tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46370004976141082072011-09-28T16:31:37.691-06:00Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.comBlogger1811100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-61855866980140653522011-03-09T09:29:00.003-06:002011-03-09T09:47:36.060-06:00

Well, today is Ash Wednesday! So, for those of you who will be choosing to fast from something for the next 40 odd days I wish you nothing but the best.  I hope you (and I) will be be challenged, strengthened, and encouraged. And to get you thinking here is a stanza from T. S. Eliot's poem, "Ash Wednesday": And pray to God to have mercy upon us And pray that I may forget These matters that

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-25176191169835696792011-03-03T09:10:00.007-06:002011-03-03T09:45:25.702-06:00

This next Wednesday (March 9th) is "Ash Wednesday." This day marks the beginning of Lent.The practice of Lent (fasting for 40 days leading up to Resurrection Sunday) has its origins in the Early Church era (approx 100-300 AD). Resurrection Sunday (i.e. "Easter" Sunday) was a day when the Church most often held baptisms and so, for those wishing to be baptized into the Church, it was required

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-33535899137194955512011-02-22T14:11:00.007-06:002011-02-23T08:05:11.721-06:00

For those of us still enclosed in the icy clutches of winter it's nice every now and then to look back the previous summer's activities in order to anticipate next summer's.In the last couple of week's I've spent a significant amount of time day-dreaming about what sort of camping/canoeing trips I might be able to pull off this upcoming summer (Lord willing, of course!). Last September

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-90327063362791662312011-02-16T08:40:00.008-06:002011-02-23T08:09:48.686-06:00

I think my favourite thing about going through the Psalms in the LXX is that everything is just phrased slightly differently. It makes you stop and take notice of things that you might not otherwise. Switching from one translation to another often has that effect. What I've been struck by most recently has been the language of intoxication.Here are a couple examples of what I'm talking about:"

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-91823888191852984292011-02-09T21:27:00.003-06:002011-02-09T21:34:51.581-06:00

Team Canada (ranked 80th in the world) played Greece (ranked 10th) today. All in all it was an impressive game for the Canucks who played a solid, equal match against the Greeks. In fact, aside from a few breakdowns, I think Team Canada had more quality chances than the Greeks.Unfortunately, we beat ourselves with a horrendous giveaway. *sigh*It was still a good game!

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-55224446357701201572011-02-01T08:38:00.002-06:002011-02-01T08:43:44.013-06:00

As I continue to meander through the Psalms I, once again, stumbled upon Psalm 131 and thought it tied in nicely with the last post and the idea of relaxing, having full confidence in God as our parent (although, certainly not a father in this case!).Anyway, our household currently has a nursing child in it, so this simile is particularly poignant for me.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-76739922678697689802011-01-27T13:31:00.002-06:002011-01-27T13:59:44.963-06:00

I think we all have times in our lives when we seriously just need to relax... just let things rest in the hands of God and relax. I don't necessarily claim to know how to do this very well but there have definitely been times in my life when I've needed to relax and, no doubt, there will continue to. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago as I have continued to read through the Psalms in the

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-82179325110570255332011-01-19T10:37:00.004-06:002011-01-19T11:15:32.064-06:00

Some of you have probably already seen the latest offering from the delightfully bizarre and unceasingly creative Julian Smith:Aaah, so true!It also reminding me of a quote from Adam S. McHugh's book Introverts in the Church:"Many introverts do not do well with interruptions, either when we are speaking or reflecting... Introverts may become even more frustrated when people mislabel their

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-76265648000219756342010-12-30T13:46:00.005-06:002010-12-30T14:31:37.154-06:00

The big race starts in just a couple of days!Looking for a 3-peat are Volkswagen with their race Touareg:We've already seen BMW's newest entry (the Mini... which is really just as much X3 as it is Mini). But they've also got their usual fleet of X5s:The French Team Dessoude will be entering their usual selection of Nissans: (the interesting stuff starts at about 2:20)And, of course, Robby Gordon

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-32927614384232834372010-12-28T13:08:00.004-06:002010-12-28T13:25:49.784-06:00

For me one of the biggest highlights of the sporting year is the annual Dakar Rally.For those of you unfamiliar with this extraordinary event, it is a 16 DAY rally race including motorbikes, quads, SUVs, and big trucks. This year the rally returns to Argentina and Chile. Normally I've been a Mitsubishi guy, but with Mitsubishi's withdrawal a few years ago I've taken up cheering for the BMW

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-34859672054206035382010-12-23T15:23:00.006-06:002010-12-24T08:46:07.393-06:00

This is a brief excerpt from Augustine's Confessions as he ponders the meaning of Jeremiah 23:24 which says, "Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord." (my emphasis)[1.3] (all the "you"s are referring to God) "Do heaven and earth, then, contain the whole of you, since you fill them? Or, when once you

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-46221440940288057422010-12-16T09:01:00.007-06:002011-03-03T14:43:55.423-06:00

