Kingdom Ready

This paper was presented on May 3rd, 2013 at the 21st Theologoical Conference I attended in Atlanta, GA by fellow brother and friend - Dustin Smith. http://www.newyorkjetsclub.com I’ll advise everyone ahead of time, this is a LONG paper as the word count/reading time shown here indicates.  But Dustin does a fine job in laying out the evidence in this discussion. I know I enjoyed it immensely and think this should serve as a very good reference material to be considered by all – no matter which side of the literal vs. non-literal Devil & Demons viewpoint you currently reside.  And yes I said “currently reside” because I grew-up in the literal view, switched to non-literal for many years, and then came back to the literal side – because of evidence and logic. People can change when they have an open mind. Read this paper and see where you are led!

Introduction

Tucked away at the end of the Gospel of Matthew is the great commission. It reads, “Therefore, go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit” (Mat 28.19). Oftentimes modalists and unitarians question the validity of this verse because of its trinitarian flavor. Typically, the questioner makes the point that we do not have manuscripts of Matthew 28.19 before a.d 325 when the church ratified the Trinitarian creed at Nicea and that they were all corrupted at that time. Furthermore, they refer to Eusebius, the famous church historian, because he quotes an alternative version of Matthew 28.19 (i.e. “Go and make disciples of all the nations in my name”) in his writings. Although it certainly wouldn’t ruin my day if Matthew 28.19 turned out to be spurious, I am wary of textual arguments motivated by theology. As a result, I want to lay out for you the reasons why every handwritten and printed Greek text contains the full version of Matthew 28.19.

I read this article awhile back and found it interesting.  And I thought it would be good to post here on the KR Blog.  I hope you find it interesting as well. Enjoy!

Biblical Unitarianism from the Early Church through the Middle Ages

by Mark M. Mattison

The term “biblical unitarianism,” as used in this journal, denotes a non-Trinitarian theology which is consistent with the inspired Word of God. It is our belief that this understanding of the Scriptures is not new, but has been propagated at various times and places throughout church history. The purpose of this article is to lay a foundation for the future discussion of this topic.
 
First, however, we must define our terms.

Click here to listen to “The Doctrine of God and Christ” mp3 [52:40].

Steve Katsaras, pastor of the Red Words Church in Australia and contributor to this blog, recently gave a thoroughly biblical exposition of the doctrines of God and Christ.

Yahweh is one, not two or three, and there is no God besides him. The Bible uses singular pronouns in reference to God thousands upon thousands of time, a fact that clearly teaches God is a singular individual. This one God is the eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent creator of heaven and earth.

To understand this term, one must also seek to understand other closely related phrases, like sons of men and children of men. Firstly, all of these terms are applied to mankind in general. These terms indicate the difference between God and the human race. The phrase son of man is the strongest way to distinguish between deity and humanity!

Psalm 115:16 (usage – children of men)
Consider the contrast between God and mankind: God dwells in heaven; man dwells on the earth.

Psalm 145:10 – 13 (usage – sons of men)
Here’s another contrast between God and mankind: God is big, strong, powerful and eternal; man is small, weak and temporal.

Introduction

One of the  most fundamental questions about nature is: “How did we get here”? In other words, how did we humans – as well as the plants and animals around us – come into existence?

In Western countries, there are two main systems that are used, to explain how, exactly, plants, animals and humans began their existence. Those two systems are called “creationism” and “evolution”.

Creationism states that God explicitly created each and every form of life on the earth. In other words, every plant or animal that exists today was created by God in the past – in exactly the form that it has today.

The following is another new article from my website. 

It is amazing how many people who call themselves “Christian” don’t actually know what the word means. A “Christian” is a follower of Christ, but like most people, I did not know what the word “Christ” meant for many years. Like some, I assumed that it was part of his name. Others know that it is a title, but don’t know exactly what it means. The fact is, however, that the word Christ comes from the Greek word christos, which means “anointed one.” It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word, mashiyach from which we get our English word, Messiah. The titles Messiah and Christ mean exactly the same thing: an anointed one.

Unfortunetly I have noticed a sad trend in our churches.  We have some on one side who are serious about seeking truth and understanding doctrinal matters.  We have some on another side who are serious about living the simple truths of Jesus’ teaching.  The sad and unfortunate trend that I have observed is that thes two sides often are in opposition to one another.  The doctrinal side demeans the practical side because they don’t know the truth or seem to have a hunger to search the Scriptures.  The practical side demeans the practical side because they are only concerned about knowing things and not doing things.

Theology regularly takes the driver seat in Bible study. This is only natural since our theology is the construct or model we hold in mind while we read. For example, our theology of God informs how we read Scripture. If one believes that only the Father is God then he will struggle with certain verses (like John 20.28) while reading others with ease (like John 17.3). When we encounter difficult texts our tendency is to explain them away so that we need not alter our theological model on that particular subject. We may look at other translations until we find one that agrees with what we think it should say or else pontificate conspiracy theories that all the extant manuscripts are corrupt because the “evil” early Church Fathers and scribes had a nefarious agenda. Thus, our theology leads our Bible study rather than the other way around. But, what if this is doing things backwards? What if this way of studying the Bible is inherently dangerous?

Written by Pastor Steve Taylor
(Originally posted on the website of Lakeshore Bible Church.) 

“I can’t understand the Bible!” is a common complaint voiced by many who open its pages. Yes, it is hard to understand IF you don’t have the key that unlocks its mysteries. You are about to have in your hand the crucial but much-neglected key that Jesus offers to unlock the mysteries of the Bible: