Christians who venerate icons often say that the Second Commandment applied to Israel, but now that God has shown Himself in a visible form, the rules have changed. We can now not only depict God in visible form, but we can worship God by bowing, kissing, burning candles, and venerating images. It . . . . Continue Reading »
The New Testament frequently turns prophetic texts inside out. In Revelation 3, for instance, Jesus applies prophecies that originally promised that Gentiles would bow to Jews to Jews bowing to the (largely Gentile) church of Philadelphia (3:9; cf. Isaiah 60:14). In one respect, the import is . . . . Continue Reading »
Smith again: Step #3 is to “notice the Bible’s inability to settle matters in dispute.” He points to “the women’s issue,” war and pacifism, creation, the millennium, mode of baptism, etc. Several responses. On the surface, he’s right. The church has had . . . . Continue Reading »
Christian Smith is on a roll. The Notre Dame sociologist came out earlier this year with a critique of “biblicism” ( Bible Made Impossible, The: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture ), about which I hope to write more later. He more recently has published a . . . . Continue Reading »
At the Financial Times web site, Gautam Malkani points to the motiveless malignancy of the London riots: “In A Clockwork Orange . . . Burgess captures his delinquent protagonists’ complete lack of political motivation, but without dismissing their actions as simple opportunism. Numbed . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus sets up the victors of Philadelphia as pillars in the house, and then writes names on them. Numbers 17 is in the background, where the names of tribal leaders are written on rods and placed in the house of God. The rod that blossoms with almond (watcher) blossoms is the rod of the priest. . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus promises to write a triple name on the pillars that are in the temple (Revelation 3:12). The three uses of the word ????? are the name of “My God,” the name of the city, which is New Jerusalem, and Jesus’ own new name. This has got to be a Trinitarian formula. “My . . . . Continue Reading »
The victors in Philadelphia ( not the 76ers) will become pillars in the house of God (Revelation 3:12). Structural pillars are replaced by people-pillars because the temple is replaced by a people-house. The structural and decorative pillars of Solomon’s temple were cut to pieces and shipped . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus warns two of the churches in Asia about the “hour” that is coming (Sardis, Revelation 3:3; Philadelphia, 3:10). In John’s gospel, Jesus talks about the “hour” with reference to the hour of the cross, which is also the hour of glory. Now, Jesus speaks of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Some of my thoughts on Jesus and violence over at http://www.firstthings.com/ . . . . . Continue Reading »
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