Gary Shogren's Blog
I will share my conclusion up front: of course we do! And if we are able to settle that, the main issue now becomes one of logistics, not of theology. First some background. Churches are offering online worship services: Bible studies; small groups. A Mennonite church in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is offering drive-through prayer: the... Continue Reading →
I am committed to using the very best edition of the Greek New Testament. At this moment, I accept as best the Nestle-Aland 28th edition (NA-28; I do not say this to put down the SBL or the Tyndale House New Testaments, but that is an issue for another day). Thus I am dumbfounded by... Continue Reading →
I love to write, and since I just yesterday finished drafting out a new book - and having a great time doing so! - a comment by C. S. Lewis reminded me that I should not claim to be doing some great act of self-surrender whenever I crank up the laptop. To paraphrase Plutarch from... Continue Reading →
Every year I join the Goodreads Reading Challenge (take a look at the wonderful site, http://www.goodreads.com, where you can log your reading). This year, as in the past few years, I have set the goal of reading 104 books, an average of two per week. Some are shorter novellas or tractates, some are long novels... Continue Reading →
According to Matthew 1:21, "Jesus" (in the form Iesous or Yeshua) means "he shall save." Matthew also states that Christ fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 - "And you shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means, God with us." In 1-2 Thessalonians, Paul also reveals how Jesus is the personal manifestation of Yahweh. The... Continue Reading →
If I remember 8th-grade math correctly, and if I am hearing some of my fellow evangelicals clearly, either they or I have transgressed a basic principle of math. I’m pretty sure they are the ones who goofed about a basic issue, our worldview. What I mean is that, as a people, we are a priori... Continue Reading →
Note: we are not dealing with a hypothetical Planet X, a body that has been talked about for two centuries. It might be a large planet beyond Neptune, whose mass may affect Neptune’s orbit. Due to further data, since the 1990s such a Planet X has been widely thought to be disproved. I mention it... Continue Reading →
Does the book of Acts intend to tell us a historical narrative, or does Luke tell us how we should be living? In other terms, is it principally or simply descriptive, or is it also prescriptive? One approach is that we should follow what Acts says - or follow it more confidently - only when... Continue Reading →
This is the homily I gave at the wedding of our daughter Vikky to Chris, on June 29, 2019 John 2 says that “There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding.” In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first miracle... Continue Reading →
By “Highlights” I do not mean the kids’ magazine, that staple of my dentist’s office as a kid, but rather my favorite reads of the year. I read 104 books in 2018 as I pursued my goal of two books a week; this does not include daily Bible reading or magazines. One happy turn was... Continue Reading →
Open Our Eyes, Lord! 