The Kingdom Come

A church in England preached Ephesians 5:22 and Colossians 3:18 and immediately many women members were so offended that they quit the congregation.  So what does Eph 5:22 and Col 3:18 say that is so offensive?

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. -- Eph 5:22

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. -- Col 3:18

Some of the women congregants said they were "disgusted" by the sermon which was accompanied by leaflets. Further, a woman member asked,

Are all Bible translations created equal? More than just a discussion over dynamic or formal equivalence (see link), is the simple question of whether a translation can dramatically affect a person's doctrine.

For example, two translations are "The Message Bible" and the "NIV".

Let's start with an example from "The Message Bible", Mt 18:15-17 concerning how to deal with a Christian who has sinned against you. Most should know this passage; about going to the offender privately, then taking two witnesses, next take it before the church, then finally, a writing off of the person as a "heathen or tax-collector" if the person doesn't repent. Look how "The Message Bible" renders this passage:

The ongoing debate between "Calvinists and Arminians" seems like a hopeless, pitched battle where some people think we should just "agree to disagree" and move to our respective corners.  After all, we are all entitled to our "opinions" right?  Well dear reader, if our approach to truth is that it is all just a matter of personal or private interpretation, then why believe anything?  Why oppose any other belief no matter how shocking it may seem to us? If we make our faith out to be as if nothing, then the little faith we have will be taken from us and someday we would look back and wonder how we arrived at a point of almost disbelief -- compromising and trading our faith for peace.

Previously I mentioned my plans to do a commentary on the entire Bible.  There was a slight delay as I searched for the right structure.  I have now decided on the structure & have completed testing commentary on the first chapter of Genesis.  Take a look and tell me what you think so far.  I wanted the structure to be very simplistic & easy to reference.  Commentaries often consume more page space than the actual verses upon which they are commenting.  Keep in mind this is just a test at the moment but I plan to go full force by this winter.  Again, I am doing this project more for my benefit in that I will later compare it to other commentaries & see where I differ & agree.  My goal is to NOT apply some "new" interpretation to the text but rather to eventually capture the "historic Christian" interpretation of the entire Bible.

You can access the Genesis 1 Commentary by clicking THIS LINK.

FEATURES

• Hover mouse pointer over verse reference to see verse. (Example: Gen 1:1)
• Click Lexicon "?" to go to a lexicon of the verse, showing original language & Strong's concordance system (thanks to blueletterbible.com)
• Easy "printer-friendly" format
• Keyed to TKC Glossary (online verision will define words contained in TKC glossary), hover mouse pointer over superscript "i" whenever present.  (Example: Trinityⁱ)

Due to my time spent within the Hyperpreteristⁱ Movement (see link), I like other hyperpreterists used to quote Matt 16:27 as a key proof-text for hyperpreterism.  The contention is, that Jesus was coming soon/shortly/quickly/about to (see link) & when He did, Mt 16:27 would be fulfilled. And hyperpreterists claim that Mt 16:27 is THE judgment.  This is also the reason many hyperpreterists fall into universalismⁱ (all saved) because if THE judgment happened in the 1st-century, then who can still be judged?

I would like to take a very practical & direct approach with Mt 16:27.

#1. What does the text say?
#2. What is the context?
#3. How has historic Christianity as a whole interpreted it?
#4. What are the supporting/conflicting verses for it?

Whether handling lions or firearms or the Bible, when handling such things a person should take caution & respect the power involved.  Not the power of the person doing the handling, but the power of the subject.

Often, when we approach Scripture, we do so with little regard on what it is we actually have.  God's Word is not merely a book of Aesopian fables with which we can impress friends by rattling off this or that verse & making haphazard applications.

The theological perspective often called “Calvinism” can be summarized as the view that God is completely sovereign or in control of EVERYTHING that happens. That God doesn’t just “allow” things to happen, but He actually DECREES, WILLS, or DECLARES them to happen…yes even the things we consider bad or evil. This view of God is based on several texts but perhaps the main one would be Isaiah 46:9-10 which reads:

Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’

But this ISN’T the text that I consider the best Calvinist proof-text in the Bible.

Well, 2009 quickly approaches & unfortunately I haven't been able to accomplish a few goals for this website.  I wanted to have a structure in place that would nicely allow me to present side-by-side Bible text & commentary, as I intend to write a commentary of the entire Bible.  I didn't want to begin this work until I have a nice structure in place.  I've been looking at something called API that may allow for something like what I'm looking for but only with the ESV Bible.  I'd like to allow the user to always access different versions instantly yet leave my side commentary intact as the user moves from version to version.

In many places the Bible speaks of God “coming in” or “on the clouds”. This language is also used many places concerning Christ. But what does it mean & does it always mean the same thing?

Some of the verses that mention clouds being associated with God are as follows:

This is a test format of the Bible Studies section.  Verse-by-verse.  I imagine three types of commentary; historical, grammatical, exegetical.  I am working on code to make this work better rather than a table as the example below.