In past Christmas seasons I've blogged about all sorts of different aspects of our Christmas traditions. Usually I just pick a pet peeve and sort of "have at it." In typical post-modern fashion I've picked apart perceived portions of the narrative that I think are inaccurate; things like the non-existent inn, the time frame of the magi, the date of Christmas itself, and the whole "x"mas

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-65203802160445119652010-12-15T07:46:00.005-06:002010-12-15T08:40:32.551-06:00

So, as I hinted at yesterday, this last Monday we took a trip into the forest to find, cut down, and bring home our Christmas tree. It's become a bit of a Christmas tradition in our family. [Some of these pictures were just taken with my phone, so please forgive the lack of quality]There was a fair bit of snow, so it was a lot of fun driving in.It was a beautiful day. The temperature was about

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-25879102393623647242010-12-14T13:08:00.003-06:002010-12-14T13:10:20.946-06:00

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-40626721318699542692010-12-08T07:53:00.004-06:002010-12-08T08:59:05.267-06:00

Yup, I found a unicorn... in the BIBLE!Well, sort of. I've been reading through the Psalms for my regular devotions, and to mix it up I've been reading them in the Septuagint (LXX); yes, I'm on a bit of a LXX kick. Anyway, just yesterday I was reading through the famous Ps 22 when I bumped right into a unicorn. Needless to say, neither of us were expecting it, but neither me nor the unicorn

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-63280012839546106982010-12-07T08:48:00.001-06:002010-12-07T08:50:24.979-06:00

Here's a great little clip (OK, it's about 10 min.) of BW3:Jesus and History from CPX on Vimeo.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-9814297273726858142010-12-03T08:43:00.004-06:002010-12-03T08:57:55.622-06:00

Michael F. Bird strikes again!Here he's doing a silly little promo for the SBL's (Society of Biblical Literature's) new critical Greek Text of the New Testament. They are doing their best to give the NA27/UBS4 a run for their money! And yes, in case you weren't sure, this is funny.And while we're at it, I want to share a link with you that may prove to be extremely valuable for those who care.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-5988712103634136172010-12-01T08:01:00.006-06:002010-12-01T08:49:07.448-06:00

"Silent night, holy night, all is calm..." Really? Calm? Have you ever seen a woman in labour? And I can't help but think that adding a bunch of stinky shepherds to the mix is going to help anything. "How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv'n..." Wondrous, yes. Silent, not likely!"It came upon the midnight clear..." Well, I suppose it could have; it just doesn't say. All

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-73642071404528065332010-11-24T08:06:00.005-06:002010-11-24T14:04:26.682-06:00

A while ago I discovered a website by a guy named Jim LePage. Jim is a graphic designer and has been doing a project simply called "Word." Basically, he's been doing "book covers" for each book of the Bible. He's come up with some pretty interesting stuff. Check it out: here. Click on the picture to see a larger view and a write-up/reflection on his thoughts as to why he did what he did for

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-75856619903607419872010-11-20T08:26:00.002-06:002010-11-20T08:32:56.199-06:00

I ran across Charles Spearin's "The Happiness Project" a while ago (I think it was on CBC Radio 2's "the Signal"). The idea totally intrigued me: He had interviewed a whole bunch of his neighbours about what they thought it meant to be happy in life. Then he listened to the natural tonality in their conversations and turned it into music.I know it's totally outside of most of our musical boxes,

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-36948105584523186232010-11-17T07:53:00.004-06:002010-11-17T08:49:06.011-06:00

Some of you may be aware that the NIV has been undergoing an overhaul. Well, the revision is pretty much done and, while it won't be in print until next year, they have given the text to BibleGateway.com so that people can preview it. So, head on over to BibleGateway (click here) and check out a few of your favourite verses.Just for clarity: the revision has been referred to as the "NIV2011"

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-38665928495955028142010-11-11T14:00:00.002-06:002010-11-11T14:07:37.702-06:00

Here's the full theatrical tailer:And here's a clip of Lucy, Edmond, & Eustace "transitioning" into Narnia:

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-24084683214178644572010-11-09T09:23:00.002-06:002010-11-09T09:28:43.242-06:00

A good word from Brother Francis:"'I came not to be served but to serve' (Mt. 20:28) says the Lord. Those who are appointed to rule over others may not boast of their position any more than if they were to be assigned to the duty of washing their brothers' feet. And if they are more disturbed about the possibility of losing their position than they would be about losing the duty of foot-washing

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-54786889262178085872010-11-08T09:27:00.003-06:002010-11-08T09:29:53.395-06:00

Here's the first "Dawn Treader" TV Spot:

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-52467199663862267172010-11-03T07:51:00.003-06:002010-11-03T08:01:32.936-06:00

Recently I ran across this quote by John Cassian (360-435 AD) which I found interesting:"There is a great difference between those who put out the fire of sin within themselves by fear of hell or hope of future reward and those who from the feeling of divine love have a horror of sin itself and of uncleanliness and keep hold of the virtue of purity simply from the love and longing for purity.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-11627476956163452222010-10-28T12:56:00.004-06:002010-10-28T13:03:42.209-06:00

