keypnchr — writings

A LaTeX-Style Writing Template for iA Writer

2026-03-06T00:00:00-06:00

Few things are as immediately recognizable as an academic document typeset in LaTeX: the Computer Modern font family, the justified text with first-line paragraph indentation, the clean hierarchy of section headings. These produce a look that Microsoft Word and its clones rarely replicate.

iA Writer is a distraction-free Markdown editor for those who prefer to work in plain text. iA Writer’s template system makes it possible to bring the typographic conventions of LaTeX into a Markdown workflow without touching a .tex file, or using an additional tool such as pandoc.

This template aims to do exactly that. It uses the Computer Modern Unicode (CMU) font family — the same fonts LaTeX loads by default — and applies the typographic rules of the standard article class: justified body text with first-line paragraph indentation, a clean three-level heading hierarchy, monospace code blocks in CMU Typewriter, and table styling in the spirit of the booktabs package. The result is a PDF that pays homage to those produced by LaTeX itself.

What the Template Includes

Download Template

The download contains four files:

LaTeX-Article.iatemplate — the iA Writer template bundle, ready to install
LaTeX-Article-Example.md — a sample document demonstrating every supported feature, including the title block, abstract, headings, lists, code blocks, tables, blockquotes, and footnotes
LaTeX-Article-Example.pdf — a rendered PDF of the example document, so you can see the output before installing
README.md — an overview document with installation and user instructions.

Who It Is For

The template is well suited to anyone who writes documents intended to look like conventional scholarly work — working papers, technical reports, draft manuscripts, course materials, or internal research memos. It is not a replacement for LaTeX in contexts that require precise equation typesetting or journal-specific formatting, but for prose-heavy documents where the goal is clean, credible presentation, it produces excellent results with ease.

How It Works

Installation takes a single double-click. Once installed, the template appears in iA Writer’s template chooser in the Preview panel. Selecting it applies the styling immediately; exporting to PDF preserves it.

Title Block

The title block convention is straightforward. Wrapping the opening lines of a document in a <div class="title-block"> element — with the paper title as a first-level Markdown heading followed by plain-text author and date lines — produces a centered, ruled title block in the structure of LaTeX’s \maketitle output. The rest of the document is written in standard Markdown.

All styling is contained in a single well-commented HTML file inside the template bundle, making it straightforward to adjust font size, line spacing, margins, or link color to suit a particular use case.

Download

The template is free to use and modify.

Download LaTeX Article for iA Writer (ZIP archive, includes template, example document, and example PDF)

The README included in the archive covers installation, the title block convention, section numbering, footnote syntax, and instructions for offline font use for those who work without a consistent internet connection.

Local LLMs on Apple Silicon with Ollama + WebUI

2025-08-08T00:00:00-05:00

If you are running a Mac with at least an M1 processor (an M4 with 24GB of RAM handles these surprisingly well), and you were curious about running large language models locally on your machine, I have put together a guide to take you from start to finish on getting that up and running.

Open your terminal to a command prompt and get started below…

Prerequisites

Mac running Apple Silicon (at least M1)

Homebrew (https://brew.sh ). If you don’t have it:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

1. Install Ollama

Ollama runs models locally and exposes an API on http://localhost:11434.

brew update
brew install ollama
brew services start ollama

The final command starts a background service listening on port 11434.

Verify it’s up and running:

ollama --version
curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags

The last command should return some JSON. If you don’t see an error, you should be good.

2. Pull some models

Download the model weights you want. Here are some examples:

## OpenAI Model
ollama pull gpt-oss
## Meta Model
ollama pull llama3
## Google Model
ollama pull gemma
## Mistral Model
ollama pull mistral:7b
## Multimodal Model (vision recognition and text)
ollama pull llava:7b

List your downloaded models:

ollama list

To remove an installed model:

ollama rm <model-name>

3. Install WebUI

WebUI provides a graphical browser interface to interact with the local Ollama server. Install with:

brew install python@3.12
brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath
pipx install --python /opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.12/bin/python3.12 open-webui

Run the following commands in your terminal to ensure the path needed for WebUI remains available (only needs to be done once):

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zprofile
source ~/.zprofile

4. Run a Model and Interact using WebUI

Choose a model to run (OpenAI’s gpt-oss in this example):

ollama run gpt-oss

Now, run WebUI. You will be prompted the first time you run it to set up an admin account:

open-webui serve

Open your browser to http://localhost:8080 (first launch will walk you through creating an admin user).

