Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

So, I'm a fan of the TV show Last Comic Standing. It does get on my nerves, however, that they waste so much time showing bad comedians; show all of the good ones that will make us laugh! Anyway, my favorite comedian so far (and a prime candidate to take the title of Last Comic Standing) is the single-named impressionist Marcus. Seriously, this guy is incredible! His Gilbert Gottfried and Bobcat Goldtwaith impressions are unreal. Check out this clip (it's only a minute long):

Below are sixty-two posts from my "Studies in Mark" series. Hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them. (Feel free to engage past posts any time and I will readily respond.) *A Markan Precursor - Did Jesus own a home? #1 - Did the Disciples Know Jesus Before He "Called" Them? #2 - Mark's Sleepy Jesus (& Extra Boats) #3 - Mark's Indignant Ihsou #4 - The Rhetorical Jesus: A Fresh Look at Mk. 4.24-25 #5 - Who is the "Strong Man" in Mark's Gospel? #6 - A Surrogate Genealogy in Mk? #7 - The "Mystery" of the Kingdom #8 - OT Referents Early on in Mark #9 - Staring Death and Life in the Face #10 - Why Was Jesus Baptized? #11 - The "Unforgivable Sin" in Mark's Account #12 - Who, According to Mark, Was Jairus #13 - Do the Gospels Contradict Each Other? #14 - Criticizing Christ #15 - Tyrant Tales & Assessing Application #16 - The Feeding and Teaching of the 5,000...Zealots #17 - Jesu...

To read Mark’s Gospel is, in some ways, to meet an interesting cast of creaturely characters. In chapter one there is mention of camels, locusts, wild beasts, snakes and fish (which are mentioned at a few other points in the narrative). In chapter four birds are focused on. In chapter five, the reader encounters pigs and one chapter later there is mention of sheep. The seventh chapter claims mention of a dog, the ninth a worm, the eleventh both a colt and a dove and the thirteenth a rooster. In chapter 14, a lamb is spoken of and once again a rooster. In chapter 16, we find the last mention of an animal, which is a snake. Perhaps PETA could try to make some kind of case from all of this that Jesus was an animal lover (although he did send some pigs over the cliff—but then again, some pigs can swim!). Anyway, this has all led me to ponder a bit more deeply, Jesus’ statement to the Syro-Phoenician woman in 7.27 who interrupted Jesus (probably while eating) and begged Him to drive a demon...

So, this is my 60th “study” on Mark. I think that’s pretty cool. I’ve enjoyed writing on Mark’s Gospel so far and hopefully there will be many, many more posts on it. In this post, I want us to think about a phrase that occurs twice in Mark’s Gospel: “The Son of Man must suffer…” (8.31; 9.12). Typically, this phrase is read through the lens of divine determinism: “God the Father made evil things happen so that Jesus would undergo suffering and redeem humanity.” However, there is another way to think through such passages. For instance, if we read the Gospel narratives closely, we see that at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus is aware that the religious and political leaders are plotting to take His life (see: Mk. 3.6 and especially, its parallel Mt. 12.14-5). In both Mk. and Mt., Jesus knows that His neck is on the line. Even so, He continues on in His ministry (e.g. teaching, healing, miracles/wonders, etc.). Thus, we might read the passages that say “The Son of Man must suffer” no...

As a male, I would find it incredibly odd if I walked into a room and five of my buddies were talking about how painful giving birth is. For starters, I would wonder what got them talking about it. Then, I would raise the question as to how they know what it is like. Now, if a woman were to walk in on this dialogue, she might have some questions too: 1) Do you guys have a clue what you’re talking about? 2) Do you really think you can understand what it’s like to expel another human from your body? 3) And why do you focus on the pain at the expense of the joy that follows, anyway? Now, roll back the script about 2,000 years to a scene on Mount Olivet in Jerusalem. In Mark’s Gospel, we are told that Jesus, in a conversation with Peter, James, Andrew and John, talks about birth pains (or “pangs” if you like). As I kept reading chapter 13 over and over, verse 8 kept sticking out like a sore thumb to me. Why did Jesus use the imagery of “pregnancy” and “birth pains” here when talking to a g...