I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that are pretty big Tolkien/Lord of the Rings fans. Well, in just the last week or so we've finally heard some proper news about the upcoming "The Hobbit" film.Yes, it will be directed by Peter Jackson. Yes it will be filmed in New Zealand.And finally we have some casting confirmations including the key role of Bilbo Baggins!Bilbo Baggins: Martin

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-60257559196401634362010-10-27T10:11:00.018-06:002010-10-27T14:36:04.348-06:00

What is your favourite Starbucks drink?I've been doing some prep for a study I'm going to be leading through the book of Micah. As part of my prep I was reading through Micah in the Septuagint (LXX). For those of you unfamiliar with the LXX, it is (in simple terms) the Ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. Why would anyone study the Greek OT when we have the Hebrew OT? Well, most

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-49190965393298265922010-10-08T09:13:00.003-06:002010-10-08T09:35:07.951-06:00

Here's the official poster... in PolishAnd here's the newest trailer (with Polish subtitles!).And, for those of you in the Saskatoon area, make sure to pick up those last minute tickets for the David Crowder* Band concert next Wednesday!I'm not sure what that had to do with anything... other than the fact that clearly the DC*B has way too much time on their hands.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-11940509064553881622010-10-06T08:05:00.008-06:002010-10-06T11:52:08.667-06:00

All of us who are Bible readers are pretty familiar with poetry in the scriptures. However, for most of us, our experience with Biblical poetry is pretty much limited to the Psalms. We probably also understand that sections of Job, the prophets, etc are also done as Hebraic poems, but honestly, the only way we really get that is 'cause our English translations indent the text in a way that says

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-29349629683398146572010-09-29T08:18:00.002-06:002010-09-29T08:25:59.771-06:00

So, I think the theme from this song follows up well from our theme last week: (those guitar players out there make sure to watch the whole thing as he explains how to play all of his fancy chords!)I discovered "Gungor/The Michael Gungor Band" a few years ago and have eagerly gobbled up all of their albums. I find it rare that a "Christian band" has such a blend of creativity and ability. In

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-32327981835402218172010-09-22T08:07:00.003-06:002010-09-22T08:42:22.297-06:00

Those of us who are Christians and regularly read the New Testament are used to the imagery of light. We are familiar with statements like "I am the light of the world" (Jn 8:12) and "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 Jn 1:5), etc...However, last spring I was going through the covenant passages and ran across an interesting description of what happened when God made His covenant

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-64766926430208676362010-09-15T08:42:00.004-06:002010-09-15T09:21:01.462-06:00

How often do you hear people say things like, "... but that's not fair..."?People often appeal to some sort of sense of fairness; in many cases I think that this is good and appropriate, but sometimes it clearly is not.Sometimes people also appeal to fairness as if it's some sort of Christian/theological virtue. But when you actually think about it, I don't think there's much of a case to be

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-17501190006459055452010-09-10T15:43:00.007-06:002010-09-10T16:17:09.117-06:00

So, as a big Stephen R. Lawhead fan, I'm pretty pumped that he has just come out with the first book in a brand new series. The book is, The Skin Map; the series is the Bright Empires Trilogy.Also, I was surprised that they put out a "book trailer" for this new book. Check it out!The trailer's a bit cheesy... but kinda cool. So far the reviews on amazon.com have been pretty strong too!

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-49612533191886266862010-08-31T11:14:00.003-06:002010-08-31T11:58:33.803-06:00

Do you have a sweet tooth?How about a spiritual sweet tooth?If you pay attention to the sidebar on this blog you may have noticed that over the past number of months I've been reading through a bunch of Christian classics. There's a cool little series of books called "Upper Room Spiritual Classics" (see them: here) that takes selected portions of Christian Classics and compiles them into nice

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-79984484195512998642010-08-27T16:40:00.002-06:002010-08-27T16:46:34.066-06:00

I know most of you probably don't follow soccer, but I do. Toronto FC is the team representing Canada in the CONCACAF Champion's League this year. On Tuesday they played Arabe Unido from Panama. It was one of the most disgusting, laughable games I've seen... everything that people make fun of soccer for was present. Toronto lost 1-0 after having every single Panamanian player flop around on

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-58931600656608113442010-08-20T10:06:00.001-06:002010-08-20T10:08:41.034-06:00

Yay! More clips from Voyage of the Dawn Treader!!We finally get to see some clips of Eustace:Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Clip #3: Sea of Lilies from NarniaFans.com on Vimeo.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-11694235307616683582010-08-19T13:12:00.005-06:002010-08-19T14:17:54.017-06:00

The second portion of Henri Nouwen's book, The Way of the Heart, is on silence.Obviously, the disciplines of solitude and of silence are interconnected. This is how he connects the two:"Silence is the way to make solitude a reality... Silence is an indispensable discipline in the spiritual life. Ever since James described the tongue as a 'whole wicked world in itself' (James 3:6) Christians