5. Optional: add aliases to your zsh terminal profile for easier access.

Edit your .zprofile:

nano ~/.zprofile

Add the following lines to your ~/.zprofile based on which LLMs you decide to install (be sure to add in the WebUI line at the bottom of the list; you can change Safari to another browser if you prefer):

alias gpt='ollama run gpt-oss'
alias llama='ollama run llama3'
alias gemma='ollama run gemma'
alias mistral='ollama run mistral:7b'
alias llava='ollama run llava:7b'

alias webui="open-webui serve & sleep 5 && open -a Safari http://localhost:8080"

Hit Ctrl+X to exit. Choose (Y)es to save the file, then enter to save as same file name.

After saving, reload the ZSH profile (you only have to do this once; each time you open a new terminal it will already be there):

source ~/.zprofile

Now you can quickly launch a model in the terminal, e.g.:

gpt

…and launch WebUI with:

webui

SPECIAL NOTE: there is a 5 second delay after running the WebUI command before it attempts to open the page in a browser (http://localhost:8080). If it has not finished starting in the terminal the page won’t load yet, but you can refresh the page when it is finished to begin.

Ollama via Homebrew already runs as a service:

brew services start ollama
brew services stop ollama
brew services restart ollama

7. Troubleshooting

Reset/restart services

brew services restart ollama

What’s using a port (11434 or 8080)?

lsof -i :11434
lsof -i :8080

8. Uninstallation

Uninstall Ollama (Homebrew):

brew services stop ollama
brew uninstall ollama
rm -rf ~/.ollama

Uninstall Open WebUI (pipx):

pipx uninstall --python /opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.12/bin/python3.12 open-webui

9. Security & privacy notes

Everything runs locally by default; models and prompts don’t leave your machine unless you enable remote features.
Treat downloaded models like large binaries; verify sources before pulling community models.

Review of Veeneman’s Introducing Theological Method

2024-11-20T00:00:00-06:00

Veeneman, Mary M. Introducing Theological Method: A Survey of Contemporary Theologians and Approaches. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017.

Summary

Mary Veeneman’s Introducing Theological Method: A Survey of Contemporary Theologians and Approaches provides a valuable resource for advancing students of theology who need to gain an understanding of the important “work of prolegomena”[1] preceding their own theological work. The author begins with some brief introductory material, drawing the reader’s attention to the book’s major objective, learning to identify and recognize the critical methodological concerns which she carefully includes in each following chapter. The three primary concerns that Veeneman emphasizes are: indicating which sources are to be used, identifying which questions are to be answered, and establishing the contextual starting point for the work which follows. The seven chapters which follow, each focusing on a key modern theological development, show how important scholars associated with each used these three methodological concerns to form the basis of their framework.

Because this is a work limited to a survey of contemporary theologians, Veeneman sets her scope’s point of beginning in the twentieth century. The theologians considered represent a good mix of Catholic and Protestant thinkers, and ethnically diverse male and female scholars. Importantly, Veeneman’s concern is with Christian theology, and her examples have all identified the Bible as an important source in building their respective methodologies. Selected topics include neo-orthodox, postliberal, evangelical, political, and feminist theologies. It should be noted that the “book isn’t interested in telling students which theological commitment to take up”[2], and the author does a fair job overall in representing vastly different approaches while maintaining scholarly detachment.

Evaluation

Veeneman does an excellent job providing data to show how “theological work has been shaped by the historical location of those who do theology.”[3] Beginning with the first featured theologian, Avery Dulles, to the last, Delores Williams, the reader is provided with important historical context to show how this has shaped the questions being answered, and for setting the contextual starting point for the theological work. Veeneman does not limit her chapter development to examples featuring individual theologians, but also incorporates a good mix of wider dialogue surrounding theological concepts and the cultural and historical settings of which they were the result. This is useful for ingraining in students the ability to recognize and reflect on these core concepts as critical to the work of theology. In addition, this data serves to strengthen an understanding for the place of these methodological concerns, and how they have served as important headsprings in the development of theological concepts with which they may already be familiar.

The major weakness of the book is the inconsistent approach to organization that occurs too often throughout. Because Veeneman does not organize her chapters by following one established pattern, the reader is forced to do more work to place the information being provided into the book’s larger framework and purpose. This lack of pattern is evident even within the most structured sections which focus on particular theologians. While some receive quite lengthy biographical information, others receive almost no such attention to detail.

Reflection

Going beyond a special attention to historical setting, and the role it played in the context for the work of the book’s highlighted individuals and wider dialogues, Veeneman goes on to further show how creativity played an important factor in certain efforts attempting to advance a particular framework of understanding. Because the book does not attempt to evaluate the appropriateness or merit of any framework, readers tied to more traditional views might encounter strong theological tension at some of the apparent liberties taken in these examples. As it stands, the weak identity of any important guardrails serving as constraints on such creative innovation might give pause to those committed to more orthodox views of interpretation and application of Biblical texts. This is another reason the book is most appropriate for advancing theological students who will have had greater exposure and more resources at their disposal for dealing with such encounters.

