Paul de Vries

Latest

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  Nov 20, 2015

  PC-Religion Is Dumbing-Down Sunday Schools

  In last weekend's Wall Street Journal article on a "new" approach to Sunday School at a large and influential New York City church that is surrounded by poverty and educational dysfunction, the reporter noted without alarm that this is "a jazzed-up Sunday School, without a Bible in sight."

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  Nov 4, 2015

  Our Nation's Report Card: Failures on Four Fronts

  Students' scores for reading reveal a lot about America and American families.

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  Oct 9, 2015

  Will We Reform Our Stupid, Evil Penitentiaries? A South Korean Prison, Aptly-Named 'Hope,' Points the Way

  Of the many American crises, one of the most horrific concerns our increasing mass incarceration. This escalating tragedy is beginning to catch the attention of many in the media and in Congress.

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  Sep 9, 2015

  Kim Davis Is Not a Robotic County Clerk

  Ms. Davis chooses not to become a robotic county clerk, affixing her signature to a paper she finds objectionable merely as part of a machine-like legal process. Her signature expresses her character, her spirit; her signature means an endorsement.

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  Jun 16, 2015

  Bringing Fun to Serious Bible Engagement

  The long-standing CMSI is a place where curiosity is fed well, where learning is intensely enjoyable, and where practical imagination is released and emboldened. Similarly, I am confident that the developing Museum of the Bible (MOTB) being built in Washington, DC – three blocks from the Capitol – will fulfill similar purposes. It will be a place of meaningful adventure, discovery, and serious fun in learning for everyone who visits!

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  Jun 3, 2015

  The Power of Bible Stories as Teaching Tools of Impartiality

  To teach or preach a Bible text well is to discover at least one great principle in the text and to help people apply it. This is my mode of teaching and preaching—and how I teach others to teach and preach. Before a good sermon is over, all the people in the congregation should have some principled action in mind that can help guide them to honor and please the Lord more by their lives, by God's grace.

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  May 24, 2015

  How to Relish, Reread, Review, Retell and Relive Bible Stories

  The Bible is an awesome adventure, introducing precious eternal teachings within specific historical contexts. Through its pages readers find universal principles dramatically revealed in extraordinary human persons. God's eternal principles always matter, and so do specific timely moments of Divine action within people's lives.

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  May 10, 2015

  Why Higher-Order Thinking Skills Are Transforming Bible Engagement

  Wise parents, grandparents and educators nurture "higher-order thinking skills" (HOTS) in children, youth and one another for many good reasons. Most importantly, HOTS vividly celebrates that we humans are not merely creatures of nature; we are not now limited to the sensory world, or the world of time and space. Because of the HOTS potential that the Lord already built into our first ancestors, we can rise above our temptations, reflect on our behavior, navigate dilemmas, develop character, and

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  May 3, 2015

  The Source of 'A.D.'s' Grit and Excitement

  The history of the splendid human activity of reading especially centers around the Bible. Besides its divine inspiration, there are several reasons that make it the Best Book ever: millions of people have learned to read in order to read the Bible; the Bible text is supported by the greatest documentation; the Bible sets the records for manuscript copies and books written about it; movable type was invented to help propagate the Bible. Even in the very secular New York City, my town, the large

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  Apr 26, 2015

  How to Explore the Bible's Linguistic Patterns

  While the wonderful surface linguistic details of the Biblical stories and teachings help carry their power, post-modern Biblical hermeneutical study helps uncover deeper linguistic reserves of linguistic power that the Holy Spirit then magnifies. One of these reserves involves the amazing and subtle linguistic patterns utilized by the skilled, Spirit-led, Biblical authors.