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-51837731781275402842010-08-12T10:30:00.007-06:002010-08-12T11:20:31.551-06:00

Over the course of this Summer I've been striving to immerse myself in more spiritual disciplines. One of the wonderfully humbling things about practicing spiritual disciplines is that they immediately show you how poorly you practice them!One of the books I picked up to help challenge me along this path was "The Way of the Heart" by Henri Nouwen. Nouwen asserts that in order to be an effective

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-45209015056166414942010-08-06T19:18:00.001-06:002010-08-06T19:18:58.892-06:00

Hey, check out the 2nd VTD Trailer:

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-41172738806296980842010-08-04T19:59:00.004-06:002010-08-27T16:49:32.436-06:00

So, we just got back from our holidays. I'll do my best to have more "normal" posts starting next week.We spent some time at Last Mountain Lake:And we went and visited my parents in the Calgary area. While we were there we went to the Calgary Zoo. Kaleb loved all the animals but was enthralled by the animatronic dinosaurs!I also enjoyed watching TFC beat CD Motagua to qualify for the group

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-16975148073606534752010-07-29T19:07:00.001-06:002010-07-29T19:12:41.393-06:00

The family loaded up in the Jeep and a canoe strapped to the roof; what more could a guy ask for?Here's a quick pic from Juanita's phone.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-55336760165815925562010-07-20T09:50:00.003-06:002010-07-20T09:59:28.445-06:00

So, after a longish break I'm considering returning to my blogging. I have a few ideas of things I'd like to do, but what about you? For those of you who read regularly, what kinds of things would you like to see on this blog as I consider relaunching?And, just in case you haven't seen it yet:

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-69893143288736612402010-05-05T08:03:00.003-06:002010-05-05T08:53:17.003-06:00

OK, back to Romans. Today will be: Romans 2:1-11.One of the things I've really noticed in reading Romans again is that it's dangerous to isolate passages. Paul's reasoning is so circular (addressing a certain topic and then re-approaching it from a different/contrasting angle) that it becomes really important to make sure that we grasp the bigger context of the letter before drawing conclusions

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-85354750813412015642010-04-29T09:38:00.006-06:002010-06-23T17:08:04.497-06:00

Sing with me!"Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he..."Or was he?Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with the beginning of Luke 19:"[Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small of

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-77029178270722819922010-04-27T09:12:00.003-06:002010-04-27T10:01:57.948-06:00

We all stand condemned before God and there is no excuse.That's the gist of this final section of Romans chapter one: Romans 1:18-32.As we leave behind Paul's introductory comments and finally begin to interact with his main thoughts we see that he starts off by stating the problem: the righteous shall live by faith (vs. 17) but no one is righteous and there's no real excuse (18-32).Paul is

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-53786287598328738742010-04-22T09:54:00.004-06:002010-04-22T10:27:58.277-06:00

OK, so I promise that I'll try to do more than just two verses at a time, otherwise it'll take forever to get through this book, but Romans 1:16-17 sort of stand on their own as the real starting point of Paul's letter.Because it's only two verses, I'll provide them here: (ESV)16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-50954788906526518262010-04-20T10:02:00.004-06:002010-04-20T10:34:05.990-06:00

So in our second post on the book of Romans we are still finishing off Paul's introductory statements.If you don't have a Bible with you, you can read todays section here: Romans 1:8-15.Doesn't Paul just look insanely suave in this picture :)Anyway, let's get to the text.What stood out to you?Probably what stood out to me is in verses 11 & 12. What I love is that Paul sees this "spiritual gift"

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-17702153203588613442010-04-15T08:23:00.011-06:002010-04-15T14:28:26.291-06:00

So yesterday I was thinking (a dangerous pastime, i know:), and realized that it has been a while since I've been through the book of Romans. And then I thought, "Hey, why not walk through Romans on the blog?"I've seen people do these sorts of series on blogs, but I've never done it, so let's give it a try!Will you walk through Romans with me?I know that many of you will have studied Romans at

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-66197278752433514832010-04-13T08:51:00.004-06:002010-04-13T09:36:52.619-06:00

So, while I have a fairly "high" view of orthodoxy, I do believe that God calls us to constantly evaluate and, if necessary, adjust our beliefs and practices in order to realign ourselves with His will.But how is this done?When it is simply a matter of an individual changing his/her beliefs/actions that is one thing... but what about when it is the/an entire church that needs to change their "

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-87858083264150939422010-04-08T09:42:00.005-06:002010-04-08T11:06:24.966-06:00

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-58714813450448714152010-04-06T09:12:00.003-06:002010-04-06T10:15:01.573-06:00

How much weight does orthodoxy hold for you?With post-modernity seemingly having its way among many circles within western Christianity I generally see two approaches of "deconstructing" (and presumably reassembling) our faith:1) disassembling our current belief structures and attempting to "start from scratch."2) a reinvestigation of what the Apostolic Church believed.I'm sure there are more

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-27179283815509564992010-03-30T13:22:00.004-06:002010-03-31T09:18:49.245-06:00

Easter is all about celebrating the real, physical, historical resurrection of Jesus from the dead.I think most of us are on the same page with this one, but you might find some of this interesting:NT Wright:Lee Strobel:William Craig Lane:Happy Easter!

