“Job 37:18, which describes skies without rain as a ‘bronze’ expanse (cf. Deut 28:23), is figurative and does not support the common contention that the ‘expanse’ was considered a bronze dome by the Hebrews.” — Kenneth Mathews, Genesis 1–11:26 (New American Commentary, vol. 1a) For roughly the past couple hundred years, certain scholars (mostly higher […]
When it comes to the first few chapters of Genesis, some people like to claim that it is merely poetry (and thus at least partly fictional), as opposed to narrative prose about actual things that happened in real time. (Of course, even poetry can point to reality despite flowery or phenomenological language.) This affords them […]
The Bible has long been the target of pagans, skeptics, and “progressives”, including various attacks on the reliability of the text. When it comes to the Old Testament, they (naturally) start in the beginning with the book of Genesis, particularly (but not limited to) the first few chapters. In his book The Old Testament Documents, […]
This isn’t exactly a Christmas post, but it’s “Christmas-adjacent” (like Die Hard). How? It involves Scripture and the incarnation of the Son of God. In particular, the first verse in the Bible that is taken as an indication — even “proof” — of the triune nature of Yahweh. It reads, “Then God said, ‘Let us […]
This is a slightly belated Thanksgiving post, but… it’s still the Thanksgiving Weekend, right? This year, I would like to take note of three things I am truly thankful for. Well, I guess I should say they are classes or categories of things. First, I want to acknowledge the U.S. military, intelligence services, and law […]
This is my third and final post citing from J.I. Packer’s contribution to Hell Under Fire (2004), following “Universalism and Salvation” and “Biblical Teaching on Eternal Punishment”. Packer explains (or reminds us of) how God’s love is expressed in His Word and, among other things, that God’s “revealed plan of love” is centered always on […]
“My issue had nothing to do with homophobia or anything against LGBTQ. Quite the contrary, it had to do with oversexualization, exposing our children to comic book characters or social media where they’re constantly being bombarded with sexual images.” — Sophia Nelson Yes, in case it slipped past your current events radar, DC Comics announced […]
Here is another selection quoting Anglican theologian J.I. Packer in Hell Under Fire, eds. Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson. The focus is on the Scripturally-based and -supported expression “eternal punishment” as the deserved penalty that some people earn for their sin, as opposed to what universalists believe. (See my earlier post.) But, it […]
I have been reading the book Hell Under Fire, eds. Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson. I highly recommend it. One of the chapters is written by noted Anglican theologian J.I. Packer, in which he addresses the theology of universalism, especially in relation to the eternal destiny of those who do not “accept Jesus” […]
I confess, I’m not familiar with the “Drive Thru History” channel on YouTube. But, I heard about this, and it is a very good (roughly 1 hour) documentary on the tragic, historic events of 9/11/2001. “Through incredible video footage and narration, this special walks through the events of 9/11, highlighting stories of terrorism and heroism, […]