There is a predominant emphasis throughout the book which portrays cultural context as a driving factor for theological work. This emphasis could have benefited from a more balanced portrayal of the Christian religion itself as culture building within whatever cultural context it is placed. Larry Hurtado points out that from its beginning stages, Christianity was “transethnic and translocal, addressing males and female of all social levels and generating circles of followers who were expected to commit to particular beliefs and behavior… [these] distinctive features of early Christianity have also shaped our world.”[4] Historian Tom Holland likens this effect of Paul’s teaching in particular to a depth charge which “sets up ripple effects of revolution throughout Western history”[5] that continue to this day.

Finally, it seems clear that there is useful background data which the author had in mind at times but did not communicate to the reader. It is apparent that Veeneman made intelligent and informed choices in deciding what to include, but it too often felt that useful data was inadvertently withheld, preventing a clearer picture to the reader on a particular point of interest. These sections might have been better served by providing just a few more particulars.[6]

It might be overly harsh to criticize Veeneman’s failures on these points given the limited content which the book covers, and the theological neutrality the book intends to deliver. Attempting to fit the scope of theological method from the twentieth century through our modern era in such a compact volume (190 pages) necessarily means that there will be gaps of all kinds in its content. All things considered, Introducing Theological Method may be the best resource for university classroom purposes simply because at this time it uniquely fills a niche that is valuable for theological students. Other volumes that might be considered as alternatives for class use, such as Ford and Muers’ The Modern Theologians or McCormack and Kapic’s Mapping Modern Theology, are considerably larger in scope and would require a great deal of parsing effort on the part of students to surface the same points which Veeneman brings to the fore. An impressive array of scholars commends this work including Fred Sanders, Lynn Cohick, and Scot McKnight. For students beginning their own independent theological inquiry, Veeneman’s book offers a valuable resource for better understanding the task at hand by emphasizing the methodological principles essential to the work of theology.

Bibliography

Hurtado, Larry W. Destroyer of the Gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016.

Veeneman, Mary M. Introducing Theological Method : A Survey of Contemporary Theologians and Approaches. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017.

[1] Mary M. Veeneman, Introducing Theological Method : A Survey of Contemporary Theologians and Approaches (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017), 2.

[2] Veeneman, 190.

[3] Veeneman, 10.

[4] Larry W. Hurtado, Destroyer of the Gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016), 186,89.

[5] Tom Holland, “Tom Holland tells NT Wright: Why I Changed My Mind about Christianity,” interview by N.T. Wright, SPCK Publishing, YouTube video, 3:35-4:10, January 29, 2020, https://youtu.be/AIJ9gK47Ogw?si=QdUyEbjItKKFCgWH&t=215.

[6] For example, Stanley Grenz is located in the chapter on Evangelical Theologies but is provided no biographical information to help place his work in the wider context.

Review of Boyd & Eddy’s Across the Spectrum

2024-11-20T00:00:00-06:00

Boyd, Gregory A., and Paul R. Eddy. Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009.

Summary

Boyd and Eddy’s Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology presents readers with a concise survey of seventeen topics chosen from contemporary debates within the evangelical community. Their format presents widely accepted countering positions on a single topic in each chapter. The goal of the book is to present each of these discussions in the form of a debate in which two to four of the leading consensus views defend their opposing conclusions using biblical arguments as their main support. Following the supporting arguments, each view concludes by addressing a selection of objections raised by opponents. Importantly, the authors remain neutral by not arguing for the primacy of any specific viewpoint presented on any topic.

While neither the variety of topics nor their discussions are exhaustive, Boyd and Eddy have prudently chosen from among some of the most active debates within the evangelical community today. Their topics were selected from issues the authors deemed to be debatable—falling outside the common evangelical “commitment to the core beliefs of historic, orthodox Christianity as expressed in the ecumenical creeds and to the primacy of Scripture in all matters of faith and practice.”[1] Topics covered by the authors are wide-ranging and include inerrancy, foreknowledge, sanctification, charismatic gifts, women in ministry, and hell. In the second edition, an appendix is included which presents brief summaries of the issues surrounding other topics which are not covered in the main chapters.

