What answers does the Bible give for the “problem of evil”?

Are the New Testament manuscripts reliable?

Daniel Wallace – “Are the New Testament manuscripts reliable? (Part 1)”

Part 2

How do we explain the Bible’s 400,000 errors?

What is the Heart of the Gospel?

Pastor John MacArthur (Grace to You) explains what is the heart of the Gospel (Justification by Faith Alone/Sola Fide) to Actor Kirk Cameron (The Way of the Master) from 2 Corinthians 5:21:

“God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin (offering) for us, so that in Him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God.” (The Great Exchange: My sin for Christ’s perfect righteousness).

John MacArthur Rebukes Joel Osteen

When church attempts to become friends with this word it is bound to fall short of the standards and teachings of the Bible. Sin quickly becomes part of the fabric of the church, and lack of understanding is prevalent and desire for learning is non-existent. When people like to have their ears tickled, when they use attitude of consumerism to choose church and ministers target their audience by playing to the same game plan then you have recipe for anything goes church. Shame that this still passes as Christianity that millions will accept it without seeing how far removed it is from the original Christianity.   Contradictions are ignored, encouraged and embraced and truth is the only casualty but thank God that there are people who are prepared to speak out.

Philosophical Apologetics, the Church, and Contemporary Culture

J.P. Moreland, in Evangelical Apologetics (out of print), eds. Michael Bauman, David W. Hall, and Robert C. Newman. (Christian Publications Inc., 1996).

Moreland defines what he calls philosophical apologetics as “a philosophical activity which has as its goal (or perhaps as its result) the increasing or maintaining of the epistemic justification of a Christian world view in whole or in part.” Moreland surveys several varieties of philosophical apologetics and makes the case for philosophy as an essential and specially placed discipline for the effective integration of theology with other sources of knowledge claims. Finally, Moreland suggests several practical ways in which Christians can interact persuasively with the world of ideas that undercut the plausibility and relevance of Christian ideas in contemporary culture. ~ Afterall

Print

In 1756, John Wesley delivered an address to a gathering of clergy on how to carry out the pastoral ministry with joy and skill. In it, Wesley catalogued a number of things familiar to most contemporary believers the cultivation of a disposition to glorify God and save souls, a knowledge of Scripture, and similar notions. However, at the first of his list, Wesley focused on something seldom expressly valued by most pastoral search committees: Ought not a Minister to have, First, a good understanding, a clear apprehension, a sound judgment, and a capacity of reasoning with some closeness?¹ Time and again throughout the address, Wesley unpacked this remark by admonishing ministers to know what would sound truly odd and almost pagan to the average congregant of today: logic, metaphysics (including the first principles of being), natural theology, geometry, and the ideas of important figures in the history of philosophy.

Wesley’s remarks were not unusual in his time. A century earlier, the great Reformed pastor Richard Baxter was faced with lukewarmness in the church and unbelief outside the church. In 1667 he wrote a book to meet this need and in it he used philosophy to argue for the existence of the soul and the life to come. The fact that Baxter turned to philosophy instead of small groups or praise hymns is worth pondering. Over a millennium earlier, Augustine summarized the view of many early church fathers when he said that We must show our Scriptures not to be in conflict with whatever [our critics] can demonstrate about the nature of things from reliable sources.² Philosophy was the main tool Augustine used in this task.

For the rest of the article go to the original website:

http://afterall.net/papers/23

Briliant New Free Bible Softwere The Word

Its about the time, we have beautiful and yet functional  Bible Software that is completely free. It includes free Commentaries, Dictionaries and Different translations of the Bible. There are plenty of free books that are included in the package.

I wholeheartedly recommend it, it is full of beneficial charts, books that defend Christianity and most of all it’s not a shamed for what it stands. Free equipping software that has a friendly layabout and can be compared to many £5,00 software’s. Ideal for sermon composition and Bible study groups.

To find more go here: http://www.theword.net/

Kind regards

Defend The Word

Jerusalem Tunnel Provides Glimpse of Jewish Revolt

Bible and archaeology news

Biblical Archaeology Society Staff   •  08/11/2011

The excavation of a 2,000-year-old drainage channel running beneath Jerusalem’s City of David is providing a startling glimpse into the realities of the First Jewish Revolt (66–70 C.E.). According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Jewish rebels used the tunnels to hide from Roman forces attempting to crush the rebellion.