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-61116715617809390882010-03-26T09:21:00.002-06:002010-03-26T09:25:16.274-06:00

This one could open a can of worms!What do you make of this?

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-50687540444336119972010-03-23T08:56:00.006-06:002010-03-23T09:21:08.949-06:00

So, I have a pretty busy week going on here and don't have time to do a proper post... sorry. Instead I will leave you in good hands. Here is an interview from the Euangelion Blog that I read recently talking about the authorship of Hebrews. Michael Bird provides us will a little preface and then conducts the interview:The authorship of Hebrews is a funny question. The eastern church

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-30736723086414406292010-03-20T14:29:00.002-06:002010-03-20T14:36:51.166-06:00

Oh, and I used to listen to a lot of Prog-Rock:With these guys it's all about pushing the limits of creativity and ability. The results might be questionable but you can't deny the talent!

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-56420996240531883522010-03-19T08:56:00.007-06:002010-03-19T11:06:50.415-06:00

Well, I can't go and showcase all of this music without hitting up some of my favourite jazz artists.Of course, there's no shortage of astounding jazz musicians. There are everyone's favourite Canadians, Michael Buble, Diana Krall and Oscar Peterson... but everybody knows about them.So let's start by going way back to 1961 and the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Many of you will know about them but they

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-4319482346876283352010-03-18T09:30:00.002-06:002010-03-18T09:41:15.171-06:00

Today is all about Canada and acoustic guitars.I don't know if you know this, but Canada has produced some of the best guitar players, well... EVER.You have probably heard of at least a few of these artists but whether you know about them or not, it's always worth while taking a few minutes and listening to some amazing acoustic guitar work:Antoine Dufour:Don Ross:Bruce Cockburn:And we'll end

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-26680183452494585842010-03-17T08:23:00.005-06:002010-03-17T08:53:18.829-06:00

Have you guys seen this commercial yet?So while the blatant capitalist agenda (ie. tropicana wants to make $ off of this) takes a bit of the poignancy away from this I have to admit that it is brilliant P.R. and just a really cool idea.But, of course, what slapped me in the face when I first saw this was: "Hey, just wait a second... they're playing Patrick Watson!!!" [the song is "The Great

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-91237591776751930212010-03-16T09:22:00.002-06:002010-03-16T09:42:18.622-06:00

Well, over the past few weeks we've had some great discussion. I've enjoyed it a lot and I hope you have too.But let's take a bit of a break. This week I am going to be posting every day and introducing you to some music that you may not have heard before!Most of this won't be "popular" music. It's not that I dislike all pop music; there are a number of well known "popular" artists that I

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-28796266512686067162010-03-11T09:44:00.006-06:002010-03-11T11:51:26.763-06:00

So finally we arrive at the Gospels!How does Jesus interact with the natural world? Does He teach about how we should interact with creation?In my opinion, Jesus' interactions with nature are very much tied together with Paul's teaching that Jesus is the second Adam (Rom. 5; 1Cor. 15). Jesus exercised perfect authority over creation much in the same way that Adam did in the garden of Eden. We

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-49457070004344218262010-03-09T09:02:00.004-06:002010-03-09T10:28:54.220-06:00

So this week we're going to continue flying through our survey of how the scriptures speak of how we need to live in relation to God's creation and how creation lives in relation to us. This post will cover the wisdom, poetry, and prophecy books. Later this week I'll get to the crux of it all, Jesus (get it? crux! I'm so funny :).Obviously, when we think of the Bible and wisdom we often think

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-76954238717635935412010-03-02T09:05:00.007-06:002010-03-02T10:05:19.973-06:00

In this post we are continuing in our discussion of how we as Christians should be interacting with God's creation. We all understand that "the Earth is the LORD's, and everything in it" (Ps. 24:1, 50:12; 1Cor.10:26). And yet, at the same time, God has given humanity the authority and responsibility to rule over His creation (Gen.1 & 9). We usually call this principle "stewardship", and in the

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-35866481771541494122010-02-25T13:37:00.010-06:002010-02-26T11:45:43.784-06:00

So, there are a tonne of scriptures that I want to get to but let's start in the beginning. It's all fine and good to talk about caring for creation but this topic gets so convoluted so quickly that before we get too far we need to make sure we're anchored in the right spot.We start with the creation of the heavens and the earth. God created, and step-by-step He called everything He made "good.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-40243758762780272992010-02-20T14:33:00.015-06:002010-02-23T09:39:38.974-06:00

Here's another big word for you: anthropocentrism. It means to view the world as though humanity (Gr. anthropos) is the centre of it all. Evangelical Christians (like myself) are notoriously anthropocentric.Take for example our favorite verse, John 3:16 (ESV) 16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."The way

