Somewhere during college, I began struggling to fit the pieces together. Growing up as literalist, I found it harder and harder to work the Biblical puzzle. For example, how can Paul say in 1 Timothy 2:11-12, “I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent,” when […]
Author Archives: paulrpurdue
When we moved to Tennessee, a friend said, “you must go to a UT football game- it’s like a religious experience!” We tailgated and did the Vol walk, the band leading us in. It was fun. Now I grew up in Kentucky, and Big Blue Nation wears a lot of blue, you just notice the […]
After a severe beating, what gives Paul the strength to sing and pray while shackled to the floor of a Philippian Jail? Is Paul a Super-Apostle? What lifts us up, when oppression, injustice and evil push us down? “When Paul and Silas had been severely beaten, the authorities threw them into prison and ordered […]
This week Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, spoke “to our church friends” reminding the nation of Paul’s injunction to “obey the government.” Sessions did not keep on reading in Romans 13, where he might have heard Paul call us “to pay taxes” or to the deepest moral law to “love our neighbors as ourselves”. Now, how […]
As a people of the cross and the flame, we face a profound choice. We can stand with the legalists or literalists, or we can follow the Spirit who leads us into all truth. We can cling to the letter that kills, or be renewed by the Spirit who gives life. (2 Corinthians 3) Let […]
Marcus Borg guesses that about a third of Christians like the Apostle Paul, a third hold a mixed view, and a third dislike Paul. Should we take a show of hands? Maybe a vote on Barnabas, who traveled with Paul. How can you dislike one named “son of encouragement?” Borg believes many Christians misunderstand Paul. […]
Sent on a Spiritual Journey into the World! Back before cell phones, wifi, or even cable TV, we got bored every summer. We invited fun. playing home-run derby with a wiffle-ball or riding our bikes over a little ramp through the sprinkler like Evel Knievel. One day, we were all down at Joey’s when […]
Have you ever watched someone you love lift off in a hot air balloon or seen the space shuttle blast off to outer space? You will find yourself watching it drift out of sight. Jesus said, “‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in […]
In the year my Aunt Margarette died, and then my father, I began accompanying mother to Camp Nelson, Frankfort, Willisburg, and Rockbridge cemeteries. We cut lilacs, lilies, and Black-eyed Susans from her yard and placed them in coffee cans wrapped in aluminum foil. When mom moved into our home in Tennessee, we cut wildflowers from […]
As a college sophomore, I spent the summer as Southern Baptist Summer Missionary, in Minnesota trying to convert the Lutherans. We mostly worked with refugees from Vietnam and Laos, but we spent two weeks going door to door, knocking on doors in a small Wisconsin town, whose name escapes me. We worked with Pastor What’s-His-Name, […]
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