Over two hours but well worth the watch. Thank you, Dr. Paul H. for the tip.
Jesus of Testimony HOME
Watch the video HERE
P.S. It was especially nice seeing these scholars' eyes light up when they talked about Jesus.
Showing posts with label Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
The Camel that Broke the Bible's Back
Saw this ARTICLE on Fox News:
Archaeologists from Israel’s top university have used radiocarbon dating to pinpoint the arrival of domestic camels in the Middle East -- and they say the science directly contradicts the Bible’s version of events.
Apparently it's nothing new, although it was touted as a recent conclusion. Do we still trust Carbon 14 dating? Anyway, the Associates for Biblical Research had already responded to the so-called problem HERE. The Fall 2010 issue of Bible and Spade: "The Domestication of the Camel in the Ancient Near East" also addresses it HERE.
Thanks to Henry B. Smith of A.B.R. for the tip.
This kind of reminds me of that wonderfully imaginative theory Dr. Doron Nof came up with as to how Jesus was able to walk on the Sea of Galilee. He postulated that it was because of rare atmospheric conditions that occur in the area. Essentially, Jesus was able to walk on a thin sheet of ice.
Apparently, the disciples' boat was able to avoid that ice when it set off. Jesus somehow found a "thin" sheet that was able to support His weight and somehow rode that "thin" sheet towards the boat. Presumably, He was able to do some windsurfing using his cloak as a sail. Peter must have momentarily got the gist of it until he lost the plot and fell off. I hear windsurfing is hard to master.
Speaking of thin ice, Nof didn't go into any further details regarding mundane explanations for all the other miracles that Jesus performed. But he might be working on it.
Archaeologists from Israel’s top university have used radiocarbon dating to pinpoint the arrival of domestic camels in the Middle East -- and they say the science directly contradicts the Bible’s version of events.
Apparently it's nothing new, although it was touted as a recent conclusion. Do we still trust Carbon 14 dating? Anyway, the Associates for Biblical Research had already responded to the so-called problem HERE. The Fall 2010 issue of Bible and Spade: "The Domestication of the Camel in the Ancient Near East" also addresses it HERE.
Thanks to Henry B. Smith of A.B.R. for the tip.
This kind of reminds me of that wonderfully imaginative theory Dr. Doron Nof came up with as to how Jesus was able to walk on the Sea of Galilee. He postulated that it was because of rare atmospheric conditions that occur in the area. Essentially, Jesus was able to walk on a thin sheet of ice.
Apparently, the disciples' boat was able to avoid that ice when it set off. Jesus somehow found a "thin" sheet that was able to support His weight and somehow rode that "thin" sheet towards the boat. Presumably, He was able to do some windsurfing using his cloak as a sail. Peter must have momentarily got the gist of it until he lost the plot and fell off. I hear windsurfing is hard to master.
Speaking of thin ice, Nof didn't go into any further details regarding mundane explanations for all the other miracles that Jesus performed. But he might be working on it.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Speaking of Christ & Exclusivity
What I like about Alistair Begg is that I've sat in a pew at Parkside Church and shook my head at his approach to Acts 1:6 and Revelation 7. We disagree on eschatology. Yet he doesn't linger on these eschatological divisions. Instead, he consistently wraps his sermons around the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's that attitude that gets him invited to places like Calvary Chapel. You can watch a Q & A with Alistair Begg and CC's David Guzik HERE
At the end of the video in my previous post, Begg touches upon a scene in C. S. Lewis' The Silver Chair.
Jill is dying of thirst and needs to drink at a stream. The great Lion Aslan is between it and her. She asks Aslan to move aside because she fears him. When he refuses, she asks him to promise not to eat her. Again, he refuses to promise. She tells Aslan that she dares not drink and he responds that she will then surely die. Jill then supposes that she must find another stream. The Lion tells her that:
"There is no other stream."
I'd begun preparing this blog post on Saturday, but got sidetracked and put it off. Coincidentally, Pastor Begg's sermon was on 2 Timothy this Sunday morning. He talked about the need to prepare the next generation of church leaders to preach the gospel, and growing the current congregation's children in the knowledge of that gospel. He pointed to Paul's passing the baton onto Timothy, with that sense of urgency in knowing that his own time in the world was short.
Begg also touched upon the sad fact that some people become ashamed of the gospel - which brings me to the original motive for my post. Why aren't some leading church leaders shouting the gospel whenever the cameras and microphones are trained on them?
Why does Pope Francis dabble in political speeches, social agendas and ecumenism when he has the opportunity to proclaim Christ? Why has the ELCA taken Christ's work on the cross out of their church? See also HERE
Why does someone like Sojourners' Jim Wallis prefer thinking of the Last Supper as a Table-Fellowship scene rather than an Altar scene? See HERE and HERE
From the link:
Notice that Wallis doesn’t connect the Passover meal, or the fact that Jesus is the perfect sacrificial Passover Lamb, to this scene. Instead it’s just a regular dinner, more of a friendly meal for fellowship and conversation. A place to plan how we can change the world.
