parables of a prodigal world

I ran across these clips recently, and I found them too sadly humorous not to share. Here's the first. It's our esteemed president thanking the Pope for a wonderful speech at the White House. He doesn't use the word "wonderful," though. Listen closely. Totally awesome, dude! The second is Richard Dawkins discussing his claim that if we concede that life was the product of an intervening, intelligent force, then that intelligent force must itself have been the product of a lengthy evolutionary process. Again, listen closely. So the argument goes: Evolution must be all-explaining because the only alternative explanation must itself utilize evolutionary principles (but only if we assume that all intelligence is the result of evolutionary processes). Thank you, Mr. Dawkins. Awesome argument! Grace and Peace, Raffi

My apologies to anyone who was expecting a follow-up to the "Lord's Prayer Through Middle Eastern Eyes" post , but I've been stuck home with the flu for a few days and my copy of Bailey's book is at the office, so I've got to put that project on hold for a bit. But on a related topic, and an offshoot of iMonk's recent thoughts on prayer , I've been thinking quite a bit recently about the whole "in Jesus' name" thing, you know, that bit where Jesus promised that whatever we pray in His name He will do... And of course, we've all heard the "God, please let me have a convertible BMW, white with tan interior, in Jesus' name, Amen"-type prayers and thought "That can't be what Jesus meant!" Well, no, I don't think that's what Jesus meant. And I think the clue to what He did mean has to do with the concept of "in the name of...", a concept that meant something very different in the ancient world ...

Sorry folks. Been sick as a dog. Be up and functioning soon, God willing. Grace and Peace, Raffi

Time Magazine recently listed the shift to viewing Jesus in a Jewish context as one of the Top 10 ideas that is changing the world. I agree, and that context is, now, widely considered by most Christian academics as necessary. But there is another context that is not yet so widespread and not especially trumpeted in this day and age. Yes, Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew. But he was also something else, something which is imperative to realize if we are to properly interpret his words and actions. Jesus was a Middle Easterner. Yes, viewing Jesus of Nazareth as a first century Jew is imperative for understanding the message He was relaying, the life He was living, the death He was dying, and... But we must never loose sight of one context when concentrating on another. Kenneth Bailey has spent a lifetime reminding us that Jesus was not only a Jew, He was a Middle Eastern Jew. And that fact brings to the table a entire world of cultural, linguistic, historical and, perhaps most importantly,...