For those who have even a simple understanding of how to read and interpret the Scriptures, it should go without saying that Mk. 13 is not about the end of the world. Yet, many act as if—and quite persistently—that it is indeed about the end of all things. The truth of the matter is, what Jesus says in Mk. 13 has nothing to do with what would happen thousands of years later (and maybe thousands of years from now). Jesus is not being terribly futuristic here. What is going on in Mk. 13 is that Jesus is talking about what was getting ready to happen to those He was talking to as well as—and this is often overlooked!—to Himself. To be certain—and it seems rather clear to me—everything Jesus says in Mk. 13 is quite temporal and correlates with the rest of Mark’s account, even if rather loosely at some points. We might insist, as some have done, that Jesus’ predictions were wrong. Many people have argued that Jesus believed the end of the world was immanent (most recentlly Ehrman) but in re...

The official count is in! After unloading 13 shelves worth of books and packing them into over 50 boxes and after listing/counting all of them, the total number of books that I own is (as of now) 1,716. That's a whole lot of books! I think I have a pretty good personal library. I'm glad I finally got to list all of them (if for no other reason than insurance purposes). The next step is to get all of these added to LibraryThing.

First of all, this is post #500 for me, sort of a blogger milestone for most people. That's kind of neat, I guess. Anyway... Some time ago, I wrote a post that dealt with the Aramaisms, Hebraisms and Latinisms is Mark’s Gospel ( to read it click here ). I contended there that, Mark’s work was oriented towards a predominantly Gentile/Roman people group; it is likely, in my view, that the beginning stages of the Gospel According to Mark were composed in the city of Rome. I still maintain these views. I do wish, however, to note that while the majority of Mark’s audiences may have been Roman, it seems sensible to suggest that he would have shared his story with Hebrew/Israelite people too. A question to posit here is: If to Hebrews/Israelites, why, then, would Mark include all of the Hebraisms, Aramaisms, etc. along with explanations of them? Actually, this question leads into my working theory on how Mark’s audiences (and the internal evidence of the text) may help us understand some...

Here's a video of me about 6 years ago perfoming a song I wrote titled "Wings of Angels"; this was during a Church gathering on a Sunday morning. Fun stuff.

Some of you may have heard by now that late Wed. night, Stephen Curtis Chapman's daughter Maria was tragically killed by an older brother who accidentally hit her with an SUV. The song in this video, Cinderella, was written for Maria (the gal who was hit) and her sister, both adopted orphans from China. I must say, watching this video in this context is the first time I've ever cried when hearing a Stephen Curtis Chapman song. How tragic! "God, we pray that you would comfort the Chapman family at this time and bathe them in your love. Lord, we thank you for Maria's life and we pray for her brothers and sisters as their hearts are broken and grieving. Be with them Lord, Immanuel, be with them."

At present, I have three growing interests in the field of biblical studies and in this post, two of those have come together: the Gospel of Mark and Barrenness/Infertility issues (from a biblical-theological standpoint). I noted in an earlier post that when one facing sterility/infertility struggles reads the Bible, there seems to be little hope and much condemnation (read this post too). However, as I continue to read Mark’s Gospel, I am beginning to find a lot of hope in some of the images and words that Jesus uses, as well as in His actions. For the barren Christian couple, there is hope. Take Mk. 13.17-9 for instance, that passage says: “How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.” We find the parallel to this passage in Luke’s account at verse 23 and following: “D...

I've written a number of poems on Pisteuomen before but just so I can start categorizing them, I'm going to put them in a series I'm calling "Theoetry" (I just coined a word, I think). Thus, this is poetry about God, faith and things of that nature. Enjoy. What Good Are We? What good are eyes to see If we always look away? What good are minds to think If we’re just stuck in our ways? What good are ears to hear If we don’t listen when people speak? What good are hands to serve If they’re only serving me? What good are feet to go If we just sit and never rise? What good is the heart If we can never empathize? What good is the mouth If it only speaks bad news? What good is the conscience If it stays adverse to truth? What good is the soul If we reject it’s Godward pull? What good this life If it’s not lived to the full? What good are the emotions If we only let them run wild? What good is the body If it is constantly defiled? What good is each breath If we dread our ...

Yesterday I read my resignation letter to the congregation where I have been serving for the last five years. A number of people were very sad, the gentleman I asked to close the service in prayer couldn't because he was crying (I took over when he had to stop in the middle of his prayer) but it seemed as though all were happy for the family and I as we pursue new things. Some asked us to stay, others told us we'd be great wherever we went and others just hugged us. I'm not sure what's going to happen from here. I could remain at the Church for 3 weeks or 3 months, we'll see. The best thing is that this didn't end on a negative note. I am at peace with everyone in the congregation and so, that's a very good thing. If you would, please pray that I would end up where I can glorify God the most. Thank you.

