Campus Ambassadors @ UAlbany

Jesus is Practical: Conflict

Talk 6 from our Jesus is Practical romantic relationship series.

Jesus is Practical – Conflict

Jesus is Practical: Sex

Talk 5 from our Jesus is Practical romantic relationship series.

Jesus is Practical – Sex

Jesus is Practical: Engagement and Marriage

Talk 4 from our Jesus is Practical romantic relationship series.

Jesus is Practical – Engagement and Marriage

Jesus is Practical: Courtship

Talk 3 from our Jesus is Practical romantic relationship series.

Jesus is Practical – Courtship

Jesus is Practical: Dating

Talk 2 from our Jesus is Practical romantic relationship series.

Jesus is Practical – Dating

Jesus is Practical: Attraction

First in our Jesus is Practical Romantic Relationship series of talks from our meeting on campus.

Jesus is Practical – Attraction

What is a Bible lexicon?

The word “Lexicon” has some specific meanings, and other perhaps more theoretical meanings. The lexicon is a list of all the words in a language; if it includes definitions, it is of course a dictionary. This seems clear and precise, but when you consider words in any language, you soon realize that to include every single possible form of every imaginable word would be impossible.

So the idea of lexicon becomes a little theoretical. It can be thought of as a list of all possible roots of a language, or all morphemes– parts of words that contain no smaller meaningful parts– that can stand alone or be combined with other parts to produce words.

A lexicon is the knowledge that a native speaker has about a language. This includes information about:

• the form and meanings of words and phrases
• lexical categorization
• the appropriate usage of words and phrases
• relationships between words and phrases, and
• categories of words and phrases.

Phonological and grammatical rules are not considered part of the lexicon.

What to look for in a Bible Dictionary:

To choose a good Bible Dictionary/Bible Encyclopedia you should consider the following:

REPUTATION: What is the reputation (reliability) both of the contributors as well as the publisher? What do you know of them? What is their theological point-of-view? Has the publisher released other reputable reference tools?

RECENCY: When was this reference first published? If it was first released many years ago, has it been revised? You need a reference tool that presents the most up-to-date information.

REFERENCES: Does this tool have Bibliographies that point you to more information on a subject? Do they quote (or cite) an adequate amount of Bible passages for you to investigate? Does it have indexes that cross-reference subjects to more than one location in the book?

RELEVANCY: Is this tool the right one for your needs? Enough detail – without being overwhelming? Does it require pre-requisite knowledge (such as Greek or Hebrew)? Is it a tool for scholars or specialists? Is it written from a particular perspective, or with a particular audience in mind?

What is a Bible Dictionary?

Have you ever used a “regular” dictionary? You simply look up a word (which is listed alphabetically) and the dictionary will give you information on the various shades of meaning of the word, where that word comes from, examples of its usage in a sentence, etc.

A Bible Dictionary is a lot like dictionaries you use – except that the entries (words) are words that might be meaningful for the study of the Bible. A Bible Dictionary has entries for Biblical people (like David, Abraham, Moses, Jesus) – Biblical places (Jerusalem, Rome, Babylon, etc) – Biblical concepts (like faith, repentance, sacrifice) – Biblical events (like the fall of Jerusalem, the Babylonian Exile, the Resurrection of Jesus) – and other types of information may be presented as well: outlines of Bible books, pictures, charts, diagrams, and the like. The entries are usually brief – especially if the dictionary is only one volume – so if you need more in-depth information, you need to check a Bible Encyclopedia, which is a lot like a Bible Dictionary, except that the entries are more lengthy and may also include lists of other references to consult on the subject (Bibliographies).

Does God Hate Fags?: Christian reflections on Fred Phelps’ visit to UAlbany

The answer is certainly No!  Absolutely not.  God loves all of us.  In fact God in the form of Jesus is the embodiment of love.  One of the biggest misunderstandings out there is that God Hates people.  I don’t know what goes on in the mind of people like Fred Phelps [leader of WBC] or why they think the way they do.  Since it is not my job to judge, all I can do is speak truthfully about God and hope that my voice will drown out voices like Phelps.

Phelps’ hateful claim however, raises an interesting question.  What does a loving God hate? Continue Reading…