1. Richard Dawkins, “Why I Want All Our Children to Read the King James Bible,” Guardian, May 19, 2012.
2. Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2014).
1. This history is fascinating and clearly overlaps with the biblical story in Genesis and the opening chapters of Exodus. Also of interest, many of the pharaohs of this period had “Moses” or the variant “Meses” as a part of their names. In Egyptian the name means “son of,” and it usually had the name of an Egyptian god as its prefix. Rameses, for instance, was son of the god Ra.
2. We’ll consider in great detail the significance of this name when we come to the third commandment, so here I’ll offer only an overview.
3. Throughout the book I’ll refer to what Christians call the Old Testament as the Hebrew Bible, recognizing that for my Jewish friends the Old Testament is not “old” but their Bible.
4. This is a hotly contested topic. Some believe Moses lived in the fifteenth century B.C., while others date him to the fourteenth through the midthirteenth century B.C.
5. The roles of the various gods, and the understanding of which was preeminent, changed over the long history of Egypt’s ancient religion. But for much of that history, Amun-Ra was the Zeus of Egypt’s pantheon.
6. From “Hymns to Amen Ra,” translated by Francis Llewellyn Griffith, published in 1917 in The Library of the World’s Greatest Literature, which can be read at https://www.bartleby.com/library/poem/1848.html.
7. See, for example, Leviticus 18:21, 2 Kings 23:10, and Jeremiah 32:35.
8. Sam Huenergardt, CEO of AdventHealth’s Mid-America Region.
1. Akhenaten, Egypt’s king from 1353 to 1336 B.C. (pharaoh during Moses’s early adulthood, if we assume a late dating for the Exodus), offers an interesting exception to this rule—he sought to reform Egypt’s religious life, teaching what appears to have been an early form of monotheism, the worship of the Aten—the sun—and while he de-emphasized the old gods, he did not completely forbid their worship. Many have wondered what connection there might have been between Akhenaten, who was, after his death, considered a heretic, and Moses, who launched the great monotheistic religions.
2. Often the Egyptians’ temples would house multiple gods as well.
3. The chronology of the events at Mount Sinai can be confusing when reading Exodus. Most mainline scholars believe this is because Exodus (as well as the rest of the Torah) is composed of a variety of sources that were brought together to create these books, leaving inconsistencies in chronology. On the one hand, it appears Moses remained on the mountaintop for forty days after receiving the commandments. On the other, there seem to be multiple times when Moses has come down and gone back up the mountain.
1. If you’re looking for the real Adam Hamilton, you can follow me at https://www.facebook.com/PastorAdamHamilton/.
2. The Jewish Study Bible uses the Jewish Publication Society translation of the Tanakh.
1. Ben Wigert and Sangeeta Agrawal, “Employee Burnout, Part 1: The 5 Main Causes,” Gallup Workplace, July 12, 2018, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237059/employee-burnout-part-main-causes.aspx.
2. Brené Brown, “3 Ways to Recharge When You’re Burned Out,” Oprah.com, n.d., http://www.oprah.com/inspiration/brene-brown-how-to-handle-burnout#ixzz5zKm2UVGD.
3. Johns Hopkins Medicine, “Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.,” news release, May 3, 2016, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_suggests_medical_errors_now_third_leading_cause_of_death_in_the_us.
4. Daniel S. Tawfik et al., “Physician Burnout, Well-being, and Work Unit Safety Grades in Relationship to Reported Medical Errors,” Mayo Clinic Proceedings 93, no. 11 (November 2018): 1571–80, https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(18)30372-0/fulltext.
5. See Professor Cox’s article by the same name: Harvey Cox, “The Market as God,” Atlantic, March 1999.
6. Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), p. 60.
1. See Marten Stoll and S. P. Vleeming, eds., The Care for the Elderly in the Ancient Near East (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Academic, 1998).
2. Administration for Children & Families, “Child Abuse, Neglect Data Released,” news release, January 28, 2019, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/media/press/2019/child-abuse-neglect-data-released.
3. See Exodus 21:17 and Deuteronomy 21:18–21. Verse 20 of the latter passage implies that there is more to this violation than simply not listening to, or rebelling against, parents. These verses also raise their own moral questions related to putting one’s children to death.
4. I am not aware of Chapman applying his work on the love languages to adult children and their parents, though he may have. Most of his material relates to marriage, parents raising children, and the workplace, but the quizzes on his website and his books and resources are easy to translate to the relationships between adult children and their parents. His website is https://www.5lovelanguages.com.
5. For a history of Social Security, see Social Security Administration, “Historical Background and Development of Social Security,” n.d., https://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html.
6. Barbara A. Friedberg, “Are We in a Baby Boomer Retirement Crisis?” Investopedia, April 29, 2020, https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/032216/are-we-baby-boomer-retirement-crisis.asp.
7. The Gospels mention other siblings of Jesus, but both Catholic and many Protestant traditions see these as cousins or children of Joseph’s by a previous marriage. Even Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, seems to have believed this. Hence it is easy to understand why Mary’s ongoing care was so important to Jesus as he hung on the cross.
