Hermanus – The Hub of Nature
Hermanus is located in the Western Cape region of South Africa on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Though a small town, boasting less than 26,000 in population, it has a big town attitude and there is good reason for it.
It doesn’t generate the commerce of a “London,” New York” or “Johannesburg” but when it comes to natural attractions it rules. With a great variety of things to do and places to go, as well as some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, it is one of the best locations to visit in South Africa. There may be places in this world just as unusual but I doubt any are as accessible as Hermanus. Try driving up the Himalayas or into the jungles of Borneo sometime.
Just over a hundred kilometers from the Cape Town International airport Hermanus can be reached by two well paved routes either of which is beautiful in its own right. The inland route takes you through winding mountain roads scattered with old country villages, shops, olive groves and vineyards.
The coastal route is a little longer and must be driven more slowly but is well worth the extra time. Too say it follows the coast is misleading. The land comes out of the ocean so vertically in spots you think you’re traveling “on” rather than “by” the ocean. It must have taken great fetes of engineering to install the road. Read more
Evangelistic Verses In John
Most churches have constitutions one part of which is a statement of faith. It provides a list of important beliefs along with a brief description and several Bible references supporting the belief.
What they don’t often have but should is a statement of activities, things they do regularly as an expression of their faith. And at the top of the “do” list should be evangelism.
Although the word is not actually an English word – anglicized (transliterated) form of the Greek euangelion – it is clearly the most important issue in the New Testament.
It refers to the good news of the Gospel and the activity associated with evangelism is anything we do to spread that message. This was very prevalent in the ministry of Jesus.
Without question, one of the most important lessons we learn from Jesus is how to evangelize. This intention was so obvious that the writers of the Gospels have been referred to as the four “evangelists” and of all the Gospels, John’s emphasizes evangelism the most.
Proof of this emphasis is the number of verses in John which are evangelistic stand outs. The purpose of this post is to provide a list of these verses. Read more
Evangelize Intentionally
We don’t easily get it. We study the Gospel of John digging out the useful bits of evangelistic information and then refer to it as the Gospel of “Belief” rather than the Gospel of “Evangelism.” We fall short of the right conclusion and then fail to follow through on any meaningful application.
And we do this because we are more content just studying the Bible than we are doing what it says. We scour John’s Gospel locating all the powerful evangelistic verses, making other pertinent observations as well and then, instead of evangelizing, we study it some more.
That is one reason I think Bible study has become an insidious and pervasive evil. It is now the cover up for inaction and ineffectiveness. All over the world, in churches everywhere, spiritual action has been constipated by the idea that once you have studied your Bible you have done your due. Read more
Amazon Image Links – Build Your Own
I am avid reader and since I also blog it seems only natural that I should write about the books I read.
I only review the technical stuff. Fiction does little to expand one mentally, other than hone reading skills and that, only if you make an exercise of it.
Yes, reading of any kind can improve vocabulary but only with a dictionary in one hand and a writing tablet in the other and the classifications are really not that broad: well researched or not. The categories are fairly general also: children’s, mystery, romance, science fiction, horror, fantasy, thrillers, westerns and so on.
Non-fiction, however, covers an endless range of topics and often makes a point that can change your life or at least the way you think about life. For that reason I read non-fiction quite a lot and I find it helps if I write down ideas to take away from the read. Blogging is a good way to share it with others.
It also helps to let people know where they too can buy the book. For that reason I include images and links to a site – usually Amazon – where they can purchase the book inexpensively.
The problem is, Amazon image links don’t always work very nicely. To say they are “uncooperative” is an understatement especially in the platform I use, WordPress. Blogger is much more compatible with Amazon links and is a great platform for blogging but it comes with limitations. I chose to develop a stand alone blog and you can find my reasons here. Read more
Book Review: Archeology And The Structure Of Genesis
Ancient records and the structure of Genesis: A case for literary unity
P. J. Wiseman was neither an archeologist nor a scholar of ancient languages but he was a keen observer, an avid reader and an interested Bible student. These qualities and the fact that he was stationed in close proximity to live Middle Eastern archeological digs in the 1920’s and 30’s made him a reliable source for some thought provoking ideas about the structure and composition of Genesis.
Prior to any real knowledge of ancient literary methods, in fact, at a time when scholars weren’t convinced that any type of writing was done much before the 1st millennium BC, the compilation of Genesis was surmised only through subjective reflection on the text alone. The result was a variety of theories involving several different and unconnected sources – named by the letters J, E, D and P – none of which are substantiated by copies of any kind. Read more
Tim Pepper - Beautiful Frustration