Who's Who in the Bible
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A Man In Whom The Spirit of God Is
Several weeks ago when studying out the Holy Spirit in the Bible, I turned to the Old Testament to see what I could find. It seems to me that the Spirit of God is another way of saying Holy Spirit. Given that, this is what I found… The Spirit of God Moved In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Gen 1:1-3 KJV) This is the first mention of the…
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The Birth of Jesus Christ Bible Study
A Free Remote Round-Table Style Bible Study Class on: “The Birth of Jesus Christ“ Starts at 8:00 PM EST each Thursday night starting May 11, 2017. Classes are not in session presently; they will begin again in mid-October, 2017 I’ve put together Bible Study Guides for each person to download and work through independently over the course of the study, and I’ve secured a room through Zoom.us for us to meet each week to share what we’re learning. Each week’s assignment will be made available the previous week. In order to participate in the following week’s round-table discussion each participant will be expected to complete that week’s assignment. While I will be…
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The Origin of Jesus Christ in Matthew
Oftentimes people meld the accounts in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 to form the basis for the Virgin Birth Doctrine. However, these accounts are speaking of two different episodes in time. While the book of Matthew appears first in the Bible, the account given in Luke 1, which addresses a time before Mary conceives, precedes the account given in Matthew 1, which speaks of a time after Mary has conceived. The Natural Origin Matthew opens his book addressing the natural origin of the Messiah Yeshua, being the son of Abraham, by way of King David, through his father Joseph. Then, the author gives an account of the visitation of the angel…
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Announcing the Virgin Birth in Luke 1
Oftentimes people meld the accounts in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 to form the basis for the Virgin Birth Doctrine. However, these accounts are speaking of two different episodes in time. First Things First Despite the fact that Matthew appears first in the New Testament, the first chapter of Luke describes events that happen prior to those described in the first chapter of Matthew. Luke 1 lays out a visitation from the angel to the virgin Mary before she is pregnant. She is identified as being espoused to Joseph, and therefore attached to him. She is his woman, and he is her man. Matthew 1 lays out a visitation from…
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Is the Son of Man the Son of a Man?
In the New Testament, the reference “son of man” is attributed to Jesus over 75 times, but what does that mean? The Greek word translated as “man” in that phrase is “anthropos” which means “a human being”, so this seems to mean “son of a human being”. In the Old Testament Ezekiel is often referred to as “son of man”, and the Hebrew word for “man” in that phrase is “adam”, which means “man, mankind”, but is also the name of the first man made from the dust of the earth. So, another way of phrasing this would be “son of adam”, or “son of mankind”. As far as I am…
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Why Send Mary Away?
Why did Joseph think to send Mary away while she was with child? Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her…
- 3-Grass, Seed-Yielding Herbs, Fruit Trees, 3-Land and Seas, 5-Sea Creatures and Winged Birds, 6-Living Creatures on Land, 6-Man and Woman, Creation, Jesus / Yeshua, Virgin Birth Doctrine
Session 1: In the Beginning – Introduction (DVBD)
Genesis 1 Establishes a Natural Order Generally speaking, all life is made to reproduce after like kind. Given that the Virgin Birth Doctrine deviates from this Natural Order established by the Creator in the beginning, the burden of proof should fall on the proponents of that doctrine to defend their case, not on those who adhere to the Creator’s way. But because this doctrine is so pervasive in our modern western culture, the notion of the Messiah being born by natural means is widely considered to be the deviant position. As a result, those who challenge the Virgin Birth doctrine often find themselves in the weaker position of having to…
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Dismantling the Virgin Birth Doctrine: An Introduction
I was raised to believe… Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, and Joseph was not his biological father. The idea was that while Mary, a virgin, was espoused to Joseph, she was visited by the Holy Spirit and miraculously became pregnant with Jesus without Joseph’s involvement. And when Jesus was born, Joseph became his adoptive parent. As a result of this miraculous event, the thought continued, God was able to appear to mankind clothed in humanity. This paved the way for another fundamental tenet of my Christian faith: the notion that Jesus was God. I couldn’t really explain it rationally, but I had believed that Jesus was fully God…
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Made in His Image and Likeness
Genesis 5:3 establishes the notion that within humanity, a son bears a likeness to his father. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: (Gen 5:3 KJV) We all understand this with physical features, where a son may physically look like his father bearing the same skin tone, hair and eye color, build and facial features. But because he was taught by his father, he also may carry similar traits found in his: temperament work ethic love/compassion towards others integrity/moral character And similar interests like: a love of the outdoors being an avid reader sharing…
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Paul Saw the Light and Heard the Voice of Jesus
According to the book of Acts, Saul, before he came to be known as Paul, had an illuminating experience on the road to Damascus. He describes it like this: “and it came to pass, in my going on and coming nigh to Damascus, about noon, suddenly out of the heaven there shone a great light round about me, I fell also to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute? `And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? and he said unto me, I am Jesus the Nazarene whom thou dost persecute– and they who are with me the light did see, and became…