Just wondering...

Steven Boyd's research suggests that this is the case. Here's a description of chapter 9 of his latest book: "Chapter 9 summarizes the results of the new topic added late in the RATE project—the grammatical analysis of poetic and historical texts by Steven Boyd. In analyzing poetic and historical texts, he found that historical texts predominantly use the preterite verb form (one type out of four), while poetic texts hardly use it at all. Boyd’s analysis and research are superb; the difference between historical narrative and poetic texts is stark. Genesis 1–2:3 uses predominantly preterite verbs. So the probability that these verses are historical narrative is in the neighbourhood of 99.99%. Genesis is real history, intended to be read as real history! A larger glossary would have been helpful, since Boyd uses many Hebrew grammatical terms that would be unfamiliar to non-Hebraists."

Today I changed the banner for Pisteuomen (you can see it to the right). It speaks for itself, I think!

One of the trickiest pericopes of Mark’s Gospel (but one of my favorites) is located at 12.35-40. There are a many nuanced interpretations of these verses but for the most part, they can be summed up as follows: 1) Jesus is rejecting the title “Son of David” here (e.g. He is asking the crowds, “Seriously, how do they say the Messiah is David’s Son? that is illogical!”, or 2) Jesus is accepting the designation “Son of David” and proceeds with an explanation. It is my view that Jesus is accepting the title all the while going on to explain it (even if He does so with another eventual question). As of late, Achtemeier has done a good job defending the other position, however, I do not share his overall view. For instance, he asks of the scene in Mk. 2, Why Jesus doesn’t appeal to His Davidic lineage to support His action? I think, however, that Jesus is, even if indirectly, doing just that. Otherwise, why appeal to that OT scene and why appeal to particularly to David? Jesus could have us...

Okay, something that just gets on my nerves is when people try to play the "In God's Time" card. Seriously, I get so frustrated with it. I don't know, maybe I'm totally off here but the Scriptures suggest that God created time and set time in motion. Moreover, God took on flesh and physically entered that time. God the Spirit and God the Father are notorious for working within the bounds of time as well. So, why in the world do we continue on saying things that make it sound as if God is on a different clock than anyone else? We are not deists who believe that God has nothing to do with this earth or even it's time. Anyway...I feel like I'm droning on about that. To the point... Recently, someone tried to play this card on me. However, I wasn't hearing or having it. The way it was put to me was in the sense of "God, in His time, will tell me when such and such should happen with your life and then I'll tell you." I'm always suspicious...

The purpose of this post is to remind people to use whatever means they have to fight against the injustice that characterizes so many parts of this world. As we look around today, we see so much injustice, suffering, pain, cheating, usury, war, hatred and myriad ills. Really, we can be so overwhelmed by it all that we think "There's nothing I can do to change things". However, there is something you can do: Use your voice. In addition to speaking out loud, one way to do that is to blog. You can raise awareness of human rights issues through blogging. For me, while I do not use Pisteuomen specifically as a platform for dealing with human rights issues, I do use it to raise awareness of how to think theologically and ethically about numerous human rights and civil issues that confront us. Lately, I have been blogging about adoption. Certainly, with millions of orphans the world over, this is an issue that needs more attention drawn to it. There are children being raped, ab...

One of the most intriguing verses of all of Mark’s Gospel is tucked away in chapter 12. In verse 36, Jesus makes the comment that King David, in Psalm 110.1, spoke “in the Holy Spirit”. Of course, Psalm 110 makes no comment that David is speaking in the Spirit. Just as well, it offers no definition on what is meant by “speaking in the Spirit” here. (Certainly, it is not referring to glossalalia or tongue speaking!) To understand what Jesus means here, we first have to understand Mark’s view of Jesus’ relationship with the Spirit. In chapter one, what some consider to be a prologue, the Spirit enters “into” Jesus when He arises from the waters of baptism. Just before this, John the Baptizer said that the same would happen to Jesus’ followers (e.g. He would baptize them in the Spirit). So, Jesus gets Spirit-filled and this endows Him with the authority of God the Father (1.27) and the power of God the Spirit (1.21-8). In 3.1, the religious and political leaders from Jerusalem accuse Jesu...