Evaluation

In Across the Spectrum, the debate format chosen by the authors provides the reader with a good example of how one might present arguments from differing viewpoints on theological disagreements in a respectfully balanced way. More theologically developed readers will almost certainly have a studied viewpoint for each of the subjects covered, but because the majority of space provided for each supporting argument is spent presenting the case from biblical evidence for that view’s conclusions, the reader has an opportunity to evaluate the considerations that those who support opposing viewpoints have in mind. In this way, disagreements between parties holding opposing views may engage more effectively through better informed approaches to the argument, suspicions of motive which are too often the common human experience may be better tempered, and a more charitable dialogue may be encouraged overall.

The biggest weakness of the book, the short, and too often diluted and repetitive responses provided in the “Responding to Objections” section of each argument, may be due to its concise nature for presenting a survey of so many topics. Boyd and Eddy do helpfully provide a list of resources for looking deeper into the topic at the end of each chapter, but the space constraints in the chosen format for the book may contribute to a second notable weakness—the material is not adequately annotated. By providing more extensive references to help readers locate more information on particular points within an argument, the usefulness for a wider and more varied audience could have been supported. In its current format, it seems most useful for the common audience noted in the featured reviews from the book’s back cover, undergraduate students of theology who have a professor to guide them in the questions they will undoubtedly encounter in their readings.

Reflection

Reading Across the Spectrum confirmed my belief that a healthy dose of intellectual humility is essential for anyone attempting to engage in substantial theological reflection, especially for those who teach others or plan to do so, as I believe the authors of this book assume for a significant portion of their audience. While the book does not devote the sort of space one would imagine as necessary to convince an individual to switch allegiance from one viewpoint to another, the book often provides enough good supporting biblical arguments from a specifically evangelical perspective to at least encourage a more respectful engagement in debate on some of the controversial topics covered. Relatedly, newer students of theology may be helped to discover a broader vision for how the significant inter-connections between many of the topics inform one another. In these ways, as a textbook for theological students, the format is suitable for clarifying a vision regarding the advantages and effectiveness of continued spiritual growth through meaningful debate with others holding different biblically oriented viewpoints.

Because Boyd and Eddy model their debates from the perspective of Christians who hold to the same core essentials expressed in the basic creeds, whose faith is shaped by the orthodox traditions they outline, and who seek to establish a set of reasoned viewpoints based on evidence which relies on the authority of Scripture, the authors provide space for thinking about the nature of theological certainty, and its ecumenical implications in how one’s viewpoint is conducted in the sphere of non-essentials when encountering those holding opposing views. Newer readers of theology will also get a taste for questions regarding what role tradition should play in the making of informed theological conclusions, the broader historical setting for the viewpoints presented, and influence culture plays many times in the conclusions being made.

Overall, the book would be most useful in a setting where the reader is guided by a well-informed tutor to help ensure these important takeaways are not missed. The book presents a thoughtful guide the opportunity to show readers just how each person brings a certain amount of bias to interpretation. Ultimately, as an aid to college theological course readings, the book will provide students the opportunity to gain a deeper appreciation towards understanding the active role theological stances play in Christian practice. The breadth of material covered shows that these theological formulations are not merely for those doing work in academic centers of learning, but have very real and often far-reaching consequences in the Church, where these and other points of faith interact and are lived out in the Christian community based on the shared beliefs we hold.

[1] Gregory A. Boyd, and Paul R. Eddy, Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 12.

Wasted Years Restored

2021-12-06T00:00:00-06:00

Are you familiar with the song “Bring Christ Your Broken Life?” The words of its first verse go like this:

Bring Christ your broken life So marred by sin. He will create anew, Make whole again.

But, what are we to make of the following stanza?

Your empty wasted years He will restore, And your iniquities Remember no more.

Is God really able to restore our empty wasted years? Have you ever looked back on a period of time in your life where you see that because of sin in your life you suffered loss? Maybe you’ve suffered great loss. Maybe you weren’t a good parent… maybe you lived in a state of anxiety for years of your life… maybe you were caught in a sin that brought you to ruin…

Going back to the words we sing in this song, the hope in those words aren’t just about being given another chance to go on with life. In them, we sing of a hope for an undeserved restoration of things to us that were lost because of our own personal sin.

It’s one thing to have a reprieve from the Lord’s rod of instruction – those rightfully deserved afflictions that might come our way (always with our good ends in mind) – but it is another thing entirely to receive back the good things that we should consider rightfully forfeited when we have done wrong.

Your empty wasted years He will restore

It is a glorious thought. Sinner you’ve messed up. Now, you’ve come to your senses and realize all of the glorious and good things that you’ve missed because of the sin in your life.

But we sing those words with confidence (“Your empty wasted years He will restore”), and we’re right to sing them. In them we are indeed conveying to each other thoughts that are true to Scripture. Not only do you have a hope for tomorrow, but because we serve the only true and living God who is infinitely powerful, and whose goodness is beyond measure, He can restore to you your wasted years in ways that you might not be able to imagine possible until you have experienced them.