 

For more information on this topic go to the original web page;

http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/jerusalem-tunnel-provides-glimpse-of-jewish-revolt/

Longer life expectancy ‘puts people off religion’

Organised religions are set to see increasingly “greying” worshippers

Increased life expectancy is leading to people “putting off” becoming involved in religion, UK researchers have said.

Their International Journal of Social Economics paper suggests decisions about “religiosity” depend on perceived social and spiritual benefits.

As people live longer, younger people are less concerned about what happens after death.

The researchers say religion must do more to emphasise the social benefits to the young in order to attract them.

Church attendance in the UK has been dwindling during the past 50 years.

And while 26% of over-65s attend church, only 11% of those aged between 16 and 44 do so.

However, in countries including many in sub-Saharan African and Latin American nations, religious adherence remains strong.

For more on this story go to BBC  here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13011509

China arrests Protestant Christians

24 April 2011 Last updated at 11:43

Police were out in force to stop the worshippers – and question foreign media

At least 20 Chinese Protestants Christians have been arrested as they tried to gather for an Easter service in Beijing.

The worshippers, from the Shouwang church, were trying to hold an outdoor service because they own no premises.

In recent weeks, the police have arrested dozens of people from the church, which has about 1,000 members.

The authorities have also been carrying out a wider suppression of dissent – harassing foreign reporters and detaining lawyers and activists.

The most high-profile detainee, artist Ai Weiwei, was taken by police as he tried to board a flight earlier this month.

His family say they do not know where he is, whether he has been charged with an offence, or even whether he has been formally arrested.

For more information on this story go to BBC web page here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13180842

In Search of the Historical Jesus

Can we trust the Bible to give us the uncorrupted version of who Jesus was. Today much is being said about who Jesus was and how Bible “distorted ” the original story in order to further its ideology. Here is the interesting video that deals with this problem of authenticity and the “quest for the historical Jesus”. It is because of rationalistic philosophical developement were introduced and when mixed with local to Israel nation mythological stories they have developed completely new one could rightly claim invented Jesus of the 21st Century.

Many believe that they have the right view i.e. when the Bible is stripping down of all the “fantasies” recorded in the New Testament true Jesus appears, however often we see that this idea is driven by the preconceived philosophical approach rather than true textual criticism, historical reasearch and being open to the possibility that the Bible actually may be correctly recording the life of Jesus.

I hope you go through the entire video in order to be able to evaluate the validity of Craig Blomberg’s statements.

Kind regards

Defend the Word

 

 

Rare King James Bible found in Wiltshire village church

After hearing of this sad News, I was wondering why this would be the case. This great translation was introduced after much of hard work and would have been designed to be used by all who are interested in reading the word of God in English.

And rather than being “destroyed” by the use of the ordinary people, which would have been a great blessing to many generations it was preserved in a “glass coffin” and is now in a very good condition for its age.

It is ironic that it was found on the shelf gathering dust, is this not typical of many so called Christians. Who claim that they believe in God but are completely disinterested in what God has to say in his word?

How do two can be reconciled I do not understand? Just imagine what the bride would tell the groom, if the two were separated for few months and during this time groom was sending her many love letters. When they come to see each other again, and groom asks her about the issues and her decision on them all of which was mentioned in these letters, during their time of separation. At that point she exclaims “sorry my darling but I had more important issues to deal with. I was preoccupied with life’s issues, and had to deal with them I have kept safely all your letters but have yet to read your letters.”

All the outpouring of love and affection has gone unnoticed and every effort that the future husband put in to explain his plan for their future life together has not been considered, he like just like God in this instance would be right to question our love for him.

2 Tim 3:16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2Pet 1:20) ; 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

If we are to be equipped and ready for what God has planned for us then we must be submitted to the training program that he has in place for us.

Kind regards

Defend the Word

From BBC News

6 March 2011 Last updated at 08:33

The pages of 400-year-old Bible were trimmed by a priest in the 19th Century

Continue reading the main story

A rare original King James Bible has been discovered on a shelf in a Wiltshire church.

The discovery was made by residents researching the history of St Laurence Church in Hilmarton, near Calne.

Geoff Proctor, a member of the parochial church council, said they read about a “fine chained Bible in a glass case” at the church.

They then made the link with a Bible that had been sitting on a shelf at the church for a number of years.

Mr Proctor said: “We started doing some research and discovered that the Bible that, as far as I’d known, had always stood on a shelf at the church was in fact 400 years old.”

Everybody or nobody

There are fewer than 200 original printings of the King James version known to exist. And it is believed that the rediscovered Bible is one of the few remaining editions printed in 1611.

