MATTHEW 8:1-17

MY WIFE HAS THE GIFT of finding bargains. Just the other day she put this gift to use for my benefit. At a neighbor’s garage sale Emily found four antique picture frames for the bare wall in my home office. My guess, if the frames are as old as the prints inside them, is that these perfectly scuffed, slightly ornate frames are over a hundred years old. We bought the four frames for fifteen dollars.

MATTHEW 7:13-29

HASN'T SCIENCE DISPROVED most of the basic claims of Christianity, in­cluding God’s being the Creator of the universe? If God is so great, explain why the history of organized religion is so terrible. Isn’t religion to blame for most wars, hatred, and terrorism in the world? How could an all-loving and all-powerful God allow senseless suffering? Isn’t the Bible full of contra­dictions as well as historical, scientific, and moral errors? How can anyone believe that faith in Jesus is the only way to God?

The Loving Art of Speck Removal

MATTHEW 7:1-12

MATTHEW 6:19-34

IN THE SECOND BOOK of The Divine Comedy, Dante and Virgil emerge from Hell at the foot of Mount Purgatory. There they find seven cornices on which penitent sinners are graciously cleansed from the seven sinful ten­dencies that hinder them from full harmony with God. On the first cornice those guilty of pride circle the mountain, crawling low to the ground, bearing heavy burdens on their backs, and praying the Lord’s Prayer.

MATTHEW 6:9-15

How Not to Pray

MATTHEW 6:5-8`

MATTHEW 6:1-18

SADDAM HUSSEIN was a very religious man, or so it seems. During his twenty-four years of dictatorship in Iraq, he brought about many religious “advances.” He built, for example, the largest mosque in the region, which supposedly contained a copy of the Quran written in his own blood. During his reign, he also added an inscription in his own hand on the Iraqi flag: Al-lahu Akbar (“God is Great”).

MATTHEW 5:21-48

IN THE LAST CHAPTER I mentioned Jacob Neusner’s fascinating book, A Rabbi Talks with Jesus. To me the most fascinating section of that book is when Neusner is pretending to explain Jesus and his teachings to one of the great rabbis of the Jewish faith. In order to instruct but also understand Jesus, this master rabbi turns to Makkot 24A-B of the Babylonian Talmud, which provides various summaries of the Torah.

MATTHEW 5:17-48

TAKE A PENCIL AND A BLANK NOTEBOOK. Find a place to sit. Then for the next half hour just look around and write down everything you see. That was the command given years ago to a group that included me. Our teacher wanted us to learn how to read the Bible better by first simply learning how to sit and see.

MATTHEW 5:3-10

MY FATHER, in his lyrical Irish brogue, ends many conversations with a gra­cious, “God bless.” I sometimes finish a letter or an e-mail with one simple, all encompassing, religious yet inoffensive word, “blessings.” Many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, invoke God’s blessing after someone sneezes—“God bless you.” Moreover, politicians often close important po­litical speeches with the benediction, “God bless you. God bless the United States of America.”