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-69518713814385302782010-02-19T13:20:00.003-06:002010-02-19T13:59:52.365-06:00

OK, so I was getting ready to do a post that I've wanted to do for a while now, but as I was thinking it through I realized that before we can eat the meal we need to set the table.I realized that underneath the ideas of this post there were some pretty big assumptions. In order for for this post to make sense we need to have a common starting point.Inaugurated Eschatology.Yup, really big fancy

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-91581012848080484712010-02-16T12:52:00.006-06:002010-02-16T13:18:52.815-06:00

I have the best wife ever! As a bit of a Valentine's Day surprise she booked us the best baby-sitters around (thanks grandma & grandpa) and rented some snowshoes for the afternoon. The weather was beautiful. We had a great time!Neither of us had gone snowshoeing before. I enjoyed it a lot... and Juanita did pretty sweet, especially considering she's 6 months pregnant :)An added bonus for me

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-19467801884365781392010-02-09T09:01:00.005-06:002010-02-09T10:59:42.990-06:00

Last week we looked at the way the Gospel/Good News (euangelion) was used in the writings of Matthew and Mark. In these books my thesis that euangelion is a proclamation of the Lordship of Christ held up pretty well. The majority of the time euangelion is coupled with the kingdom of God/Heaven which makes a perfect connection.But the fact is that compared to Paul, the biographers of Jesus

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-6796456702892282912010-02-02T10:42:00.005-06:002010-02-02T15:57:16.862-06:00

So, the theme that I'm running with for the next few weeks is that there may be a need for us to rethink what the Gospel/Good News (euangelion) really means. Our tendency as Western Christians has been to personalize/individualize our faith and so the Gospel has been taken by many to mean: the good news of my personal salvation... Christ died for me.I'm certainly not going to argue the basic

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-51307088685996378222010-01-26T20:01:00.008-06:002010-01-27T11:49:34.540-06:00

Our word "Gospel" comes from the Old English: gōd spell which means "good tidings." This was a direct translation (in it's day) for the Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion): good message... the good news!Naturally, the vast majority of English Bibles translate euangelion as either good news or gospel. But what does euangelion really mean? Does it really do the concept of euangelion justice to simply

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-73714875447154211852010-01-19T08:46:00.005-06:002010-01-19T11:27:08.995-06:00

While my title is a blatant mis-quote of 1 Kings 19:11 this phrase has really struck me.It seems as though every few years there is some sort of huge natural catastrophe that brings uncomfortable issues to the forefront of our minds. As long as the media pushes these to the front-page we feel some sort of compassion/obligation to toss a few dollars to the Red Cross or some other agency, but for

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-57777052455770357012010-01-12T09:32:00.005-06:002010-01-12T13:53:13.352-06:00

There is a word used in the New Testament that provides us with a wonderfully vivid picture of what Jesus accomplished as the Christ. This word, triumph (qriambeuvw), is only used twice in the Bible:2 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV) But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.Colossians 2:15 (ESV) He

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-52054096492769132982010-01-11T20:51:00.003-06:002010-01-12T09:14:00.160-06:00

... or at least my Jeep!In case you didn't know, the "stapes" is the smallest bone in the human body. I don't think that I can say "I don't have a mechanical bone in my body"; it's just that if I do have a mechanical bone it would be my stapes.So in an act of true brotherly love my brother Darrell helped me (told me what to do and did at least half of the work himself) put a small lift on the my

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-26286123411678311212010-01-05T11:28:00.006-06:002010-01-05T14:46:08.698-06:00

Matthew 24:37-42 (ESV) 37 As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-67855927530642659812010-01-05T11:04:00.003-06:002010-01-05T11:11:20.446-06:00

Check it out: it's my Christmas gift to me!What it is is a Gransfors Bruks small forest axe. It was handcrafted in Sweden by Kjell-Åke Sjölund.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-70888125271090296902009-12-30T13:27:00.005-06:002011-01-19T11:15:12.447-06:00

So, in lieu of a real post this week I BEG YOU to go and read Michael F. Bird's post over at the Euangelion blog (here). You may remember that I featured Michael Bird a few weeks ago (here). The reason why his post struck such a chord with me is because I also suffer from the INTJ personality type! His post applies to me in many ways!!Anyway, enjoy some of the following INTJ humour!

