When people make a list of what they want in a romantic partner, often the physical aspects of their ideal person make it high on the list. They should be a certain height, have a certain body type, perhaps have a certain colour hair. Our culture holds up ideal body types to us through the …
Song of Songs is a love song, and it has a chorus. While metaphors are occasionally re-used through the Song, there is only one verse that is repeated, and that verse is repeated three times with only minor variations (in 2:7, 3:5 and 8:4): I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or …
Song of Songs tells the story of a passionate relationship between a man and a woman. They long to be together. They dream of one another’s company and the future they might have together. In that context, the man comes to the woman’s house in chapter 2. She is living with her mother and he …
When you are early on in a romantic relationship, everything about the one you love is fantastic. You cannot find a flaw. They appear perfect to you in every way. Their laugh, their mannerisms, their jokes, everything is just ideal in your eyes. This is what it meant by the phrase “love is blind”. Driven …
I fear that many people think that the Christian teaching on sex is “it is bad, don’t do it”. After all, many of the public statements from Christian sources on this topic are to oppose something that doesn’t fit the Biblical ideal. There are many “thou shall nots” when it comes to Christian teaching about …
In the account of Jesus’ death in Matthew’s gospel, we get some of the strangest verses in the entire Bible: 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and …
A series of very strange things happened around the time of the death of Jesus on the cross. While he was hanging on the cross, it became dark like night-time in the middle of the day, from around midday to 3 p.m. (Matt 27:45). That would be incredibly creepy. At the time when the light …
After a while, we get used to things. Think about the last time you moved house or bought a car. When you first had these things, it was all exciting and new. You noticed new aspects of them regularly. You found yourself thanking God for these great gifts. Yet, after a while, you got used …
The books of 1 and 2 Kings are lengthy books that chronicle the decline of Israel and Judah from the death of David through the exile. A great many kings come and go in those few hundred years. Kingdoms split, tyrants ruled, famines and wars happened, and generations of people were born and died. You …
Something really unusual happened to Jesus in Matthew 26. He was having dinner with his disciples and some friends when a woman poured some incredibly expensive perfume on his head. By incredibly expensive, I mean that most scholars estimate the value of the perfume at around a year’s salary for a worker. A year’s salary! …