I do not find it unusual or surprising that Markan commentaries all say the same thing when it comes to Mk. 3.31-5. It is in those verses that Jesus, before His blood kin, points to the crowds and says, “These are my family” (paraphrase). Every commentator says of these verses, something like: “Here, Jesus is redefining kinship relations.” The same comments are made concerning Mk. 10.29-30. There, Jesus appears to be telling the people “Leave your families and God will bless you.” It is my view that Jesus is not saying that at all (I may do a post on those verses in the future). But I wonder if we should pause and think through Mk. 3.31-5 a little more? I’m not so sure that Jesus is attempting to redefine kinship there. For starters, I don’t think He’s shunning His blood kin. Secondly, I don’t think He’s relegating them to a lower status. Thirdly, the fact that Peter (ch. 1) and Jesus (ch. 6) both return to their families in Mk. suggests to me that the Jesus Movement was not attempting...

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, beautiful, talented, gracious, intelligent, caring and super awesome wife. I love you babe!

If you haven't seen the movie Kite Runner, you need to, it is a "must see" movie. From a socio-political standpoint I think it informs us on a number of issues. The same can be said from an ethical standpoint. Biblical scholars will pick up on Middle Easter themes such as honor/shame, kinship, nationalism and other things. The movie is engaging, running about 2 hours, is beautifully shot, well-written, excellently acted, inspiring and overall just a great film. If you have some free time soon, be sure to watch this movie!

(Inspired by Mk. 1.29-34.) There once was hungry lad named Peter Whose mother-in-law got a crazy high fever When she couldn’t make him supper He had Jesus come touch her She arose and fired up the egg beater

If Jesus was a foster child then why is He rarely ever spoken of as such? Is it because in the West, a scientific and DNA-driven society, that the prevailing definition of family has to do with biology and as such, the tendency is to consider anything other than biological as less? Or is it because compared to noble nomenclatures like King, Lord, Savior and Messiah, Foster Child seems less dignified? In all reality, there are likely a number of reasons that Jesus’ title as a foster child has been relegated to the metaphorical shadows. The fact remains however: Jesus was a foster child! Perhaps it is high time to resurrect this powerful image of Jesus. Indeed, it is an image, which, in a world where the fostering and adopting of children is on the increase, can offer helpful and hopeful ways for thinking about and relating to Jesus. For instance, what if we altered the traditional phrase “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” to “King of Kings and Foster of Fosters”? Might persons begin to r...

In my view, funerals are one of the ripest moments for both pastoral ministry and sharing the Gospel. Funerals tend to make people reflect on their own lives and perhaps, their own (impending) deaths. Funerals get people thinking spiritually and often get them asking spiritual or theological questions. Yet, funerals, at least from all of my experience with them, are often times the place where theology is thoughtless, chucked out the window or just errant. Here are some of the things that you should never, never, never say or do at a funeral: 1. Never say, "God needed an angel so He took so and so." First of all, God needs nothing! Second of all, God doesn't "need" angels in particular. Third of all, God doesn't take people's lives. People die and then God recieves them or not. None of this is sustained by the Scriptures or Christian theology. 2. Never say, "Everything happens for a reason." This is a view from ancient Greek philosophers (e.g. ...

Read this doc on Scribd: Evangelical Manifesto

Of the sixteen chapters in Mark’s Gospel, chapter 12 is perhaps my favorite. I love how Jesus interacts with the characters He encounters here: Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Teachers of the Law, Herodians, Disciples, Crowds and even a widow. There are two scenes in chapter 12 that have to do with money or better yet, coins. The first one is where Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” He says this as He’s holding up a coin that bears Caesar’s image and inscription. It is my view that since Jesus has been railing against the empire since chapter one, He is not at this point saying “support” or “submit” to Caesar. Instead, He is saying “throw the coin dedicated to Caesar back in Caesar’s face.” Just before this, Jesus had flipped over the tables in the Jerusalem Temple and had driven out the money changers who were committing extortion (ripping the people off by overcharging them) and banking on people’s religious practices (much like the lying and ...

Here's episode #10 of ExegeTV. This episode focuses on how to structure, setup or build a sermon. Enjoy.

Here's the latest episode of Exege TV . It deals with how preachers can learn to "apply" the ancient text in today's world. Enjoy.

