Could It Be?: Biblical Gems from the Garbage Dump

Could It Be? focuses on twelve biblical passages. Most of them have been denigrated or disregarded, either by those who want nothing to do with organized religion or by others who claim to be genuinely Christian. The author reclaims those discarded gems, proclaims those stories as relevant, countermands erroneous interpretations, and counteracts the results of misinformation about their meaning and purpose.

The book is designed to stir the status quo and begins the stirring process by reexamining old passages from a new approach. Its author believes the only road leading to intellectual and spiritual growth runs through the crowded and musty city of "Old Ideas" and winds through the treacherous valley of "New Possibilities." That is the basic outline for every chapter in this book. Each chapter identifies problematical interpretations of some ingrained religious ideas and offers new possibilities that enrich Christian living. Biblical requirements considered impossible to follow are interpreted as very doable. The uppermost question for each reader to keep in mind is, "Could it be this passage is very different than I originally thought?"

Throughout the book, the author repeatedly affirms God is at work in common places, events, and things. Biblical stories about personal deliverance and radical change were frequently facilitated by something quite ordinary. What we called a miracle was often an ordinary act for God. If that is how God works, he regularly offers "miracles" to everyone, not just to special people in special situations. These passages about miracles, admonitions, and probing questions are prototypes of the human condition, making them extremely relevant because they are "OUR STORY" too.

I am one of seven children, was raised on a small farm in MS. My education includes a B. A. From Millsaps College plus a B. D. and MDiv. from Vanderbilt Divinity School. I am an ordained United Methodist minister with forty-two years of active ministry: fourteen as a church pastor, twenty-three as an Air Force chaplain and five as a V. A. Chaplain. For my expressed opposition to segregation in the 1960s, I was forced to leave MS and later selected for Who's Who in Methodism. I am a certified counselor for Alcoholism in TX.I retired from the Air Force as a Lt. Colonel and have written four books: Joseph's Journey. A Pain In the Gut, Could it be? Biblical Gems from the Garbage Dump, Bound By Beliefs (Reprinted of Getting Right With God). My wife of sixty-five and I have two children and now live in TX, where we have lived for the last twenty-five years.