Dr Paul Allen

JIM HAMILTON “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) I well remember the questions. They reflected the very perspective I had been taught: If Genesis 3:15 is so important, why isn’t it quoted in the rest of the Bible? That’s what those bright students, who had heard the line from other teachers, fired at me. It took me back to my second year of a master’s program at an evangelical seminary, when in a first-semester Hebrew class I made the mistake of asking the professor whether Genesis 3:15 really was the protoevangelium—the first announcement of the gospel. “We’ve got to start getting rid of the myths somewhere,” the professor retorted with his customary disdain, “it’s just a snake in a garden!” My faith survived that professor, but I came out of that school having learned the warped view that seemed the standard line: “The only thing that justifies the way that...

Can you explain the apparent contraction that Luke has the ascension of Jesus happening the night he resurrected, but Acts has it happening forty days later? Question: Could you help me to understand this apparent contradiction? Did Jesus ascend to heaven Easter evening (Luke 24:13-52) or forty days later (Acts 1:3-9)? This is one of the apparent bible contradictions which has led many sceptics to say the Bible is not the word of God. But there must be a way to harmonize Luke and Acts about the time of the ascension. Answer: You should remember that Luke wrote both Luke and Acts, so if there were a contradiction (there definitely is not!), then it would be Luke contradicting himself!  This is not likely.  In Luke 24:50-52 we have a record of the ascension of Jesus in “the vicinity of Bethany,” which is very close to Jerusalem, not far from the Garden of Gethsemane.   This was not “Easter evening.”  It was several weeks after Jesus was killed.  In the book o...

There is a bit of debate regarding who the author of Daniel is for reasonable reasons. Ultimately, God, the Holy Spirit is the divine author of Daniel. As a prophecy, it fits squarely within 2 Peter 1:20-21 which says, “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”           Uncovering the human author of Daniel is a bit more complicated. The first six chapters are narrated in the third person. Daniel may have dictated those chapters to a scribe who wrote down what he prophesied. Or, humility in that day required one not to write so much of themselves as that could seem arrogant and braggadocious. If this is the case with Daniel, it may have simply been a humble way to tell his story and prophecy.           The last six chapters of Daniel are in the first person and most likely written...

Image by Andrew Selvaggio via Flickr  The title sounds scary. The book's cover looks scary. The truly alarming thing about the book, though, comes with the realization of how very common, how all-pervasive these ideas are in contemporary Western culture . If I were explaining any one of these ideas to the average American , she would nod in understanding and agreement as she listened. If I should suggest that this is one of seven ideas an author suggests is harmful, my listener would probably frown and say, "What? What's wrong with that?" What could possibly be problematic about the blessing of technology? Don't we all have to take our stand as individuals and do what's best for ourselves? Isn't it the mark of some kind of disorder if we're so concerned about others that we're not taking care of our own needs? And who  doesn't  know that no one has the right to boss  me  around? Why would I put up with nonsense like that? This is the 21st ...

Image via Wikipedia These are the key thoughts from  Dan Pink’s  session at the Leadership Summit that grabbed my attention. Dan is the author of  Drive , a book I’ve highlighted  here  and  here  in recent weeks. “If-then rewards work really well for simple tasks. However, they don’t work very well for more complicated creative tasks.” “One of the problems that we have in our organizations is that we make the wrong assumptions about people.” “One of the false assumptions is that people are machines.” Another false assumption is that “human begins are blobs.” “Our nature is to be active and engaged.” People need: autonomy, mastery and purpose “Management wasn’t delivered to us from God.” “Management is a technology designed to get compliance.” “We want engagement. Management doesn’t lead to engagement. Self-direction leads to engagement.” “Give people autonomy over their time, team, task and technique. That leads to engagement.” “Making pro...