RESTORATING THE BOUNTY OF LOST YEARS

The book of Joel opens in the following way:

“The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days? Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation. What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.” (Joel 1:1–4 NAS95)

He goes on to describe these insects of destruction as an army that the Lord commands. This is a shear destructive force being unleashed by God upon them. It must have been terrifying, but He holds out a bright ray of hope for the people and a new chance for very different life:

“The LORD utters His voice before His army; Surely His camp is very great, For strong is he who carries out His word. The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it? “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him,” (Joel 2:11–14 NAS95)

These particular people had every reason, according to the Law and their covenant, to be suffering under the hand of the Lord. No one would argue they were getting anything other than what justice demanded. Yet, what do we see here? This is not punishment for punishment’s sake – God shows that His goal is to return the hearts of the people to Himself.

But, God doesn’t plan to simply restore the land to normal order. Instead, these people who have repented after facing such a crisis are promised a return of super-abundance in which everything that had been lost in those previous years would be delivered right into their hands by God’s graciousness towards them:

“Then I will make up to you for the years That the swarming locust has eaten, The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you. “You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied And praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame.” (Joel 2:25–26 NAS95)

Our God is powerful and able to restore the bounty of lost years. I ask again, have you ever looked back on a period of time in your life where you see that because of sin in your life you suffered loss? It might be that a mistake you made long years ago now has been a shadow over your life to this moment.

The enemy is quite adept at deploying strategies that are successful in keeping us ineffective as saints. I’m thinking about the person who realizes that they haven’t been what they should have been, but are kept unable to find renewal in genuine repentance because they are made to believe that they cannot truly repent; that somehow they will always remain a defective Christian.

This can keep a person in a constant state of anxiety, even unsure of their salvation. Or perhaps worse, maybe the person feels like what I would describe as a mercenary Christian. What I mean is that in a state of being unsure of their salvation because of sin, they nevertheless want to honor God and to cause others to do the same. But because they are in a state of remaining unsure of their salvation, sin has a power over them which it should not. Because of the helplessness (or maybe a sort of hopeless fatalism) which they feel, and in a continuing cycle, in moments of temptation their fatalism weakens their resolve and they give in.

A person can in this way let their past so bind them, that they are unable to be freed from the chains of sin which Christ is eager to break and offer freedom. The verse of the song says:

Your empty wasted years He will restore, And your iniquities Remember no more.

If you can identify with this, can we look at a portion of Scripture together so that you can be made to understand that you have before you this moment lies a chance of renewal? A chance to be fully assured that you are a son or daughter of our God who doesn’t have to live fearfully; and who CAN live a righteous life, blameless before God.

KING MANASSEH

How gracious is the the Lord? There isn’t a shortage of choices where I could go for help on this subject, but a problem I would encounter is that you may be so familiar with the Scriptures that you might not be able to see the wonder in it for your own life anymore. For instance, the parable of the prodigal son, Saul of Tarsus, David, Moses, Adam…

So, I’d like us to look instead at a man whose life of wickedness almost certainly surpasses that of anyone who reads this message, to see what we can learn about the lovingkindness of God.

There was a king born in Judah named Manasseh. He was one of the great-grandfathers of Jesus – you can find his name in Matthew’s genealogy of the Christ. His name meant “forgetfulness” or “to forget,” and this Manasseh certainly did cause the people to forget the reforms of his father, the good king Hezekiah.

2 Chronicles 33:1 says:

“Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.” (2Chronicles 33:1 NAS95)

Let me just pause right here to say that no other king in Judah ruled longer than this man. Continuing on from verse 2 reads:

“He did evil in the sight of the LORD according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he also erected altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. He built altars in the house of the LORD of which the LORD had said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.” For he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.” (2Chronicles 33:2–5 NAS95)

He multiplied idolatry; this had all sorts of other evils attached to it. Continuing in verse 6:

“He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.” (2Chronicles 33:6 NAS95)

He killed some of his own children to appease his idols. Today, abortion is an extremely common practice in the U.S. In fact, there is a good chance that someone reading this message has somehow played a role in an abortion in their lifetime. The message continues:

“Then he put the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them according to all the law, the statutes and the ordinances given through Moses.”” (2Chronicles 33:7–8 NAS95)

“Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.” (2Chronicles 33:9 NAS95)

Now, recall that Abraham had been told by God that his descendants would only come into the Promised Land to possess it after 400 years of bondage, because “the iniquity of the Amorite [was] not yet complete” (Genesis 15:16 NAS95) And now, here, Abraham’s descendants are said to be worse than the very ones they dispossessed of the land promised to them.

