What would be the best translation for a 10-year-old to use? Is there a reference in the rabbinic writings that, as a sign, the Messiah would heal a man blind from birth? Do modern translations water down the demands of the gospel by substituting the word “mature” for “perfect”? When the Bible speaks of “Zion” does it sometimes mean the Church?
Hour 1:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: Two thousand years ago Peter wrote to believers and said, ” Be sober and vigilant because your adversary, the devil, is out to attack and destroy you.” How much more today should we be sober and vigilant, fully armed with the armor of God?
Hour 2:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: God did not put us here in His world to do His work in our strength and power. It is all by His grace and power, and the Holy Spirit has been given to equip us to go. Let’s take advantage of the Spirit’s gifts!
Other Resources:
What’s the Best Way to Study God’s Word?
Doing Word Studies in the Bible
Dr. Brown and Pastor Gino Geraci Discuss Myths and Facts About Bible Translations and Bible Interpretation
Only Genesis with John C. Rankin [MP3 CD]: The foundations for life and living are found in the book of Genesis, including the power to give, the power to live in the light, the power of informed choice, the power to love hard questions, the power to love enemies and the power to forgive. This class will outline the ten positive assumptions of Genesis, which follow the biblical order of creation: God’s nature, communication, human nature, human freedom, hard questions, human sexuality, science and the scientific method, verifiable history, covenantal law and unalienable rights.
Can You Trust The Bible? VOR Article by Daniel Kolenda
How God Preserved His Word Through the Ages VOR Article by Shira Sorko-Ram
@Dr Brown,
I really appreciate your caution with eschatology, avoiding sensational readings of the text. We all saw what happened to Harold Camping’s followers after he got carried away, so I love how you handled the call about the fig tree!
But I’d like to differ with you about head coverings.
I say that putting scriptural precedents down to culture is dangerous, because there are nudest cult churches and they use the same argument, that clothing is cultural, so in their culture, it’s normal to be nude, and is thus moral. And if you look at Christian moral standards, the world has influenced them so strongly since the 50s. You’ll find Christians wearing g-strings at the beach. It all comes down to on what basis do you draw the line where you draw it , because if it is not because of Biblical precedent, you can argue you can draw it anywhere.
I contend that if you don’t go with the line drawn in scripture, the line will inevitably end up being drawn in terrible places.
Also, what do the angels have to do with culture? As Paul said
and,
meaning that the churches in Egypt, Rome, Greece and Turkey, everywhere universally agreed on it and required women to wear head-coverings. Who are we to overrule them? Especially when you look at where this logic leads. Just as the gay activism doesn’t stop with homosexuality, but leads into further sexual depravity, so too, writing off Biblical modesty as cultural leads into further degeneration – confusion of the gender roles, and further immodesty, etc.
I see this a few months old. But, doing a search on headcoverings on this website I came up with this.
I appreciate the thoughts of David Roberts. In fact they have been the same thoughts I have often had. The head covering has been an issue in my life off and on for many years. I keep having to come back to it. It would seem I am unable to write it off as cultural either.
Although I don’t understand what “because of the angels” means I do believe it is there for a reason. I have a few ideas of what it could mean. But it really isn’t clear enough to be dogmatic. So, I just trust.
I see such good being done through the Messianic Movement but to me, the fact that men often cover their heads and women don’t (or sometimes they do) seems contradictory. The reason given, is it done to identify with their Jewish heritage. Isn’t this cultural?
Another problem I keep coming back to, is the deeper meaning of positions of authority. God…Christ….Man…Woman
According to what Paul seems to be saying in verse 4 is that a man covering his head (while praying or prophesying)is dishonoring his head (Christ). This seems like something serious and important.