Buzz King: Grace & Joy thru Scripture

We look at the most influential document in the New Testament, outside of the Gospels: Romans.  We consider why it is that historically, some scholars and pastors have not liked it, and have considered it to diverge from Jesus' teachings in the Gospels.  But we also consider it as an "occasional writing", that is, a document meant for a focused purpose - as a letter to a church at a certain place and time, and with a some...

I once visited a woman who was sick with a chronic condition and had a concern about her ability to continue to serve God with the gifts he had given her.  She wondered if her life was over.  We look at the theological issue of whether we can earn gifts from God.  It's a complex issue with a few different perspectives presented in the Bible.  We try to come to a conclusion about what it means to be blessed by Go...

When I was a boy, I was confronted by an angry officer with a gun who wanted to arrest me.  He thought I had just attacked and badly injured an elderly lady.  When he found out he was wrong, he went out of his way to apologize to me and my father.  We look at forgiveness in both the Old and New Testaments.  We consider what it really means to have forgiveness be an integral part of our Christian lives.  We ...

A man with no home and no family once showed up at the hospital having a seizure.  We look at how this man responded to being treated with compassion.  We also look at the "sandwiched" stories of Jesus curing the daughter of a rich man and Jesus healing a poor woman.  We look at a very special word in the inner story - kraspedou - and how the way it is typically translated tends to greatly minimize the true impact of...

I once met a former EMT who was using a high tech wheelchair because she was an incomplete quadriplegic.  She was in the hospital for a test, but was highly traumatized, suffering from a PTSD attack because she was back in a hospital - after having spent months in an ICU after her accident.  She told me the story of how, as an EMT earning a bit over the minimum wage, she had been in a traffic accident while on an emergenc...

Supposedly, Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon, but in truth it was written 700 years later.  I studied Greek philosophy and literature in college at Occidental, long ago.  Something stuck with me later: Ecclesiastes was probably written in part as a response to the Greek influence on Hebrew culture at the time Ecclesiastes was written - just after the height of the Epicurean age.  We consider the jaded view present...

I used to tease my kids, telling them things that were not real and getting them to believe it, before telling them it was a joke.  This backfired when my little daughter refused to eat an ice cream cone that I told her was safe to eat - convinced that I was trying to get her to eat cardboard.  I had turned myself into a wolf in sheep's clothing, a dad that was not to be believed.  We look at the use of the wolf in t...

Wendy and I once traveled in Ireland with our kids - when they were quite small.  We had some adventures, in particular, a surprise concert at a nearby zoo, by U2.  We look at the book of Ecclesiastes, a very enigmatic and literate book that talks about the difficulties of finding true satisfaction and meaning in life on Earth.  It can be a very jaded read.  But it teaches us some very important points about God...

I met a young man who considered himself a modern "Gnostic" - and I learned about the dire limitations of his faith.  We look at 1st John, a deeply theological letter that strives to set the reader straight on the basic tenets of Christian faith.  We look at issues such as Christ being both fully human and fully man, at the source of love, and the need to recognize the reality of sin.  We see why being fully Christia...

I visited Israel once, and drove the length of the old Unified Kingdom under David and Solomon: about 100 or so miles.  We look at the history of the 10 tribes of Israel, the United Kingdom, and the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah.  We consider the tiny size and brief period during when the Unified Kingdom existed.  We consider what a couple of Prophets and the New Testament has to say about the coming eternal, ...

We consider a couple of prominent Bible passages that superficially seem to back up the "fire and brimstone" sermon that I once heard from a rather strident pastor.  But we look at these passages more closely.  We consider whether God really is vengeful and violent.  We consider an alternative interpretation of these New Testament passages - and see if perhaps there is a common misinterpretation of the message of God...

We consider an ancient landfill found in Egypt - which contains the oldest known New Testament fragments ever found.  We look at the very negative view that the ancient Jews had of garbage or refuse of any kind and what this means for God choosing to preserve his most ancient New Testament Word in a landfill.  We also consider a man I once met who worked in a landfill and how ashamed he was of his work.  Little did h...

We consider something that I have had trouble conveying in my church and in my podcasts: how we know that we can relax and depend on God to take care of us.  We do this by looking at the Book of Esther, an ancient Hebrew story (and not really "history") about a woman who saves the entire Jewish people from annihilation.  God is never mentioned in the story.  Neither is prayer, the history of the Israelites, the coven...

When I was a boy, a girl went missing while playing Hide and Go Seek with some of us.  Her mother ended up offering a prayer, which I later identified, I believe, as the Prayer of Manasseh, from the Apocrypha.  We look at the history of the evil King Manasseh from the Kings and Chronicles Books, and at this prayer which is attributed to him (which he certainly did not write).  From the beautiful, poetic prayer we can...

When I was a young kid in school, I was exposed to a boy who would probably now be called "neurodivergent".  I ended up learning a lot about what it means to be different, but still be made in God's image.  We look at Samson, a sinful, arrogant, corrupt, even laughable man who is manipulated by God to serving despite his apparent desire to dishonor his position as a Nazarite.  We look at the many lessons we learn abo...

We look at a story from Judges: the female judge Deborah and how her army destroyed the far more advanced army of their enemy.  In the Bible, it is an epic of the Iron Age of the Canaanites vs. the Bronze Age of the Israelites.  We study both the prose and the poem version of this story.  We see how with God's help, the rag tag Israelite army destroys the experienced Canaanite army which is invading on their iron cha...

We look at the traditional view of Holy Week, from the triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, to the gruesome crucifixion, to the glorious resurrection.  We note that low point between the ride into the Holy City and the rise of Jesus from death.  But we consider a somewhat different view - that the crucifixion does not break the joy from Palm Sunday to Easter.  We look at Jesus' last words on the cross and how...