For more on this story go back to BBC web page

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-12647043

Only by Grace of God

How good is it to know that we are unable to save ourselves, not because we are not able to be independent as I’m sure to a greater extent Jesus wants us to find that independence which was lost through human fall into sin, before we can be independent we have to be set free. And that is the gift that we receive thought the grace of God.

How do we explain the definition of Gods grace, it’s very simple. When we think of God s mercy we are reminded of what we do not receive even though we deserve it. We are found guilty in the eyes of the Lord yet through his mercy he does not punish our crimes but if we call upon the name of Jesus we are able to be saved.

Grace on the other hand is all the goodness we receive from God even though we are not worthy of any of those blessings and good gifts.

It is this grace of God that has granted us not only our salvation but also continuity of walking with God and knowledge that he will never forsake us. We know that we are adopted into his family and he has become our heavenly father who we can freely love.

Unmerited Favor – Grace

• Work: When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day’s pay for his time, that is a wage.
• Sport: When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize.
• When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award.
• But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award—yet receives such a gift anyway—that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favor. This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God.

G.W. Knight,

Who is there like you Lord

Here is the question that all Christians should ask from time to time. We all need to be reminded that we are redeemed and loved by the God of Love. He has looked upon us and because of his mercy he granted us his grace to be redeemed in his sons blood.

We should all be reminded that it was not free for him but it is free for us.

 

What led me to became a Christian

What led me to become a Christian by Defend the Word

1.      Quick analysis of the world around me has persuaded me that many artificial changes imposed upon us by the few we call the elite are pure exercise in futility; they are not in control but are reactionary to the changes that they do not control.

a.       Politicians are not in control: Quick look at the financial market shows us that greed and volatility of the market are driven by many variables that are out of our control and not something that is preprogrammed or anticipated by the clever political or banking elite.   Facts that we had to see many states attempt to bail out some of their biggest banks; shows how futile are our attempts to control human nature. When people see greed as something that is desirable and good we have to question their selflessness.

An attempt at social engineering programs by many liberal governments has led to nothing progressive again and again. Try as we may, we continue to live in a miserable failure to create utopian and fairer society. Man still earn more than women, shorter people, fatter, ethnically different and less ecstatically pleasing people are continuously overlooked and discriminated against, on the other hand those who are loud, obnoxious and  selfish seem to thrive in our society. We look on the outside and overlook true potential on the inside at our own peril. Biblical truths that have established our laws in many western societies have now long gone, forgotten and ignored as something to be ashamed of.

When the fat girl got mad at God

I have found this story very intriguing and could not resist in adding it to the Blog I hope you find it just as much interesting.

For more on this story go back to CNN

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/30/my-take-when-the-fat-girl-got-mad-at-god/

Editor’s Note: Lysa TerKeurst is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries and author of Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire With God, Not Food. Lysa blogs daily at www.lysaterkeurst.com. 

By Lysa TerKeurst, Special to CNN

Three years ago I was stuck in a rut of wishful thinking and excuses with my weight loss. At the beginning of each day I would say I wanted things to be different. I would vow in my heart to make things different. I would even make a plan to stop the snacks, increase the veggies, and say no to the desserts.

But then life would happen. And the excuses were so very plentiful. So, my resolve would melt away like butter on a hot yeast roll.

Of course the next morning I would always get up and weigh myself hoping that somehow magic would have happened over night. Despite my indulgences from the day before, maybe just maybe the numbers would have gone down.

But the scale was not impressed with my wishful thinking. So you know who I’d get mad at?

God.

Prof Alvin Plantinga on Reasons for God

What evidence is good enough to convince us that there is a God? We all say that there comes a point in your life when you start to understand when the penny drops and truth is separated from falsehood. However should this evidence of subjective be acceptable to us and should this guide our understanding on what is the truth?

Belief is not based on constant re assessment of what is right and wrong from one minute to the next, instead we simply know that we are real, we know that food we had today was real, that life makes sense with the God who is a creator and that there is a God who loves us enough to demonstrate his existence by entering human history and that he should be bothered enough to teach us the right way. That same faith, that involves our cognitive faculties is simply in agreement that words of the Bible are true.

This faith is best captured and demonstrated by the transforming change it brings to those who have decide to take on the Christ challenge in Matthew 7:7-11. Personal testimonies have far greater power to persuade and can serve us better than any other empirical evidence could.

