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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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For All Have Sinned
There is a predominant teaching within Christianity that says we are all born into sin and our flesh is innately sinful. The crux of that teaching is based on texts found in Paul’s letter to the Romans. The Romans Road Many years ago, I was taught a “Plan for Salvation” called, The Romans Road. It was an evangelism tool to spread “the gospel message”: a series of various verses primarily from the book of Romans, strung together to formulate a “plan of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ”. The underlying premise of this is that “we are all sinners by nature and choice”, “for all have sinned, and come short…
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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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Genesis 1: Evening and Morning (Video)
In my Follow-Up Series to the video presentation on When a Day Begins and Ends, I address the most common objections to the notion that the Bible only speaks of the Day as being “the light”, separate from the Night. The single most common objection I encounter is found in Genesis 1, particularly the statement: And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:5b KJV) Many believe this defines a different kind of Day, one that includes the Night. Here’s my answer to that: If you’ve never done the exercise of looking at all the uses of “ereb” (H6153) and “boqer” (H1242) in the Old Testament to see how…
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Correction: And God Divided Between the Light…
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Gen 1:4 KJV) The Brenton translation of the Greek Septuagint says: And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness. (Gen 1:4 Brenton) It was recently pointed out to me that the Hebrew word “beyn” (H996) translated above in the KJV as “from” appears twice in Genesis 1:4: once before the light, and the other before the darkness. And upon further inspection in the Greek Septuagint, I see the phrase “ana mesos”, translated as “between” also appears twice in this verse. A more proper translation…
- 1-Day and Night, 4-Sun Moon & Stars, Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Passover - Pesach, Precept Upon Precept, Sabbath Day - Shabbath
When a Day Begins and Ends (Video)
Our modern culture teaches a day is a 24-hour period of time that begins at midnight. Jewish tradition teaches a day is a 24-hour period of time that begins at sunset. But what does the Bible say? Watch this presentation covering the Biblical definition of the day, how long it lasts, when it begins and why it matters.
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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…
