Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. … Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. … On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords [...]
|
Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to [...] The Age of the Earth and Genesis Can the record of God’s work in Creation be reconciled with the uniformitarian presumption of modern scientist? The reading of Genesis 1 appears to allow no leeway in reading them as anything other than a literal, historical, six days of creation. Is it possible to insert a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 to to “make up the time?” This paper argues that while a gap is possible, and may even be the best reading of the Scriptures, any such gap cannot be used to “make up the time” to correlate modern [...] The 35th hour of material is up for our small group’s narrative study of the Scriptures. This material focuses on Genesis 32, and the strange incident at Peniel. Why is God wrestling with Jacob? How does a man prevail over God? An interesting aside in this set of slides —we find out the true origin of the name “Palestine.” Hint: It doesn’t have anything to do with the Philistines. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Genesis 32:24-26 To set the scene, Jacob is fleeing from Laban, much as he fled from Esau some 20 years before. He has reached a point where he cannot [...] For those following along in our narrative study of the Scriptures, the slides for the 34th hour are posted here. This hour we discuss the 31st chapter of Genesis, where Jacob decides to flee, and ends up confronting Laban in the mountains of Gilead. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8 Have you ever been thinking about one thing, and had another thought intrude into what you were thinking about? It’s especially troubling when the thoughts are worry, or something that’s not flattering to someone else, or anything that simply doesn’t help you concentrate, or makes you feel dirty. How can you deal with these thoughts? In computers, we have a saying: [...] Jacob’s life is fertile ground for understanding faith and living by faith. When Jacob stopped at Bethel, he had nothing —perhaps a pack of food and a change or two of clothes, maybe a water bottle— literally what he could carry on his back. He has his father’s blessing, but he can’t eat or drink his father’s blessing. He has an inheritance, but his angry brother blocks his access to that inheritance, and there is no apparent hope of him ever gaining this inheritance. Jacob, then, is cast into the world on his own. Technically rich, but literally poor, [...] The 33rd set of slides for our small group’s Narrative Study of the Scriptures are now up. This time, we’re discussing Genesis 29 & 30, dealing with the birth of Jacob’s first 11 sons, Dinah (his daughter), and his increasing wealth in flocks and herds. Enjoy! There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 Christian believers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from all backgrounds and from every walk of life. There is great diversity in the body of Christ, yet at the same time, unity. It has been a common thing, and in many cases, still is today, to think that some Christians are ‘better’ than others. In Paul’s day, Jews looked down on non-Jews, to the point where it was practically a national pastime. It is [...] Now dead faith, as we will see, is a form of non-saving belief. It is a belief that does not save. It is a belief that brings a person up short of regeneration, redemption and the new birth. It is religion without reality. And the distinguishing mark of dead faith is the absence of something, and that is the absence of righteous works. -Dead Faith If you say “I know it!” Then show it! How do you know you’re a believer? You’ll see some changes in your life. Real faith always produces change. -Real Faith that Really Works [...] Traditionally Christianity has affirmed both that the second member of the Trinity is the word of God and that Scripture is the word of God. My guess is that RJS is working under the assumption that we mean something different when we make each of those affirmations (hence why Jesus but not Scripture is the foundation of her faith), even though they have the same predicate. I often find that in Evangelicalism that we haven’t thought much about the fact that we use the same predicate in each sentence. What do we mean when we say that Scripture is [...] Saint: 1. any of certain persons of exceptional holiness of life, formally recognized as such by the Christian Church, esp. by canonization. 2.a person of great holiness, virtue, or benevolence. 3.a founder, sponsor, or patron, as of a movement or organization. 4. (in certain religious groups) a designation applied by the members to themselves. -dictionary.com Saints are people who are almost perfect in their life; the most patient, the most caring, the most loving, the most forgiving… Right? The dictionary says it, so it must be true. Doesn’t the church back this definition up by proclaiming certain people [...] And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:14 The Scriptures teach us that Satan is a created being. He was initially one of the highest angels in heaven, but he fell through pride and seeking to raise himself up to the same level as God (Isaiah 14:14). Paul tells us that even today, he masquerades as an angel of light. Satan makes sin very attractive to people – telling them they’ll enjoy it (which they will), that ‘it doesn’t hurt anybody’, that ‘everyone’s doing it’, and so forth. Similarly his [...] It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. Psalm 118:8 Psalm 118:8 is said to be the central verse of the Bible. There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118, and 594 chapters after it (1188 in total). Psalm 118 also sits between the shortest (Psalm 117) and longest (Psalm 119) chapters in the Bible. And this verse is central to our walk as Christians. It doesn’t take too long to realise that people will let you down. If we trust in people, sooner or later we will become bitterly disappointed. People are [...] |
        |
|
Copyright © 2010 Thinking in Christ - All Rights Reserved |
|
Recent Comments