8. Judith Graham, “Without Safety Net of Kids or Spouse, ‘Elder Orphans’ Need Fearless Fallback Plan,” Kaiser Health News, October 4, 2018, https://khn.org/news/without-safety-net-of-kids-or-spouse-elder-orphans-need-fearless-fallback-plan/.
1. For a discussion of these last three topics, I would refer the reader to two books I’ve written, Confronting the Controversies (Nashville: Abingdon, 2005) and Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White (Nashville: Abingdon, 2010).
2. Jeff Asher, “The U.S. Murder Rate Is Up but Still Far Below Its 1980 Peak,” FiveThirtyEight, September 25, 2017, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-u-s-murder-rate-is-up-but-still-far-below-its-1980-peak/.
3. Michael Harriot, “Why We Never Talk About Black-on-Black Crime: An Answer to White America’s Most Pressing Question,” The Root, October 3, 2017, https://www.theroot.com/why-we-never-talk-about-black-on-black-crime-an-answer-1819092337.
4. Erika Harrell et al., “Household Poverty and Nonfatal Violent Victimization, 2008–2012,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 18, 2014, https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5137.
5. Alex Yablon, “Internet Gun Sales and Background Checks, Explained,” The Trace, January 7, 2016, http://www.thetrace.org/2016/01/internet-gun-sales-background-checks/.
6. The Forgiveness Project, “Victoria Ruvolo,” n.d., https://www.theforgivenessproject.com/stories/victoria-ruvolo/.
1. Ancient Egyptian texts have been found accusing various persons of sleeping with other men’s wives. We also know that nearly every ancient law code included a law prohibiting a man from sleeping with another man’s wife and prohibiting a married woman from sleeping with another man.
2. Sleeping with an unmarried woman was, however, seen to violate that woman’s father’s rights, reducing her value as a prospective wife and thus reducing the bride price that a father might receive for her, or the father’s ability to find a husband for her. For this reason, Deuteronomy 22:28–29 required payment to the woman’s father if a man slept with an unmarried woman. Yet this was not considered adultery, even if the man was married.
3. Walter Wangerin, As for Me and My House: Crafting Your Marriage to Last (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1987), p. 196 and following.
4. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, Part 1 (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), p. 168.
5. Robert Scheer, “The Playboy Interview with Jimmy Carter,” Playboy, November 1, 1976.
6. The one caveat with the GSS data, it seems to me, is that it comes from face-to-face interviews, which I think would make it harder for those being surveyed to admit to having had an affair.
7. Paul J. Wright et al., “Personal Pornography Viewing and Sexual Satisfaction: A Quadratic Analysis,” Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 44, no. 3 (April 3, 2018): 308–15.
8. Samuel L. Perry and Cyrus Schleifer, “Till Porn Do Us Part? A Longitudinal Examination of Pornography Use and Divorce,” Journal of Sex Research 55, no. 3 (2018): 284–96.
9. Aleksandra Diana Dwulit and Piotr Rzymski, “Prevalence, Patterns and Self-Perceived Effects of Pornography Consumption in Polish University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 10 (May 2019): 1861.
10. Joe Madden, “Porn Addiction Could Ruin Your Sex Life and Here’s Why,” Cosmopolitan (UK), September 30, 2016.
11. Michael H. Keller and Gabriel J. X. Dance, “The Internet Is Overrun with Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong?” New York Times, September 28, 2019.
1. Mary Ellen Biery, “Restaurants’ Margins Are Fatter, but Competition Is Fierce,” Forbes, January 26, 2018.
1. This quote is from a draft of a manuscript Darryl Burton has prepared for publication.
2. To find out more about Darryl Burton and the organization he heads, Miracle of Innocence, visit his website, www.miracleofinnocence.org, and watch for his upcoming book.
3. Michael Barthel, Any Mitchell, and Jesse Holcomb, “Many Americans Believe Fake News Is Sowing Confusion,” Pew Research Center, December 15, 2016, https://www.journalism.org/2016/12/15/many-americans-believe-fake-news-is-sowing-confusion/.
4. Among the more popular are FactCheck.org, politifact.org, Snopes.com, RealClearPolitics.com, and TruthorFiction.com, though by the time you read this there may be others.
5. Monica Anderson, “A Majority of Teens Have Experienced Some Form of Cyberbullying,” Pew Research Center, September 27, 2018, https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/.
6. Not her real name.
1. Lauren Sher, “Couple Celebrates 80th Wedding Anniversary, Shares Secrets to Lasting Marriage,” ABC News, November 20, 2012, https://abcnews.go.com/US/john-ann-betar-celebrate-80th-wedding-anniversary-share/story?id=17769043.
2. Purchased prior to 2005 but taking into account stock splits in 2005 and 2014.
3. Kimberly Amadeo, “Average U.S. Credit Card Debt Statistics,” The Balance, May 1, 2020, https://www.thebalance.com/average-credit-card-debt-u-s-statistics-3305919.
4. Warren Clarke, “What’s the Average Car Loan Length?” Credit Karma, December 9, 2019, https://www.creditkarma.com/auto/i/car-loan-term/.
5. Saint Augustine, The Confessions, book 1, chapter 1.
6. Adam Hamilton, The Walk: Five Essential Practices of the Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 2019), chapter 1.
7. Hamilton, The Walk, p. 24.