275,000 page views

Update: As of 8 May 2026, the number of page views is 946,372.

This blog just went over 275,000 page views.  Thank you for your interest in this ministry. I hope that the blog helps Christians to understand our spiritual unity within our almost infinite diversity. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28 NASB

I have previously been using the King James Version (KJV) Bible for quotations since the work is in the public domain. The problem with the KJV is that the archaic English, while beautiful and poetic, may not translate well for readers in languages other than English. The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is considered to be the most literal modern translation into English from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic languages.

"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation 
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

The Paradox of Belonging to Jesus

"When they are wholly His, they will be more themselves than ever."  C. S. Lewis

Christian Marriage, Part 2

(This is the continuation of the post begun yesterday.)


... so that we would not have to!!


"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."  2 Corinthians 5:21


This is where the Trinitarian part comes in.  We are Christians, which means "little Christs."  The name seems to have been given to us by outsiders (Acts 11:26) in Antioch (near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey) and was probably intended as an insult.  This Greek name comes from Χριστιανος, "Kristos" (annointed) plus "-ianos" (belonging to, carrying the idea of "being a slave of.") To be worthy of the name is actually an honor.

The third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who is fully God, just as Jesus and The Father are fully God, indwells every Christian.  This means that God Himself is in me.  God Himself is in you.  Our pupose, our reason for existence, is to act out His purposes, to further His Kingdom.  Each of us is Jesus to this world and we may be the only Jesus some ever see.  What a responsibility!.  I know this sounds strange to modern ears, but this is what Paul said in Philippians 1:21: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 

We don't, and can't, live up to it, but we do better the more we get ourselves out of the way and let the Holy Spirit guide our actions.  The more we insist on control, the more we can be petty, or jealous, or unreasonable, or snippy.

By the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2) we increasingly think the thoughts of Jesus; we take on the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).  This doen't mean we are no longer ourselves, but that our thinking is brought in line with that of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).

(Part 3 of this post will appear tomorrow.)

Book Comment: Santeria. The Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America

It is a great shame for Christianity that one of the slave ships that carried African captives to Cuba and the Western Hemisphere was named the Jesus.  Many of the Africans secretly retained their traditional beliefs, disguising them with Roman Catholic trappings to deceive their captors.

Some commentators describe Santeria as a variant of Christianity.  Nothing could be farther from the truth and Miguel A. de La Torre, points this out in his book, Santeria: The Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America.

In Santeria, rituals and animal sacrifices are primary, even more important than set beliefs or doctrines.  The magic rituals open up contact between humans and the numerous gods who guide humans through repeated life-cycles.

Jesus in Santeria is merely a mask worn by the god Olofi, who, as Jesus, was a great sorceror who knew many spells, sacrifices, and rituals.  Santeria and Christianity are totally incompatible.

Are We Not Men?

On 14 April 2010, I posted a comment on the film, Island of Lost Souls. The "happy" paradise built by Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) begins to fall apart when his man-animal hybrids begin to ask, "Are we not men?"

Island of Lost Souls is a very perverse film which can be uncomfortable to watch even today. Many considered it to be a frontal assault on the prevalent political and religious order. The film was banned in some places and in Australia it received the N.E.N. designation: "not to be exhibited to natives;" the aborigines or "Bushmen."

The motivation for the N.E.N. designation was the same as that which produced laws in the pre-Civil War American South which made it illegal to teach slaves to read. Many especially did not want the slaves to read the book of Philemon.

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You can read more about this film and others which stretched moral, political, sexual, social, religious, and ethical boundaries in:

Doherty, Thomas, Pre-Code Hollywood. Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934 (NY: Columbia University Press, ca. 1999)

A Proper Name

Many of the familiar names you know for Native American tribes are not names they have chosen for themselves. Often they were named by other tribes, not all of whom were their friends.

The Sioux actually have three major divisions named the Isanyathi, aka: the Santee ("knife"); the Ihankthunwan, aka: Yankton ("village at the end"), and the Thithunwan, aka: Teton or Lakota ("dwellers on the prairie"). The Sioux name probably comes from Nadouessiouak, an Odawa/Ottawa word meaning "small rattlesnake," not intended as a compliment.

The name of the Nez Perce tribe is French for "pierced nose", while the tribe refers to itself as Nimiipuu ("the real people"). The Nez Perce did not pierce their noses but another tribe, which did, lived nearby.

The Cherokee call themselves the Tsalagi or Aniyvwiyai ("principal people"). The name by which they are best known is possibly from the Choctaw cha-la-kee ("those who live in the mountains"). Another possible Choctaw origin for the name means "those who live in caves."

The traditional explanation of the Iroquois name is from the derogatory Wyandot word "irinakhoiw" meaning "real adders." The Iroquois name for the tribe is Haudenosaunee, meaning "they are building a long house."

The earliest Christians called themselves "the sect of the Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5) and "those of the way" (Acts 9:2). The name "Christians" (Xριστιανουσ) was a derogatory term applied by outsiders and later proudly adopted by believers. The Latin suffix "ianos" implied that one was a slave of the one to whose name it was affixed.

"And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." Acts 11:26