Gary Shogren's Blog
This is taken from my book Myths that we Christians Believe, available from Amazon. I first heard about the Pagan Christmas Tree during my years in Costa Rica, and only later saw it in the English language. The meme is one example, showing the Christmas tree that they annually place in front of the White... Continue Reading →
From a meeting of one of my classes on spiritual identity:It is only through confessing the Triune God that we can form our identity, because only then can we capture how God is eternally, essentially, a God of love. LOVE IS A VERB, and to affirm that God is love means, he loved for an... Continue Reading →
A while back I wrote a brief commentary on 1-2 Timothy for Bible translators. In I had to deal with the most important textual variant (place where the manuscripts differ one from another). It appears in 1 Tim 3:16: “Beyond question, great is the mystery of godliness, ___ was manifest in the flesh” (NASB version). In... Continue Reading →
Some material adapted from my commentary on 1-2 Thessalonians in the ZECNT series. It can be purchased from Zondervan, Logos, Amazon. 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament | ZECNT) | Logos Bible Software The New Living Translation treats 1 Thess 3:13 as – “May he, as a result, make your... Continue Reading →
He was fully human, not a newly created zygote (despite the ancient/revived error that he was not genetically related to Mary). [1] Literal, genetic son of Mary – she was not a "surrogate mother" or a borrowed womb, but the true mother. Son of Mary, thus, Son of David. Thus, Son of Judah. Thus, Son... Continue Reading →
It is fashionable to criticize seminary training. For example, Peter DeHaan argues that “Seminary delays ministry!” That is, the years you invest in training, are years wasting God’s time. He writes: “If God actually tells you to go to seminary, then go. Otherwise just start serving him and leave the advanced education to the academics.... 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 →
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 →
The next time Dan Brown tells you that the Roman emperor Constantine invented the trinity; or the Jehovah's Witnesses tell you we worship a "three-headed God" - and they have been showing that fuzzy black-and-white photo for decades! - send them back to the history books! Especially this:“The Church, although scattered through the whole world,... Continue Reading →
Paul said in Colossians 1:19-20 - “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” The nails in Jesus’ time were handmade. And so, after... Continue Reading →
Open Our Eyes, Lord! 