“The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.” (2Chronicles 33:10 NAS95)

The Lord always revealed the calamity He was preparing as a judgment as a last chance for them to repent and avoid it. Amos 3:7-8 says:

“Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:7–8 NAS95)

In addition to all these things, the account of Manasseh in 2 Kings tells us that he “shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another;” (2 Kings 21:16 NAS95). The tradition associated with this particular saying is that Manasseh was the one who had the great prophet Isaiah killed, and is associated with the Hebrews 11 phrase “they were sawn in two” (Hebrews 11:37).

“Therefore the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon.” (2 Chronicles 33:11 NAS95)

Now, at this point we might have a sense of relief that the madness of Manasseh is finally being addressed. After all, he’s getting what he deserves – this man who has done so much evil personally, and who has also caused the bulk of the nation to plunge into doing the same.

We could understand if the story ends here, but it does not. It continues on in verse 12 of 2 Chronicles 33:

“When [Manasseh] was in distress, he entreated the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to Him, [God] was moved by [Manasseh’s] entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.” (2 Chronicles 33:12–13 NAS95)

This evil man, who had every reason to know better – he didn’t have an option to plead ignorance – the Lord put back on the throne when he repented!

“Now after this [Manasseh] built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. He set up the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.” (2Chronicles 33:14–16 NAS95)

CONCLUSION

The lovingkindness to the undeserving by our God is beyond comprehension. Let me share this thought with you about Manasseh’s repentance that I hope you will heed. The point I am trying to get across in this article couldn’t be put better than Crysostom wrote it hundreds of years ago.

“Now if, looking to the magnitude of his own iniquities, he had despaired of restoration and repentance, he would have missed all that he afterwards obtained; but as it was, looking to the boundlessness of God’s tender mercy instead of the enormity of his transgressions, and having broken in two the bonds of the devil, he rose up and contended with him and finished the good course.” John Crysostom, LETTER TO THE FALLEN THEODORE 1.6.14

It may be that you identify something about Manasseh’s story with your own life. Maybe you see yourself in that image of the king of Judah being led away with a hook in his nose, being pulled where he didn’t want to go. Take heart from how God dealt even with a man like Manasseh who had done so much evil. Get up from your bondage and look to God for the restoration of your life, and rest in His promises.

1 Peter 2:24 says that Christ:

“bore our sins in His body on the cross” (1Peter 2:24 NAS95)

When Jesus went to the cross He was willing to bear even the vast wickedness of Manasseh’s sins in His body there. When the Lord was crucified, Paul says in Romans 3:25ff that:

“This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” (Romans 3:25–28 NAS95)

If you have a desire to put sin behind you, if you would like to be reconciled with the Lord, don’t put it off. Don’t quench what you have at this moment that you might risk never having again. Don’t despair that restoration is beyond your reach. Don’t let another day go by when you have the promise this day of being renewed in Christ. Don’t miss out on those blessings that are promised to those who belong to Him.

Bring Christ your broken life So marred by sin. He will create anew, Make whole again. Your empty wasted years He will restore, And your iniquities Remember no more.

Death of a Mother

2021-11-19T00:00:00-06:00

A mother has died in Central Texas. She was 151 years old. While she had birthed many daughters and granddaughters (who both owe their existence to and benefited from her labors) she weathered her last and greatest health crisis as she began – alone. Indeed, an argument could be made that some insensitive, though doubtless non-malicious, pilfering of her estate in more recent years ensured the diagnosis was terminal. Most worrying of all, however, is that “no love lost there” would surely be unsurprising words to hear from the lips of those watching the events unfold. The mother’s name: The Columbus Avenue Church of Christ in Waco, TX.

What became the Columbus Avenue Church of Christ was formed on the campus of Baylor University, in a chapel loaned out for the purpose of the holding of an extended Gospel meeting held by B. F. Hall. Hall was enlisted by two women, Phebe Moore and Sallie Skidmore, who had a vision for evangelizing central Texas. Having to cross the Brazos River over the recently constructed suspension bridge, and personally traveling over 200 miles by wagon to retrieve an evangelist did not deter them. The congregation formed from their efforts has been in continuous existence since, and meeting in the present-day facilities at the corner of Columbus and 16th for just over 97 years.

