The Bible Archive

She could see the threatening glow gathering above the flat horizon in the East. The Hammer was rising.

Everyone else in the village had hidden themselves away- just as The Boundaries stipulated. The young mother was trying, but raising two young children alone was not easy, and getting them to move without violating the writings seemed impossible. They were always in danger of transgressing, and so, often in danger of dying. Every morning’s Heatrise was one of those times.

“Come on. Come on… but don’t hurry. Don’t….,” her voice grew loud in exasperation, but she caught herself and glanced around. Little children wanted to run. It seemed a perverse joke to give them desires that would only kill them.

How would you deal with the question: “When did the Son of God exist?” Notice that it’s not asking “when was the Word created” or “Is Jesus eternal?” The question is specifically asking about the Son of God and doing that assuming a whole bunch of things about what it means to be the Son of God.

My buddy-blogger Darrell first scored Amillenial on the Eschatology quiz and then took dispensationalism to town citing some problems inherent in the system and some really bad press due to overzealous Left Behind Series theologians. Darrell rightly points out that taken to its extremes dispensationalism can become a sort of mythology which allows non-Christians to dismiss Christianity as a Sci-Fi Cult…a point which gave me pause.

It was tough answering these questions because of the way they were phrased. (HT: Jeremy)

How anyone can read Paul and see no future for the literal Israel perplexes me to no end. Why would Paul compare a Gentile Branch to an Israel Branch if there is no future for a literal Israel? And if Israel’s Future is just to be part of the Church why would Paul make a big deal about God potentially removing the Gentile Branch?

These next few verses wind up being breeding ground for lots of
contention. Some have inappropriately used these verses to show that
Jacob was “saved” and Esau “damned to hell”. It seems to me that this
ignores Paul’s argument at this stage of his defense of the
righteousness of God: that being, God’s Word stands and now, why it
stands.

Let me start an investigation of the third movement of Paul’s defense
by directing attention to Brother Russ’ series on Calvanism. There are
many discussions that may arise based on very old arguments that I
don’t want to spend (too much) time discussing. Not that the
discussions shouldn’t be—but rather it detracts from my purpose of
going through the book of Romans. Calvinists and Arminians would both
agree that their respective stance is a systematic doctrine. These
camps do not establish their doctrine solely on the grounds of these
three chapters of the Bible so I will not limit my overview of these
chapters to those doctrines either. (Here’s a link to the rest of the study.)

God doesn?t give the serpent a chance to defend himself. Firstly it?s cursed more than all cattle and all the beast of the field. Secondly it will go on its belly and eat dust all the days of its life. Thirdly enmity will be put between the serpent and the woman and between its seed and her seed. Fourthly, the seed of the woman will injure the head of the serpent and the serpent will injure the seed of the woman on the heel. Let the fantastic musings begin!

So what does it all mean? How do those different interpretations of the Genesis days affect the reading of the text? How do we consider the passage in light of those interpretations?

r.p.amos

This 1st chronicle of the prophecy series will take a structural and doctrinal look at God?s program for the world. Understanding the ?big picture? and how prophecy is framed preserves us from fanciful interpretations.

To understand God?s prophetic plan it is important to realize that God views humanity in three distinct arenas. 1Cor. 10:32 says: ?Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.?

1. Jews - God?s Old Testament nation from the racial line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), chosen for special service on earth.

2. Gentiles - all non Jews. They comprise all the other nations of the world. They are pagan in their practice and look to gods rather than God.

3. The Church - the body of believers in God?s chosen Savior, Jesus Christ, called ?sons of God.? Both Jew and Gentile are equally indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, thus forming a new race.

God reveals a structural time program for each of the three types of humanity: Israel; the Gentile nations; and the church. We will now consider each timetable.

By Bob Gessner

Besides this you know what a critical hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep-rouse to reality. For salvation (final deliverance) is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone and the day is almost here. Let us then drop (fling away) the works and deeds of darkness and put on the (full) art-nor of light. (Rom. 13:11,12, Amplified Version).