About Me

I don't want to share too much about myself, but I do think that I need provide some basic facts that will allow you understand where I am coming from.

I graduated with a B.S. in Physics in 1981. At that point, I had no religious convictions at all, as my parents had not taken us to church. I soon became a Navy officer and a helicopter pilot. As I finished flight training in 1983, I knew that I needed to build a foundation for my life. After looking in many places, I turned to the Bible, having no idea what it was really about. I started reading Matthew, and I was deeply impressed by Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. As I continued to read, God put a Christian in my path, and I began attending a Church of Christ with him. After about a month and a half, I finished reading the New Testament and committed myself to Jesus and was baptized.

For the next 20 years, I was part of a non-mainstream church movement that emphasized total commitment to God. I saw the need to really learn the Bible, but I quickly learned that a lot of mainstream sources taught a variety of doctrines that didn't come from the Bible. I continued to read the Bible, but I also started reading commentaries and history and background books as well. The movement I was in did not take strong doctrinal stances, so I developed my own understanding by picking through what I read.

After leaving the Navy in 1988, I became a software engineer. As I continued to learn, I decided to study Greek on my own.

In 2004, I spent a year at Johnson Bible College, now Johnson University, in a Masters of New Testament program. I took a year of intermediate Greek, having challenged out of the first year courses. I learned enough to translate the Greek New Testament with the help of computer tools and frequent checking of Greek dictionaries and grammar books. I was also introduced to the world of Biblical academics. I deeply respect the professors at Johnson, but I was shocked at the state of the Biblical academic field generally.

I learned that Biblical academics is controlled by liberals who are the vast majority. They force conservatives to abide by a principle that forbids "supernatural presuppositions." That means that a Bible scholar cannot refer to miracles, inspiration, or God while analyzing the Bible. Conservatives must play by this rule in order for their programs to remain accredited. This places conservative scholars at a tremendous disadvantage, as they have to justify even the most trivial ideas. For example, I read an academic commentary on John where the author went to great lengths to justify that the Apostle John wrote it.

At the same time, liberal scholars can come up with wild theories, which they do abundantly. Conservative are required to at least acknowledge all this in their works, which means they spend a great deal of time discussing liberal points of view. If you've read almost any commentary, you will see this right away.

For my part, I appreciate conservative scholars who work hard to bring some clarity out of the confusion, and I have learned a great deal from them. However, the conservatives are fighting up-hill battles, and they have to pick and choose a few fights that they can win.

For my part, I decided to learn from what stands up to reason-based inspection and to avoid the rest. I also realized that I have to be true to my own convictions, trusting God that he is leading me.

I also learned a good deal about the origins of various strands of doctrine. When I first became a Christian, members of the Church of Christ and Baptists each thought that the others were going to Hell over their doctrines. I'm happy that this nonsense is largely a thing of the past. I have my own thoughts about doctrine, mostly that small details of doctrine are less important than faith and practicing Jesus' teaching, "Do not judge!" I avoid discussing doctrine on this site.

I haven't had a great deal of time to write, so I've limited myself to topics that I think need explanation. I started with The Revelation, as I found that my friends refused to read commentaries about it. I came to understand how controversial a topic it really is, so I focused on what it meant to the original audience. I also wrote about Genesis 1-11 and Job, again looking at what they originally meant.

I retired recently, which gave me more time. I created timelines of the Old and New Testaments that contain articles about each of the books and also background information. I also just finished a draft of a commentary on Matthew.

In all of this, my goal was to bring clarity to obscure topics, so that ordinary Christians can approach and understand the Bible.

What I Believe

As I mentioned above, I am less interested in doctrines than in what the Bible says. However, I do want to share my core beliefs, as a lot of people who write about the Bible have unusual ideas.