Gary Shogren's Blog
Some of the following material is drawn from my forthcoming book Iceberg Ahead! When God’s Servants Crash into Cold, Hard Reality; it is already available in Spanish from Kerigma. ALONG THE LENGTH OF A BASEBALL BAT, the “sweet spot” is that point from which the ball will recoil and go the farthest distance. The batter... Continue Reading →
I have argued elsewhere that amateur Bible versions - by that I mean, people using the Strong's concordance to redo the Bible through paraphrasing - is a wellspring of confusion and dishonoring to God's Word. Here is one more reason why: This Conservative Bible is so aberrant that for me to go through every chapter... Continue Reading →
(Some of this material will appear in my forthcoming book, Los mitos que los cristianos creen. Y comparten [Myths that Christians Believe. And Pass Along.]) This is a conspiracy theory that certain old manuscripts of the New Testament (principally the codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus) contain a rewritten gospel. And that therefore, non-KJV Bibles are perversions,... Continue Reading →
Paul writes in Rom 16:1-2 NIV – “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon [deaconess? servant?] of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the... Continue Reading →
This week, our special guest is cross-cultural worker Fernando Retana. He is also a student of mine. Thank you, Fernando! If the article seems technical, it is because this is the level of graduate study at Seminario ESEPA: we do our own research on the Greek text and the manuscripts that underlie it. Fernando addresses... Continue Reading →
I grew up with that gospel chorus (by James M. Gray, president of Moody Bible Institute) and I think I know where he was coming from. But let’s carefully unpack its repeated motif: I 'm only a sinner saved by grace or we could say - I am [present tense] only [no more than] a... Continue Reading →
As C. S. Lewis said, some Christians are careless about the devil; some are too consumed with his existence. [1] So here’s a word for the preoccupied. I just heard a fine Holy Week sermon titled “It is Finished.” One of the references to Jesus’ crucifixion was, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made... Continue Reading →
The teaching known as Lashon Hakodesh (“the sacred language”) is multifaceted. It was originally a designation for Biblical Hebrew as such. But it later grew to have more implications that Hebrew is somehow a magical language. There are sub-legends that follow along with this: 1. That Hebrew is the language spoken in heaven. 2. That... Continue Reading →
Description: Our new Facebook group is the follow-up to Biblical Latin Group, which studied Wheelock during 2021. In, which include 2022 we will read the Gospel of John, Romans, Hebrews, among other canonical books. And we will mine deeply the Latin Per Diem posts on YouTube. Half the year we will spend on the classics... Continue Reading →
A while ago, someone commented on this passage from Luke 17:20-21 – [1] Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within [ἐντός/entos] you.” (I quote the NKJV here, since that resembles the Spanish... Continue Reading →
Open Our Eyes, Lord! 