Are they ashamed of The One and Only Stream?
Matt Waymeyer preaches II Timothy 4:1-4
It's that attitude that gets him invited to places like Calvary Chapel. You can watch a Q & A with Alistair Begg and CC's David Guzik HERE
At the end of the video in my previous post, Begg touches upon a scene in C. S. Lewis' The Silver Chair.
Jill is dying of thirst and needs to drink at a stream. The great Lion Aslan is between it and her. She asks Aslan to move aside because she fears him. When he refuses, she asks him to promise not to eat her. Again, he refuses to promise. She tells Aslan that she dares not drink and he responds that she will then surely die. Jill then supposes that she must find another stream. The Lion tells her that:
"There is no other stream."
I'd begun preparing this blog post on Saturday, but got sidetracked and put it off. Coincidentally, Pastor Begg's sermon was on 2 Timothy this Sunday morning. He talked about the need to prepare the next generation of church leaders to preach the gospel, and growing the current congregation's children in the knowledge of that gospel. He pointed to Paul's passing the baton onto Timothy, with that sense of urgency in knowing that his own time in the world was short.
Begg also touched upon the sad fact that some people become ashamed of the gospel - which brings me to the original motive for my post. Why aren't some leading church leaders shouting the gospel whenever the cameras and microphones are trained on them?
Why does Pope Francis dabble in political speeches, social agendas and ecumenism when he has the opportunity to proclaim Christ? Why has the ELCA taken Christ's work on the cross out of their church? See also HERE
Why does someone like Sojourners' Jim Wallis prefer thinking of the Last Supper as a Table-Fellowship scene rather than an Altar scene? See HERE and HERE
From the link:
Notice that Wallis doesn’t connect the Passover meal, or the fact that Jesus is the perfect sacrificial Passover Lamb, to this scene. Instead it’s just a regular dinner, more of a friendly meal for fellowship and conversation. A place to plan how we can change the world.
Are they ashamed of The One and Only Stream?
Matt Waymeyer preaches II Timothy 4:1-4
Friday, December 6, 2013
Inadequacy: The Surprising Secret to Being Useful to God
Here's a person I disagree with eschatologically. But what a passion for the gospel he has! Love the man's preaching!
Q & A with Alistair Begg and David Guzik
Q & A with Alistair Begg and David Guzik
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
Jesus is God
It seems that a lot of people have an extra-biblical opinion of who Jesus was, what His intentions were and His relationship to God. A few weeks back Reza Aslan regurgitated some old tiresome claims in his Zealot. Now Fox News' Bill O'Reilly (along with Martin Dugard) has obeyed his inner guidance and spun a book called Killing Jesus. This is the third installment of a "killing" series by the pair. To be fair I haven't read his book; however, there's been enough media attention that something can be said here.
O'Reilly made it a point to state that his book was not about "religion" and that it is a "historical" book" Yet a book about Jesus cannot divorce itself from who Jesus was, His purpose for coming to earth and His purpose for dying on the Cross. O'Reilly - born some 1900 yrs after the fact - felt it necessary to impose his own wisdom and logic onto the events presented in the gospels. He deemed that they needed correction here and there. In fact at one point he made the admission that he'd taken the Muslim view of Jesus into consideration. Why? Muhammad was born in 570 AD and died in 632 AD. There are very good reasons for believing that his Qur'an was impacted by something far more mundane than revelations from the angel Gabriel.
Ultimately, O'Reilly and Aslan are no different than the likes of Edgar Cayce, Paramahansa Yogananda and Deepak Chopra who preached a "safe", non-biblical Jesus. Ignoring the biblical Jesus will have dire eternal consequences. The other option will affect an individual's life in the here and now, as well as eternity.
A watered down Jesus is a far more comfortable option for this world. One can place that Jesus on a shelf and forget about Him when convenient. This latter Jesus appears to be the one the modern church is beginning to spin to the world, because that is what society is demanding.
Brannon Howse on Killing Jesus (Part 1) and (Part 2) Recommended!
Dr. Jason Lisle Answers Bill O'Reilly HERE
The Christ of the New Age Movement (Part 1)
Click Here to find Part 2 in the Articles List
O'Reilly made it a point to state that his book was not about "religion" and that it is a "historical" book" Yet a book about Jesus cannot divorce itself from who Jesus was, His purpose for coming to earth and His purpose for dying on the Cross. O'Reilly - born some 1900 yrs after the fact - felt it necessary to impose his own wisdom and logic onto the events presented in the gospels. He deemed that they needed correction here and there. In fact at one point he made the admission that he'd taken the Muslim view of Jesus into consideration. Why? Muhammad was born in 570 AD and died in 632 AD. There are very good reasons for believing that his Qur'an was impacted by something far more mundane than revelations from the angel Gabriel.