Family situations can be the most complicated. Indeed, at times they can prove themselves the most painful and heated. There are almost always two sides of a story as well, and this is not at all an article intended to condemn any of the area congregations related to the present situation, nor to excuse blame on the part of Columbus Ave. But all I can seem to think in this hour of loss (and it is a loss) is ought we to do better than this? Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35 ESV). Is this what His love looks like, and what does this mean for the future of other congregations? I have assisted several area churches over the last ten years pinched in the throes of death. When it hurts, when it is inconvenient, when it is frustrating; isn’t that when it begins to just approach the sort of love about which Christ spoke?

From my perspective in central Texas, it seems that in the course of a lifetime we have not only continued to shrink in size but, worse, we have retreated further and further into our own congregations. Silo-ing our memberships away from any chance of contact with one another is assuredly not a rich sign of good health to the outsider (or the insider). It creates a situation that is rife for new schisms to take root in yet ever more distinctive ways, involving differences of opinion that would once have been charitably overlooked in many congregations. More worrying still at the personal level is that Christ’s under-shepherds, the men voluntarily commissioned with looking out for the best interests of Christ’s church, will actually stand before the throne of the Good Shepherd and be measured against His plain-spoken expectations of sheep watching, herding, healing, and protecting. Do we love them enough to keep them accountable to that reality? Among our membership, do we pay homage to fellowship and brotherhood with our lips, yet find that many of us are in actual practice living under the banner of an unspoken motto reading: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Columbus represents a real loss for Waco. Tears would not be inappropriate. What sort of congregation is your area losing? Where are the visionaries like sisters Moore and Skidmore today? Anyone? Anyone?

Lanier Theological Library Lectures

2021-10-20T00:00:00-05:00

This past weekend we were able to attend another special event at the Lanier Theological Library in Houston while our son and daughter-in-law were home for a visit. The speaker, John Warwick Montgomery, opened a new apologetics lecture series that they intend to carry on for the next few years.

The Lanier Theological Library in Houston, TX recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. I was fortunate enough to have discovered this resource a few years back by accident through a YouTube recording of a lecture talk given by Peter Williams (Tyndale House, Cambridge). The Lanier Library is stocked with over 100,000 volumes, and is a world-class theological research library. The publicly available library is staffed with some great individuals. As if this wasn't enough, the grounds and facilities are absolutely gorgeous – providing a superb environment for an inspiring time of study.

The library hosts a handful of free public lectures each year by leading experts in the Biblical texts, theology, archaeology, church history, and apologetics. Some of the lectures that we have been able to attend in person have featured N. T. Wright, John Warwick Montgomery, Yosef Garfinkel, Bruce Hindmarsh, and Andrew McIntosh. Each of these events has proven to be a worthwhile endeavor. The lectures are generally followed by a book-signing and a chance to interact with the other attendees while enjoying the provided hors d'oeuvres.

If you live in the greater Houston area, don't miss an opportunity to take advantage of this great resource.

Mark 15:39, Insulting or Revering?

2020-11-09T00:00:00-06:00

When the centurion who observes Jesus die says, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39 NAS95) we have a statement which can lead to some interesting questions for an inquiring reader. One such important question is whether or not it is meant to be understood as having been spoken in an ironical/mocking way, or in a complementary/reverential way.

Pretending for just a moment that we have only the Gospel of Mark as our witness, let us consider how a critical reader might initially come to the conclusion that the centurion is mocking Christ in that moment of death at Golgotha. For these readers there are some important historical and literary factors which can be presented as supporting evidence. First of all, the reader familiar with the historical setting would rightly assume that the centurion knew crucifixion well as a means of death that “symbolized extreme humiliation, shame and torture” (Hengel, 62). This reader would also be familiar with the fact that in Greek-speaking culture “heroes cannot on any account be allowed to suffer such a painful and shameful death – this can only befall evil-doers” (Hengel, 81). If these two things are absolutely true for the centurion, then how could his statement have been meant in any way other than as an ironical insult? Additionally, it may be argued that if the shorter reading (ending Mark at 16:8) is correct, then we reach the cliffhanger end of the book by picturing a group of disciples who are afraid, and who Mark tells us were watching all this happening with the centurion at the cross from a distance in 15:40. A mocking statement from the Roman representative could be argued is in line with such a book ending’s literary mood. However, it can be shown that the soldier’s statement is not meant as irony, but rather that the centurion’s statement in 15:39 is the climatic point to which Mark has been leading the reader. This statement ties everything back to Mark’s overarching theme: “the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1 NAS95).

It is believed that Mark was written for a non-Jewish audience. One piece of supporting evidence found in 15:39 is that Mark uses a transliterated Latin term for centurion rather than the Greek term used elsewhere in the NT, and this “may be an indication that he was writing for Roman readers” (Brooks, 263). If it is the case that he is writing for a Gentile audience, then what better climatic moment can he bring readers to, and use for greater effect, than to have his opening thesis confirmed from the lips of a hardened Roman military official so unlikely to to be convinced?

