Category Archives: Theology

Answers Research Journal

For those with an academic interest in creationism or creation science, I highly recommend Answers Research Journal, from the folks that created the Answers in Genesis foundation and web site. As an aside, I met Hugh Ross in a seminar he gave at a military chapel in Groton, CT. Despite AiG’s distrust in Ross’s belief of creationism over a span of millions of years, I believe Ross has some valid points.
Never the less, enjoy ARJ!

Oneness in Ecclesiastes

For the next installment of the Oneness in… series, I will examine the book of Ecclesiastes. The book of Ecclesiastes is known as the Book of the Preacher, due to the title being the Greek work for our English word preacher.  In its chapters, however, we find key evidence for God being one. Not a trinity of persons, but rather a single all powerful God who manifested Himself as a man for man’s redemption.

[Eccl 12:1 KJV] “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;”

[Eccl 12:6–7 KJV] “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

In the twelfth chapter, Solomon makes some important observations. First, that Elohim is our Creator, and that our spirit will return to Elohim, or God who gave our spirit. Our spirit is the breath that was breathed into the clay formed by God in the 6th day, when he formed man of the dust of the ground.

[Eph 3:8–9 KJV] “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:”

God created all things by Jesus Christ, even mankind.

[Col 1:12–19 KJV] “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;”

Notice closely the words used by Paul, who was taught by the Sanhedrin member, Gamaliel I. …it pleased the Father that in him (Jesus) should all the fulness dwell… What Paul is saying is that Elohim, YHWH, God, the Father, the God of Abraham, chose to dwell in Jesus. God chose to limit His awesomeness in the body of Jesus. Think of the implications of this, that the all powerful, all knowing, all seeing God who formed man of the dust, and chose to breath life in Him, would chose to limit that power in the personage of human flesh, with all the limitations humans have, in the form of man, for our saving. He did it all for our salvation. There was no other God or person of God beside God when the Preacher (Solomon) said …remember thy Creator…

Solomon knew of only one God. Not a hydra god of three heads, or some convoluted god of three persons formed of one substance. That is a creation of man’s. It is not who God is. There is only one God, and He manifested Himself as the man, Christ Jesus, for our redemption.

The Preacher sums his book up by saying:

[Eccl 12:13–14 KJV] “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Fear God and keep his commandments… Note he did not say Fear God and keep their commandments, or Fear God and keep the Holy trinity’s commandments, or even fear God and keep the divine council’s commandments. No, just Fear God and keep his commandments.

Oneness in Deuteronomy

God is one, and only one, in being. He has not now, nor ever was, three persons in one substance as Tertullian and others would have us believe. What this means is that God is a single entity. He possesses one nature and has made his presence known in various forms called theophanies in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, God has revealed Himself as a man. Fully and completely as a man with a will, body, spirit, mind… everything that a human has, God had in the form of man as Jesus Christ.

God was so adamant about idolatry, He made it a law to forbid worship of any other gods, even forms of himself as an idol by forbidding likenesses, statues, etc… being carved out of rock for man to worship. As an example, Deuteronomy 11 states:

[Deut 11:26–28 KJV] “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.”

God, YHWH, of the Old Testament is the same Holy Spirit who overshadowed Mary, and was born into this world as the only begotten Son of God. This YHWH is the same God who carved the tablets of stone forbidding the worship of other Gods as verse 28 states so clearly. In Deuteronomy six, One of the boldest statements of God’s oneness is proclaimed:

[Deut 6:4–9 KJV] “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

So engrained in the Jewish mind is this concept of only one God. It is the first prayer and the last prayer for the day. They wear garments with the command to worship one God sewn into the hem. It is the one command that all believers in the one true God should teach their children above all else.

[Deut 16:1–2 KJV] “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.”

In the sixteenth chapter, we find instructions on the observance of the Passover to commemorate the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. In this pericope, a sacrifice was to be made in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there. Notice the verses state God’s name in the singular! This command the Israelites accomplished by sacrificing where God choose to place his name, not their names, not a plethora of titles or theophanies, but his (singular) name.

