to that is significant. That's what makes this story so significant. Mr. Sam Sabbagh has had in his possession since 1947 a page from the Aleppo Codex ( here's a link to the full story ). Eight centimeters square, it contains a citation from Exodus 8. This is it in the picture. Mr. Sabbaugh said he rescued it from the Aleppo Synagogue when it was burning down. We know it did burn about that same time, so it's plaus...

Instead of going to Arlington, I wish I could've gone with these guys to Patmos, the famous island where the Apostle John was exiled to when he wrote the book of Revelation. A group of scholars has recently returned from there, photographing and cataloging ancient works still found there. An interesting story if you like that kind of thing - you know I DO! Here's the link.

Christian scholarship has lost a true legend, a giant in his field. Dr. Moule, or "Charlie" as he was known to friends, went home to be with the Lord this week. Perhaps you've never heard of him - here's a link to his full obituary . Throughout my studies, I encountered Dr. Moule and his writings such as Birth of the New Testament and An Idiom Book of the Greek New Testament . What I didn't know as much of was his work within the church. A committed churchman, Dr. Moule was sought after as a speaker on special occasions and ordination services. A true gentleman, Dr. Moule's work as both a scholar and a churchman is the kind of mold I hope for the Lord to fit me into. Lord, thanks for sending us men like Dr. Moule to imitate.

One of my favorite things to do is hang out in the archive area of libraries. Call it the scholar in me. I love the texture of old books in my hands and the smell of aged leather and parchment. I love having to squint to make out old handwriting by the original author or owner. I love the dust that gets stirred up opening books sealed for years. It makes my heart beat fast. I know - I'm pitiful. I found a story the brought excitement to my heart! A library of aged books at the New Orleans Theological Seminary Library sat for a long while unnoticed. Finally, someone wondered what they might have in their rare books and archives section so they hired a rare books expert and let her come take a look. WOW! They found treasures galore. Works by authors such as Ulrich Zwingli, Theordore Beza and Martin Luther. Some books had hand-written notes by Charles Spurgeon, a famous pastor from London. An unbelievable wealth of resources, this group of works survived Hurricane Katrina in plastic ...

Darwinism - the theory that all species of life have evolved from a simple organism to a more complex organism to a more complex organism until we've reached the pinnacle on which we now stand as humans through a process he called "natural selection" or "survival of the fittest." Created by Charles Darwin and published in his 1859 work On the Origin of Species , Darwin's thought has permeated our thinking in the U.S. that it is now regarded as fact, not theory, despite it being incapable of being replicated or the clear facts (such as the Second Law of Thermodynamics) that lead directly against Darwin's thought. We teach it to our school children and quash all other voices. Anyone who disagrees with Darwin's "LAWS" is either a "flat earth" thinker or a religious fundamentalist, both of whom should be regarded as academically inferior. In recent years, another movement has arisen. Known as Intelligent Design, it holds that c...

What a week! It was quite a week at StudentLife camp! Our speaker, JR Vassar, did an exceptional job as did Spur58, our worship leaders. The drama group All Things to All People, were absolutely unbelievable! It was a wonderful way to spend the week nevertheless, we're glad to be home. We've only been up a short while and Julie doesn't feel quite well, so today is a slow and quiet day at our house. I'm doing a little catching up on reading. One thing I've read alot about is Chris Hitchin's book How Religion Poisons Everything . Perhaps you've seen it too. If you haven't, the title tells you everything you need to know about the book. It's noteworthy only because of it's popularity (It's in the top ten of the NY Times bestsellers list). Here's my issue with it. He only deals with religion as if its a homogenous unit, all standing on equal footing. Furthermore, nowhere in the work does he address Christianity as a relationship with Jesus Ch...