What facts of this event do Mark bear witness about which could indicate to the reader that the centurion actually meant what he said? The critical reader who is familiar with the process of crucifixion would realize that Mark reports that Jesus died in what would have been a very unusual way for this type of execution – not suffocatingly breathless, but by crying out in a loud voice. This is the immediate context in which Mark presents his climactic moment, and I believe it is designed to overcome the greatest challenge for a non-Jewish audience – the cross as “foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23 NIV). Rather than imposing the ultimate shame on Jesus as the cross was designed to do, the reader is instead confronted with the centurion’s special recognition of Jesus as a product of His crucifixion.

Centurions were “[t]he most important tactical officers… [they] were the professionals in the army… [and] the most important professionals stationed in an area for a long time” (Ferguson, 51). Centurions were generally promoted up to their position from the lower ranks (Ferguson, 51) – this man was no novice to Roman justice. Under normal circumstances a death by crucifixion should be assumed to be an occasion with the least potential for causing belief on the part of such an officer, yet Mark argues this very particular death by crucifixion is the convicting factor.

Additionally, in his confession we discover that “the centurion has switched his allegiance from Caesar” (Evans, 510) by applying a term to Jesus which in his historical context “had been arrogated for the Roman ruler” (Lane, 576). Keeping in mind the fact that these officers swore a yearly allegiance makes his statement about the true nature of this man being crucified (under a sign reading “King of the Jews”) seem to run in a direction completely counter to his sworn and duty-bound loyalty to the emperor. Mark does not expect his readers to see this as a simple off-handed remark to be taken lightly and brushed aside as inconsequential.

Verse 39 serves majestically as the capstone of the overarching theme of the book set forth in its very first verse. But, it can be further argued from the book’s own internal evidence that it is intended as a non-ironical statement based on a recurring pattern of the presentation of truth statements about Jesus by outsiders. Richard Hayes puts the idea forward this way:

“[w]e have already encountered similar patterns in the stories of the leper (5:25-34), the Syrophoenician woman (7:24-30), the father of the boy with an unclean spirit (9:14-29), and the people who bring the little children for Jesus’ blessing (10:13-16). The climatic event in this series… is the confession of the centurion at the foot of the cross (5:39). In none of these cases does Mark hint that the outsider’s perception of Jesus requires correction. Instead, in each case the audacious words and actions of the outsiders serve as correctives to the perspective of the ‘insider’ characters in the story. Mark has taught his readers to pay respectful attention to what such outsiders say” (Hayes, 51).

Finally, though we can rightly determine the centurion as meaning his confessional statement in a reverential way from the book of Mark alone, when we incorporate the writings of Matthew and Luke we find more powerful reasons to view this statement as meant in a truly complementary way (while also acknowledging there are further questions still as to what “Son of God” would have meant for this man in that exact moment within space-time history). Matthew, writing for a different audience (some who may have been eyewitnesses themselves) gives testimony that in also observing the events in nature (such as the earthquake) there were additional factors at work convincing the centurion this was no ordinary death. What seems important for Mark is that he wanted his readers to see the death of Christ as the important factor in convincing the centurion of His identity as Son of God.

References

Brooks, James A., Mark, ed. E. Ray Clendenen and David S. Dockery, vol. 23 of The New American Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991).

Evans, Craig A , Mark 8:27–16:20, vol. 34B of Word Biblical Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989).

Ferguson, E. (2003). Backgrounds of Early Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Hays, R. B. (2016). Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels. Waco, Tx, Baylor University Press.

Hengel, Martin, Crucifixion. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977).

Lane, William L., The Gospel of Mark, New International Commentary on the New Testament. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974).

keypnchr — writings

A LaTeX-Style Writing Template for iA Writer

What the Template Includes

Who It Is For

How It Works

Title Block

Download

Local LLMs on Apple Silicon with Ollama + WebUI

Prerequisites

1. Install Ollama

2. Pull some models

3. Install WebUI

4. Run a Model and Interact using WebUI

5. Optional: add aliases to your zsh terminal profile for easier access.

6. Run on login (background services)

7. Troubleshooting

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9. Security & privacy notes

Review of Veeneman’s Introducing Theological Method

Summary

Evaluation

Reflection

Bibliography

Review of Boyd & Eddy’s Across the Spectrum

Summary

Evaluation

Reflection

Wasted Years Restored

RESTORATING THE BOUNTY OF LOST YEARS

KING MANASSEH

CONCLUSION

Death of a Mother

Lanier Theological Library Lectures

Mark 15:39, Insulting or Revering?

References