Ultimately, O'Reilly and Aslan are no different than the likes of Edgar Cayce, Paramahansa Yogananda and Deepak Chopra who preached a "safe", non-biblical Jesus. Ignoring the biblical Jesus will have dire eternal consequences. The other option will affect an individual's life in the here and now, as well as eternity.
A watered down Jesus is a far more comfortable option for this world. One can place that Jesus on a shelf and forget about Him when convenient. This latter Jesus appears to be the one the modern church is beginning to spin to the world, because that is what society is demanding.
Brannon Howse on Killing Jesus (Part 1) and (Part 2) Recommended!
Dr. Jason Lisle Answers Bill O'Reilly HERE
The Christ of the New Age Movement (Part 1)
Click Here to find Part 2 in the Articles List
Saturday, September 14, 2013
The Necessity of the Trinity
From Telos Theological Ministries, a great sermon by Paul Henebury answering the question: Is the Trinity Necessary?
Further reading:
Discovering the Mystery of the Unity of God
Further reading:
Discovering the Mystery of the Unity of God
Saturday, August 31, 2013
The Will Not To Believe
I first came across Wilbur M. Smith in the Forward he provided for Alva McClain's The Greatness of the Kingdom and the Preface to George N. H. Peters' The Theocratic Kingdom. His comments were thoughtful and so I looked him up. It turns out that he wrote a book (published in 1945) called Therefore Stand - A Plea for a Vigorous Apologetic in the Present Crisis of Evangelical Christianity.
This book may be out of print although second-hand copies are still available. Smith's message to Christians is a valuable one and it is sorely needed, now more than ever. You can read a review HERE.
I found this excerpt from the book very true, even from my own limited experience:
One of the reasons why men do not believe in Christ, and in the Word of God, is that they are determined not to believe. This is the deliberate, determined attitude of their mind. No matter what arguments are presented to them, no matter how accurate they find the work of God to be, how incontrovertible the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is shown to be, they cannot intend to believe. Someone will say, "No one can possibly be as stubborn as that." Yes, it is not only possible, it is continually manifested. Thus for example, the outstanding church historian of the nineteenth century, speaking of the Lord's miracle of the quieting of the waves in a storm on the Sea of Galilee, frankly said regarding a storm being quieted by a word, "We do not believe and we shall never again believe." Harnack does not mean that the evidence is not sufficient for belief, he means that whatever the evidence is, he is not going to believe. Goethe took exactly the same attitude concerning the resurrection, "A voice from heaven would not convince me...that a woman gives birth without knowing man, and that a dead man rises from the grave. I rather regard this as blasphemy against the great God and His revelation in nature." I have a letter from a Professor in a theological seminary in this country regarding the resurrection of Christ (the writer's name cannot be divulged because of a promise made in regard to this correspondence), who frankly told me that he would not judge the miracle of the resurrection by historical evidence, for, from a scientific and psychological point of view, he was prejudiced against it, and no evidence would ever change his mind. William James of Harvard wrote a remarkable book once which he aptly called The Will to Believe: a new book could be written today, even from the same University, with an equally true title, The Will Not to Believe. ~ Therefore Stand (pp 174-175) (bold emphasis my own)
This book may be out of print although second-hand copies are still available. Smith's message to Christians is a valuable one and it is sorely needed, now more than ever. You can read a review HERE.
I found this excerpt from the book very true, even from my own limited experience:
One of the reasons why men do not believe in Christ, and in the Word of God, is that they are determined not to believe. This is the deliberate, determined attitude of their mind. No matter what arguments are presented to them, no matter how accurate they find the work of God to be, how incontrovertible the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is shown to be, they cannot intend to believe. Someone will say, "No one can possibly be as stubborn as that." Yes, it is not only possible, it is continually manifested. Thus for example, the outstanding church historian of the nineteenth century, speaking of the Lord's miracle of the quieting of the waves in a storm on the Sea of Galilee, frankly said regarding a storm being quieted by a word, "We do not believe and we shall never again believe." Harnack does not mean that the evidence is not sufficient for belief, he means that whatever the evidence is, he is not going to believe. Goethe took exactly the same attitude concerning the resurrection, "A voice from heaven would not convince me...that a woman gives birth without knowing man, and that a dead man rises from the grave. I rather regard this as blasphemy against the great God and His revelation in nature." I have a letter from a Professor in a theological seminary in this country regarding the resurrection of Christ (the writer's name cannot be divulged because of a promise made in regard to this correspondence), who frankly told me that he would not judge the miracle of the resurrection by historical evidence, for, from a scientific and psychological point of view, he was prejudiced against it, and no evidence would ever change his mind. William James of Harvard wrote a remarkable book once which he aptly called The Will to Believe: a new book could be written today, even from the same University, with an equally true title, The Will Not to Believe. ~ Therefore Stand (pp 174-175) (bold emphasis my own)
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