The fellow who roomed next door to me in college for four years was killed in a car accident a few days ago. Man, when something like that happens memories just come flooding back: the Chicago Bears Starter jacket he wore all of the time, the very "white" rap song he recorded for a spoof rap album I made, his affinity for video games, his remark of "sweet" to just about everything, swiping cards in the cafeteria after chapel, the time he went to grab the pushbar on the door but instead put his hands on the glass and shattered the entire window...man, so many memories. Brian "Slim" Reid was a great guy. He was a goofy, quirky and gentle fella. We'll miss you Slim. I will be traveling to the Reid family funeral (both Slim and his wife were killed in the wreck) this Wednesday. God, be with Brian & Jennifer's families during this time of trauma; Holy Spirit be a balm to their souls.

The fam enjoyed the weather yesterday as we took an afternoon stroll through the park. Here are some pics I took (all but the last one of me and the baby, the wife took that one). I was reminded once again that I have a an incredibly gorgeous wife and such a beautiful baby. What a blessing!!!

You will notice that I have created a new badge for Pisteuomen. Actually, it is more of a banner to raise awareness for the human rights event set up for 5.15.08. You can find out more about this at: http://unite.blogcatalog.com/ . In short, this is a call for bloggers everywhere to write about relevant human rights issues (there is a list they offer). I will be doing this from a more biblical/theological perspective. Get the news out and participate. To sign up (officially) visit the addy above.

Haven't done one of these in a while, so, I thought I'd give it a go. (Based on Mk. 1). There once was a baptizin’ gent With an affinity for the word “repent” He dipped locusts in honey His breath smelt funny And so did his lumberjack scent

I recently had a commenter ask me how to get started on the adoption process. So, here's the skinny: 1. The first thing you need to do is decide if you want to adopt domestically (e.g. in the United States, if you live there) or internationally (e.g. from a country you do not live in). There are many factors that go into making this decision. For example, you may have an affinity or heart for a certain part of the world, if so, that may inform your decision. Or you may want to adopt from the place(s) where there orphan crisis is worst (or not). Some places cost just a little bit more than others while some take a little more time than others. Ironically, domestic adoption often takes longer than international. Also, you must be a certain age to adopt from some countries. Other places require that you be married for a specific amount of time. Thus, you must find out where you are eligble to adopt from (typically, if you are over 30 you can adopt from anywhere; I think China's ag...

It is a widely known fact that antiquity had various gods and goddesses that were revered as fertility deities. Indeed, there were many fertility cults. I think, for instance, of Baal, Inanna & Dumuzi, Min, Isis and others. These sought after deities were not only connected with human fertility but also the fertility of the land; the two were intimately connected actually. This is not hard to understand by any stretch of the imagination; the forces behind nature were thought to be the same forces behind human reproduction. Little known to some is the fact that fertility deities were both male and female. Often times the rain was associated with a male god “spilling” his seed and the blooming of crops was connected to the female deity giving birth. One thing this suggests to me is that, though the Bible often stresses the woman’s role in infertility, in the larger culture, men may have also sought divine guidance for such issues. But for an Israelite to seek after a false deity such...

About a year and a half or two years ago, I experienced immediate, on-the-spot healing through prayer. I had a crazy, bad, throbbing, pounding headache, a headache like I'd never had before. Despite the headache, I decided to go to class. During prayer time, the professor prayed over me and immediately I was healed. I couldn't believe it. I kept trying to tell myself it was going to come back but it never did. I was healed. I know this isn't as dramatic as some healings but it was dramatic for me. Have you ever experienced immediate healing like this?

I have complained before that Markan commentaries are notorious for simply reproducing information. You can select just about any major commentary on Mark today, compare it with another, and it undoubtedly, the two will say a lot of the same things. I have a number of problems with this. First, it seems like I have wasted my money. Second, it seems like a number of scholars have wasted their time and mine as well. Thirdly, it suggest to me that many scholars are just writing a book for the sake of publishing; they are not thinking through things or attempting to make significant, new gains. Don’t get me wrong, certainly, some things are correct and must be passed along as such. We don’t need to try to create new things or theories just for the sake of it, though, in large part, hypothesizing is what helps the field make such great gains. I hope that if I ever have the chance to write a commentary on Mark’s Gospel account, it will say some new things and make some fresh contributions (n...