[Deut 26:16–19 KJV] “This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.”

By obeying God’s commandments, He will set us aside as a special people. A people of His Name. A people of the name of Jesus! Practice holiness by doing as He has commanded. Do not worship false gods. Do not make God into something he is not, such as the trinity.  Our obligation is to live a holy life, set apart from the world and its need for idols, to remain true and steadfast to the one and only God who framed the heavens and put the stars in their places.

Michael S. Heiser’s latest post

 

I follow Michael S. Heiser’s blog, The Naked Bible.  He was a professor and now works for the Bible software company, Logos Bible Software. In his blog, he mentions a few quotes from various readers of his who responded to a poll about the inspiration of the Scriptures.  He follows with some general comments and a rant (his words) about bible teachers and Sunday School teachers.  Below you will find a direct quote from the article in question.

 

This sort of thing is why it’s so irritating to encounter, within the Church, the idea that since the Bible is for everyone, anyone can teach the Bible … if they are led by the Lord, have a desire, feel called, yadda yadda yadda. Amen. World without end.

Sorry — but no, they can’t, nor should they. All Bible teaching is not equal, nor is sincerity a qualification. And an opinion popping into your head isn’t the prompting of the Holy Spirit. If it was, Paul wouldn’t have told believers to handle the Scriptures carefully or hold up diligence in searching them as a model (2 Tim 2:15; Acts 17:11). He’d have told them to “feel” their theology (how contemporary is that). We have too much Bible Buddhism in the Church. Churches would be much better off if bad or inept Bible teachers (even of children) were told to find some other ministry and then barred from doing it again until they prove they actually know something. But this really isn’t realistic when so many are so poorly taught in the first place. And to suggest this is to invite the charge of elitism. It’s not elitism; it’s an attempt to rescue people from the sort of struggle that this commenter is enduring.

While I understand his thought process, and I, being more of an academic mindset as well can sympathize with his plight, I must disagree.  In Isaiah, the Scripture says “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.  A Bible teacher can be any who are mature and no longer feeding on the milk of the Word, but rather are capable and mature and can eat the meat of the Word.  In the second epistle to Timothy, Paul exhorts the church to have faithful men teach the doctrine that Paul preached to others also.

While I do agree with Dr. Heiser that there are many bad teachers out there spewing forth false doctrine, we should be careful to not cross the line by stating only those who are seminary trained with a doctorate in theology should teach Sunday School! Dr. Heiser did not state this in his article, of course, but it does leave one with the impression that this is what is implied.

There are plenty of Scriptures which profess the anti-Christ spirit and false doctrine that will be taught, even in Paul’s day.  A Bible teacher must be faithful to the Word, have a real relationship with Jesus Christ, and pray with anointing and power.

Our help comes from the Lord

Remaining Calm in the knowledge of Jesus Christ

Even though life seems to throw its curve balls at us, we must remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is our strength and our Saviour.  In times of need we are instructed to take our burdens to the Lord by prayer and praise to Him.  Consider the following verses of scripture. First in the King James Version, followed by the Amplified Version of the Scriptures.

 

Philippians 4

 

King James Version (KJV)

 

6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

 

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 

8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

 

9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

6 Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition ([b]definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.

7 And God’s peace [shall be yours, that [c]tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall [d]garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

8 For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].

9 Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of [e]untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.

The Amplified Version seems to clear up some of what Philippians is talking about.  We should not worry, but take everything to God in prayer while giving thanks to Him.  His mercy endures forever and we can place the burden we’ve been carrying around on His shoulders.  1 Peter and Matthew help to amplify the meaning of Paul’s words in his letter to Phillipi.