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-77902123726642058222009-12-22T10:55:00.006-06:002009-12-22T11:31:21.938-06:00

I hope that all of you have a wonderful time this year celebrating the amazing incarnation of God!I hope that the angels' blessing in Luke 2:14 rings true in your life.But, of course, I can't just leave it at that! Here's a fun little video that we'll be using during our Christmas Eve service:This is a fun way to bring a bit more of a realistic, Biblical focus to our sometimes overly traditional

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-5998426049419730302009-12-14T14:12:00.008-06:002009-12-14T21:47:13.693-06:00

So, my main point from last week was that we need to let the Bible serve its own agenda rather than us pushing our agenda onto it. We need to come to the scriptures and let them shape us; let them tell us what they are designed to say.One of my biggest beefs with "creationists" is that in many (...but not all...) cases I don't think they use the Scriptures properly. Week hermeneutics = poor

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-22140179044740162162009-12-07T08:26:00.009-06:002009-12-08T09:23:12.316-06:00

"Asking the [Bible] the right sort of questions, and avoiding asking the wrong ones, is a key not only to understanding the Bible as a written expression of God's Word, but it also prevents us from creating more troubles in interpretation than are necessary" (Ben Witherington III; The Living Word of God, 25).** ** ** **I have provided, as bookends for this post, two quotes that I hope can

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-38811846163426792492009-11-30T09:11:00.005-06:002009-12-30T13:40:48.292-06:00

So I'm going to be having a really busy week and won't have time to do a proper post. This will have to suffice.For those of you who don't know, Michael Bird is an Australian NT scholar (and regularly posts on the Euangelion Blog) who teaches at a theological college in Scotland. He's a brilliant scholar and all-around good guy. Anyway, Zondervan has been going around interviewing various

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-24124694581304952032009-11-24T15:37:00.004-06:002009-11-24T16:13:20.467-06:00

I have to confess that I am doing in these last posts something that I hate when other people do it: intentionally stating things controversially just to get a reaction.Please forgive me.But there is a point behind all of this. What I desire is that we all understand who Jesus, the son of Mary & Joseph, really was: He was a first century Jew, living in first century Jewish culture. As he heard

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-26975826947512269722009-11-17T09:00:00.006-06:002009-11-17T13:19:42.989-06:00

Was Jesus a Christian or a Jew?Maybe it's just me but I think the answer is pretty obvious. Jesus was a Jew. This is one reason why I think "What Would Jesus Do?" is actually kind of a silly question.What would Jesus do?:Jesus would eat kosher.Jesus would worship corporately on Saturday.Jesus would observe the Passover, the Feast of Booths, etc... all of the Jewish religious feasts.Jesus's

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-72734722092869700442009-11-03T08:51:00.004-06:002009-11-03T09:53:31.133-06:00

Today I am going to conclude our discussion on "church." It's been a long, much interrupted, series of posts but I hope you have benefited from them. I know I have. When it comes right down to it, church is all about getting together and committing to something. We've talked about the meaning of the word church. The basic meaning of church is an assembly or a gathering. In its secular

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-71954280912645068262009-10-20T15:59:00.006-06:002009-10-21T08:43:42.006-06:00

Once again, I'm feeling kinda swamped and don't have the leisure to do too much abstract thought. But I want to keep up (and wrap up) our ongoing discussion about "church."Most of you know that I have a great admiration for N.T. Wright. I think he's one of the most progressive, pragmatic, and biblically grounded theologians in recent history. And so, what I have to offer you today is an

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-58488017955604490572009-10-15T14:56:00.003-06:002009-10-16T13:51:44.984-06:00

Hey everyone. As most of you know, me and my little family were on holidays this past week. We had a great time hanging out with family in the Radium, BC area.I have no wonderful insights for you this week, although I hope to wrap up our ekklesia discussion very soon. But in the meantime I want to give you all a little more Crowder.The David Crowder* Band recently released a new album, "

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-90398792320173615462009-09-30T11:31:00.006-06:002009-09-30T21:32:17.065-06:00

This week I'm taking a week-long module class at Bethany College. It's been OK, but so far the highlight for me has been that the prof lent me a book that I've been wanting to buy for a while now: "Last Child in the Woods" by Richard Louv. This book talks about "Nature-Deficit Disorder." In this book Louv draws connections between our continuing disconnection with nature and the rise of a

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-48090183144358376722009-09-25T11:52:00.003-06:002009-09-25T12:06:32.170-06:00

Hey! Like the new look? I think it's great. Thanks to my lovely wife for doing it all for me:)I apologize for the lack of post-age this week. It's been a really busy one. And next week I'll be in a class at Bethany for a week-long module, so I'm guessing there won't be a post next week either... but don't worry, I promise to come back. I won't ditch you like last time, I promise!In the

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-32405533161509579892009-09-16T09:15:00.006-06:002009-09-16T10:47:10.169-06:00

As I've been thinking through all of this ekklesia stuff my mind keeps on coming back to the Jewish synagogue. This is because I have heard (I don't remember where) that as the ekklesia spread it modelled itself after the synagogue.So how did ancient synagogues function? In what ways is that similar/dissimilar to what we see in the early church?Synagogues (literally, assemblies... like ekklesia

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-54941355600226979002009-09-08T11:35:00.005-06:002009-09-08T13:34:57.709-06:00

I think it goes without saying that all churches claim to be Biblically rooted, so I always think it's kind of funny when people say things like, "well, we're just trying to get back to the way they did it in the Bible." First of all I think it's funny because it comes across as more than a little pretentious (as if the rest of us aren't "biblical") and secondly... well, that leads me into the

