約伯記 {yue1-bo2-ji4}Old Testament – Wisdom Books Job, is quite possibly the most misunderstood Book for many reasons. First, let’s get the easy one out of the way. It’s not pronounced like “job” as in “good job” or “Steve Jobs”. Instead, it sounds like how you would pronounce “jobe”. If you finish the entire book, all…
One of my favorite quotes comes from General Omar Bradley, “Amateurs talk strategy; professionals talk logistics.” General Omar Bradley Likewise, it’s not the understanding of movements or human anatomy that keeps someone from drowning, because when your head is underwater, anything you’ve learned seems to go right out the window, or pool. Once you are…
In a different post, we ventured into the elusive realm of memory. As they say, in for a penny, in for a pound, so shall we take another stab at it? This time, we turn our attention to long-term memory, which serves different purposes such as retaining the Biblical knowledge that constitutes the bulk of our interpretation. Compared…
加拉太書 {jia1-la1-tai4-shu1}New Testament – Epistles Pronounce as [guh-LEH-shuns]As in “garage-LAte-cushions“ The Letter to Galatians is a special Book in New Testament. While the other letters were either addressed to the believers of a city (Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians) or to a single church in a city (1 and 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians), Galatians was addressed to multiple churches in the region of Galatia [guh-LEH-shuh]. Only…
We’ve talked about kings. We’ve talked about kingdoms. We’ve talked about the patriarchs, and so many more who lived and breathed throughout history. Before moving on to more human beings, how about a detour to spiritual beings? In fact, we talk about them so much more frequently than many individuals that it serves us well to know who they…
使徒行傳 {shi3-tu2-xing2-zhuan4}New Testament – Acts Acts is short for Acts of the Apostles, literally 使徒行傳. Acts is actually the second volume of a work called “Luke-Acts”. Go take a look at how Luke 1 and Acts 1 address the same person, Theophilus, which is a great name if you ask me. “Theo” means God. “Philus” is derived from the Greek word for “friend”. Theophilus…
What better way to spend the Pentecost weekend than celebrating God, the Holy Spirit? Without presuming that everyone understands the doctrine of Trinity 三位一體 {san1-wei4-yi4-ti3}, please allow me, a layman, to briefly repeat what we believe about Holy Spirit, in case anyone needs to interpret messages about Him on the spot. The God we believe in…
Continuing with the awkward wrinkles between English and Chinese, let’s talk about “life”. In Chinese, we have the word “生命” for “life”, which describes the essence or state of being alive. We also have the word “生活“, which describes the act of living, the days that we live, or sometimes the lifestyles we adopt. Regrettably,…
Have you ever encountered a word that you simply can’t translate into another language? My personal bane is the Chinese word, “撒娇”. I have poured hours of discussions and research into this word and still, for the life of me, can’t find a good match. Go ahead, give it a try. If you manage to…
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …” — Isaac Asimov Isn’t that the same with interpretation and our walk with God in general? Sometimes everything we do, hear or say makes perfect sense. Once in a while though,…