1 Peter 5:7

King James Version (KJV)

7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Matthew 6:25

Amplified Bible (AMP)

25 Therefore I tell you, stop being [a]perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing?

As can be clearly understood in the previous verses, we need not be anxious or overly concerned with the struggles we encounter in life.  If you have obeyed the Scriptures, have repented, been baptized in Jesus’ name, and recieved His Holy Spirit with the initial sign of speaking in an unknown tongue, then you are a child of the King.  You can cast your burdens on Christ and rejoice for you are free!

 

 

Four heads, one river

Gen. 2:8   And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.  9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.  11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;  12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.  13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.  14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.  15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

The garden was the habitat designed by God for the first man, Adam.  This is of course assuming you don’t believe in a pre-adamite theory!  The four rivers are:

  • Pison.  This river head encompassed the land of Havilah which may have been 3 separate parts.  It is associated with a land of gold or shimmering. Because of this clue some people, such as Egyptologist David Rohl, identify it with the Sefīd-Rūd. This riverbed runs through Iran.
  • Gihon. Meaning bursting forth or gushing, similar to the meaning of the Euphrates. The Book of Jasher identifies Gihon with a great sea.  The land that this river encompasses is said to be Cush which is the ancient name of the land of Ethiopia.  Cush is the land settled by Ham and his descendants.  Because of this, some have identified it as the Nile.  It could be possible that this is identifying the Red Sea as well.
  • Hiddekel. The Hiddekel is associated the the Tigris river in Mesopotamia which is modern Iraq.  There is very little debate about the identity of this river amongst modern day academia.
  • Euphrates. The Euphrates river has been a landmark river amongst all during biblical times and is not disputed today.  It, along with the Tigris river flows through modern day Iraq.

An interesting article of the four river heads was written by David Gibson.

Verse 15 tells us that man was placed in the Garden of Eden to work it and guard it.  He was required to dress it, which means variously to be in bodage to, work, or be enslaved to which basically means to work it (such as dressing a turkey is arranging items and working it).  To keep it means to guard it and protect it.  Guard and protect it from what though?  Any ideas?

Pre-Adamites

Much debate continues over Genesis 1.1 and 1.2 in academic circles. There are some who hold to a pre-Adamic world view by stating that there is a gap of perhaps thousands of years in time between the two verses. The pre-adamite hypothesis as it is now known has it’s origin in the debate between Theophilus of Antioch and Apollonius of Egypt in 170 A.D. Countering this pre-Adamite theory is an argument based on Genesis 3:20 that states that Eve was called the “Mother of all living,” this verse is used by traditionalists to support the most accepted view; namely the adamite theory. Verse 1 shows God’s creative power and also shows God’s existence prior to the heaven and earth being formed. The underlying Hebrew for heaven in Gen 1.1 is the plural form of shameh which is defined as including the sky and clouds as well as further out into the celestial bodies. The pre-adamite movement cannot support it’s claims in my opinion. What’s your view?  Do you support the pre-adamite theory?

Serious feminist theology and apologetics

I just received something similar to the title of this post in my e-mail inbox today. Are you serious? The person was complaining about the Catholic church and their lack of support for serious feminist theology. Let’s consider this for a moment.
The definition for theology is the study of God. In order to study God, we have developed a systematic method called exegetical hermeneutics. Exegesis is the ability to extract information from the Scriptures to form doctrine (teachings). It’s antithesis is eisegesis, which is placing your own pre-conceived thoughts, ideas or opinions into the text by selecting verses that seem to support your theories when taken out of context and used collectively. Hermeneutics is the science of interpreting Scripture.
Feminism is defined as the teachings which advocate the social, political and other rights of women. So again I ask is this author serious? Although I don’t agree with the majority of the Catholic church’s teachings, I find this kind of statement ignorant. How can you have serious feminist theology? A man made teaching such as feminism woven into Scripture to support a liberal view such as this is a classic example of eisegesis at it’s best (or worst)!
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not for enslaving women to do men’s bidding, and I believe the Scriptures teach a message of marriage being a joint and equal venture, as long as each spouse is doing his or her role. What I hate is bad theology pushed on us by a special interest group.

What do you think of this?