Greek Alphabet PowerPoint Flash Cards

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Greek Alphabet Flash Cards 200x150MONDAYI am a firm believer in the usefulness of flash cards for learning a new language—and not only for help in memorizing vocabulary but for points of grammar and other related topics, including the language’s alphabet, if it differs from ours.

I personally did not have much trouble memorizing the Greek and Hebrew alphabets, but I sympathize with those who do. Continue reading →

North vs. South: Does It Matter?

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north-and-south-galatia-100x100pxSUNDAY The assortment of questions that tend to congregate under the heading of “biblical introduction” impinge upon an issue that most Bible-believing Christians consider rather crucial: “Are these writings authentic?”

Is Moses actually the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible)? Did the Apostle Paul really write the Pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus)? Did Peter really write 2 Peter (or 1 Peter, for that matter)?
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The Watergate Scandal: A Selective Timeline

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This Sunday, June 17, 2012, will be the 40th anniversary of the bungled break-in of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. The ensuing cover-up, prosecutions, and more than two-year-long scandal resulted in the first (and so far only) resignation of an American president.

I put together the following video and uploaded it to both my YouTube and Vimeo accounts. The Vimeo account has the advantage of being ad-free (the YouTube ad inconveniently appears right over my captions, unless you manually close it). And if you go directly to the video on Vimeo, you can watch it in full-screen high definition.

reading Scripture

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After more than two years of work (on-and-off, as circumstances have allowed) I am finally “going live” with my new reading Scripture web site. If you follow its daily Bible readings you will read the entire Bible in a year. The site will also eventually feature daily readings in the historic confessions and catechisms of the Reformed faith, pages devoted to the various categories of biblical studies and theology, and articles linking to relevant articles and blog posts.

Journalistic Ethics Without God

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Jill McGivering is a BBC correspondent who, nearly two weeks ago, reported on the tragic floods in Pakistan that left eight million people without food and shelter. Apparently her involvement has caused her to experience a small crisis of conscience—all because she helped someone.

While covering the massive suffering in the city of Sukkur, someone led her to a young woman who had given birth on the road. The mother appeared in shock and the newborn girl was in critical need of medical care—apparently near death. McGivering tracked down a quite-overwhelmed Dr. Fahim at a medical camp and implored him to see her. He later went and tended to the baby, whose mother had named her Samina, and when McGivering checked up on the mother and child the next day she was elated to find the infant in a vastly improved condition. She expressed her elation in a story that attracted a great deal of media and public attention—attention which seems to have prompted her pangs of conscience.

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Bryan Cross, “Ecclesial Deism,” etc.

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Every once in a while I spend an exorbitant amount of time posting a comment on someone else’s blog. It is a weakness with which I persistently struggle to overcome. Alas, I have succumbed to it once more.

This time, however, I have decided that, rather than simply casting it into the abyss of soon-to-be forgotten combox limbo, I will post it on my own eventually-to-be-forgotten web site.

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Entitlement Snobs

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California: where those who do not pay what things actually cost mooch off those who pay more than what things are actually worth.

Take the U. of C. at Berkeley, for example. That’s the school that shows off its coolness on its web site’s home page with a photo of students doing high-level math on a blackboard while wearing t-shirts  (at least that’s what it displayed when I visited it). But it seems that a facility for higher math doesn’t automatically lead to an appreciation for how numbers work in the real world.

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From the Feckless to the “Reckless”

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Australian politician Malcolm Turnbull

So why should we radically reallocate the global resources of all the developed nations on the planet in such a way that would crater the world economy and head us all back in the direction of pre-industrial standards of living at the very moment when the science that supports anthropogenic global warming is melting faster than Nixon’s Watergate alibis in the August 1974 noonday sun? The answer, according Australian parliamentarian Malcolm Turnbull, is: “Just in case!” Continue reading →