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-27145892114087964672009-09-01T08:28:00.005-06:002009-09-02T08:45:09.229-06:00

Coming out of last week's post I think it might be good to do our own re-evaluation of what "church" really is. If we want to "do" church in the way that we believe the Holy Spirit is directing us through the scriptures then it can't hurt to crack the case wide open and take a good look. Please join me as I work through this. I firmly believe in community hermeneutics so I cherish your

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-6630805951767650202009-08-26T08:36:00.009-06:002009-08-26T13:08:59.405-06:00

Yes, it's true; I've posted again!So, what has caused me to break my silence? The short answer: George Barna.Now, I've never been a big Barna fan. Even though he and the Barna Group have done some great things for the Western Church he's always just rubbed me the wrong way. It all started when I had to read "The Habits of Highly Effective Churches" as a text in College. It ticked me off that

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-26723302733481370322009-02-10T08:39:00.003-06:002009-02-10T09:03:44.766-06:00

It's funny that Jared should make the request that he did.  Just this last week I read this in "Christians at the Cross," which is a book of  Easter week sermons by NT Wright:"... those of us who are used to hearing the story of Judas Iscariot may be a little hardened to it, and we need to remind ourselves what was actually happening.Judas was one of Jesus' closest friends and trusted companions.

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-16691113387207587092009-02-03T13:12:00.003-06:002009-02-03T15:23:04.757-06:00

Unfortunately I've been kind of busy and uncreative lately and that has resulted in my lack blogging.What I've got for you today is some of my musical inspirations.  Most days, as I work in my office, I have soundtrack music playing.  I love movie scores.  It works for me as I work because they are instrumental (I always get distracted by lyrical music... I end up singing along) and evocative.So

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-39312046386470689722009-01-20T10:10:00.002-06:002009-01-20T11:29:51.778-06:00

How big is too big?This is a question that every growing church or organization has to ask itself. This is especially an issue in churches (like mine) where one of the "growth engines" is relationships or fellowship or community or however you want to describe it. It's kind of ironic that people are drawn to community yet the more people that are drawn the harder it is to maintain; the very

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-72858596105180073112009-01-13T09:34:00.005-06:002009-01-13T13:43:48.505-06:00

Following up on the heels of my sermon from this last Sunday (which proposed that we need more than the Bible for our spiritual survival) here is another offering. On Sunday I asserted that we need community to survive. If you want to discuss that we certainly can but I'd also like to propose what has come to be known as the "Wesleyan Quadrilateral."John and Charles Wesley were the 18th

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-84560553267308989902009-01-09T11:51:00.002-06:002009-01-09T11:57:47.135-06:00

Hold Everything.Stop what you're doingAll of your Oscar conjectures need to be put aside for the new benchmark of film-making.Yes! It's true!... or at least all of my wildest dreams are about to...ASTRO BOY - The Movie!

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-84931456160988923132009-01-06T09:03:00.005-06:002009-01-06T10:27:23.524-06:00

I hope last week's post inspired you all to learn the Biblical Languages! Having even a basic grasp of the languages that the scriptures were written in makes such a huge difference in interpretation. Often we miss out on what the author was trying to say because things just don't translate well. The Biblical writers frequently used literary devices that are very difficult to translate (ie. Ps

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-17038484673321922222008-12-30T08:52:00.005-06:002008-12-30T09:43:52.581-06:00

While we're just having fun and sticking to the completely nonsensical take a look at this:"All things are better in Koine, it's what the scriptures really say"For those of you who don't know, Koine (Κοινὴ) is the Greek dialect that was spoken as the common language of the western world for approximately 600-700 years (from Alexander to Constantine). Within Christian circles it is often simply

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-13595116099131025712008-12-22T13:23:00.005-06:002010-11-10T14:58:23.489-06:00

So, things have been pretty heavy and in-depth for the last few weeks. Let's take a break.You know how giant nerds always get caught up in their weird little hypothetical battles:"Captain Kirk could totally kick Captain Picard's butt..."or"Who do you think would win in a battle between Gandalf and Yoda?"... assuming anybody would care.So, acknowledging that this is both nerdy and completely

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-91618037668252377372008-12-16T09:07:00.006-06:002008-12-16T12:06:53.917-06:00

Thank-you all for bearing with me and working through this with me. For being so good I'll have a special treat for you in next week's post.Anyway, the time has come for me to attempt to articulate why I think this whole debate around the soul has any sort of relevance. After all, "why does this even matter?" is the question I've been asked the most since I've started this discussion. While

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637000497614108207.post-55583382615180298152008-12-09T10:37:00.006-06:002008-12-09T11:58:27.012-06:00

As we continue this discussion I want to address the last two comments from last week's post. How do the Biblical writer's use NEPHESH? and is there a difference between the OT and NT concepts of "soul?"My argument centres around the Septuagint (LXX). For those of you who may not know, the LXX is the Koine Greek translation of the OT. It is well known as a generally poor translation of the

Timothy Braunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03055722969246770165noreply@blogger.com14