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 →
What I read in 2018 – Just the Highlights!
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 →
Preachers: don’t believe everything you see!
Have you seen the memes that go like this? A pastor friend just mentioned something that I had also wondered, that the figure 365 seemed really high! So I ran it through my Bible software, and within a few minutes found that the number indeed was way off.[1] “Fear not” is a Kings-James-ism; the NET... Continue Reading →
No commentary necessary
Here is a snapshot of one and the same website, once in early September, once in early October. BEFORE AND AFTER STILL LATER - it still looks the same! "Currently offline!" These are not Photoshopped, by the way, except to blur out the website address. Which was a very gracious act on my part. By... Continue Reading →
Want to set a date for the rapture and maybe take home a prize? Step right up, son, three shots for a quarter!
Autumn [2017] swings around, and with it this year's harvest of Rapture Predictions. This year it’s September 23 (tomorrow!). And yes, I have looked over the “proofs”; given the late date, they are not worth the time it would take to overturn them. Each Rapture Prediction typically begins with a bang and ends with... Continue Reading →
Why Would a Hurricane Hit Texas and Florida, and not, for example, Alabama?
Related essay: "False Apostles are Smacked Down by Hurricane Irma!" I offer the following difficult theme with, I hope, all respect to those who suffer and with prayer God’s blessings on the residents of Texas as they pull their lives back from the flood and the Caribbean and Florida and especially Puerto Rico. And we... Continue Reading →
Israel and Palestine and a Hope for Peace
Seminario ESEPA held a conference in 2014 on the topic of "Israel and Palestine." They asked me to be one of the participants; I offered the following thoughts, which I have updated a bit, with the warning that they come from a Bible student with only cursory knowledge of world affairs. Good evening, and thank... Continue Reading →
Israel’s Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem
Last week I visited Yad Vashem, the memorial to the more than 6 million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. I invite the reader to visit their website yadvashem.org, and to study indepth the enormity of the Holocaust, which I cannot begin to describe in this short space. Our wonderful guide, Dani, told about... Continue Reading →
Bible Prophecy, ch 1 – “Bible Prophecies” that are NOT found in the Bible
This is a long essay with numerous footnotes. The reader may prefer to download it in pdf form: Shogren_Bible Prophecy #1 Bible Prophecies that are NOT in the Bible I plan on at least two more articles in this series, in which I will describe End-Time expectations that may or may not be found in the... Continue Reading →