Category: Uncategorized
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When the Son of Man Never Came (a coles-notes version)
[This is an abbreviated version of an essay I wrote for an MA course at Queen’s University. The course was called “Ancient Mediterranean Religions” facilitated by Professor Richard Ascough. I summarize it here. In the essay, I summarize the insights drawn from modern social-psychological studies of millenarian groups whose predictions failed to transpire and their…
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The Book of Daniel, Honest Struggles with the Bible and “the Writing on the Wall”
[This was written early 2022. At that time, I was still a Christian on the brink of losing it all. I was still trying to hold on to my faith. This piece is a signficant part of my journey. My honest search of truth eventually drew me away from the Christian religion later that year]…
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Prophetic Perspectives? When the Prophets of Israel Disagree…Significantly
[I wrote this in 2021. At that time I was still a Christian. These were the beginning of the cognitive cracks that eventaully forced me to abandon my religion] I am continually in a journey of wrestling with the Scriptures, and that is both exciting but also terrifying. Here are a few of my thoughts.…
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Thoughts on The Peculiar Sayings of Jesus (#2): Three Days, One Fox and the Flexibility of Daniel
[I wrote this in 2020. At that time I was a Christian. I still tend to stand by my interpretation of this passage] Focus Text: Luke 13:31-35 Jesus’ self-understanding and entire mission was, in my opinion, deeply shaped by the book of Daniel. This statement seems so undeniably obvious to me that it almost needs…
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Thoughts on the Peculiar Sayings of Jesus (#1): Casting Mountains into the Sea
Focus Text: Mark 11:23-24 Growing up in the church, I have noticed that the general tendency is to turn Jesus into a dispenser of general “timeless principles” for our lives. This is what has happened with this particular saying of Jesus: Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. “Truly, I say to you, whoever says…
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Christ “Publicly Portrayed as Crucified”? (Galatians 3:1)
Galatians Series: I am currently memorizing the letter of Galatians in its entirety. This series of blog posts is simply a fruit of that process. I wanted to put into writing some of my random thoughts on passages I find interesting. May you be challenged to follow King Jesus with greater conviction and clarity in…
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“All Israel Shall Be Saved”: Mishnah-inspired Musings on Paul’s Tough Statement
I love Paul’s epistle to the Romans, and I think I find myself in good company when I say that. Despite the almost overwhelming difficulty intrinsic to the letter, I find myself time and time again going back to it, reading and re-reading, praying and praying again, and slowly but surely, finding myself, like Paul…
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Tackling the Trickiest Tale of Jesus: The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
I am about to (very tentatively) tackle probably the most downright bewildering parable that Jesus ever spoke: the Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16:1-13). For some (or perhaps many), the intended meaning of what Jesus was actually saying seems so mysterious and obscure that it is almost pointless to even try to understand the…
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Paul’s Evangelism and the Real ‘Gentile-Problem’
I sometimes wonder about the way we Christians tend share the gospel. Is it the way St. Paul shared the gospel? A common method I’ve seen involves trying to convince another person that they’ve broken one or more of the the 10 commandments. After you do that, you then proceed to tell them that they…
Theological Musings of a Thirty-Something 