Kind regards

Defend the Word

 

Matthew 7:7 “Ask ⁹ and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door ¹⁰ will be opened for you. 7:8 For everyone who asks ¹¹ receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 7:9 Is ¹² there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 7:10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹³ 7:11 If you then, although you are evil, ¹⁴ know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts ¹⁵ to those who ask him!

Notes on Matthew 7:7-12

⁹ sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

¹⁰ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation here and in v. 8 for clarity.

¹¹ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 7 with the encouragement that God does respond.

¹² tn Grk “Or is there.”

¹³ sn The two questions of vv. 9-10 expect the answer, “No parent would do this!”

¹⁴ tn The participle ὄντες (ontes) has been translated concessively.

¹⁵ sn The provision of the good gifts is probably a reference to the wisdom and guidance supplied in response to repeated requests. The teaching as a whole stresses not that we get everything we want, but that God gives the good that we need.

 

What is Apologetics? – Frank Turek

Here are few good reasons why serious Christians should always be ready to give the answer. intellect and faith are not separated they coexist in harmony once we understand the importance of bridging reason with faith we will change our attitude to it. Our understanding of the world around us has always involved some elements of faith, it’s just that we are not often aware that most things will demand some form of faith in our reasoning argumentation. Fact that you will use arguments that are well established, or use the data that was introduced by someone else all point to the fact that you will put your faith in someone else who did their home work for you.

You will not always check everything as that is simply impossible, we accept “big Bang” theory not because we understand it but because its well established and tested by many well-trained people. This does not mean we will neglect using our own brains as some discernment, discrimination against right and wrong will always be required so we must learn to understand how to build our arguments and how to take apart counter argument if we are to live happily with ourselves.

Faith does not mean we belive in things despite the lack of evidence, faith means that with some stong supporting evidence we learn to trust God that the rest of the story which we may not understand can be taken as true we can trust God to his faithful and logical exposition of himself, through his word.

Kind regards

Defend the Word

Guardian angels ‘protect third of Britons’

It is not because we are forgetful but because we are too busy with our lives, that we feel we must chase someone else’s dreams that are always just out of our reach this is why we don’t bother to entertain our spiritual needs. If one is to stop and think for even a short period of time, one would be able to work out that his/her priorities are completely messed up.

We all start with simply wanting to provide for basic needs of our families, but somehow we move on to desiring bit more  money, a bit better car, and moving on to a better neighbourhood and having bigger house. And finally we want better pension and if possible bit extra so we can leave our children something to inherit.

And all the time we are setting up our children for failure as we show then how things are not supposed to be done they will go on to live lives that are identical to ours and waste their years on this earth and possibly waste their opportunity to spend eternity with God.

However what is clear is that when the question is asked most of us will react with some kind of acknowledgement that life is more than just material acquisitions and inner satisfactions can only be achieved by looking outwards. This desire to find our maker and establish why, who, when, where and what is only going to be satisfied when our selfishness makes way for Gods love.

Eternal Life

John 3:16 For this is the way ¹ God loved the world: He gave his one and only ² Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ³ but have eternal life. ⁴

Lasting Treasure

Matthew 6:19 “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth ²⁵ and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 6:20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 6:21 For where your ²⁶ treasure ²⁷ is, there your heart will be also.

Kind regards

Defend the Word

From BBC

23 December 2010 Last updated at 05:57

The results show many people have a spiritual need, says the Bible Society

Nearly one in three Britons believe they have a guardian angel watching over them, according to a survey.

Online research for the Bible Society and Christian Research into the views of 1,038 people suggests 31% believe in angels, with 17% unsure.

One in 20 told pollsters ICM last week they thought they had seen or heard an angel, with 29% saying they thought a guardian angel watched over them.

The Bible Society says it indicates that many people have a spiritual need.

For more on this story go to BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12064517

 

NET © Notes

^{Notes on John 3:16}

¹ tn Or “this is how much”; or “in this way.” The Greek adverb οὕτως (Joutws) can refer (1) to the degree to which God loved the world, that is, to such an extent or so much that he gave his own Son (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:133-34; D. A. Carson, John, 204) or (2) simply to the manner in which God loved the world, i.e., by sending his own son (see R. H. Gundry and R. W. Howell, “The Sense and Syntax of John 3:14-17 with Special Reference to the Use of Οὕτως…ὥστε in John 3:16,” NovT 41 [1999]: 24-39). Though the term more frequently refers to the manner in which something is done (see BDAG 741-42 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως), the following clause involving ὥστε (Jwste) plus the indicative (which stresses actual, but [usually] unexpected result) emphasizes the greatness of the gift God has given. With this in mind, then, it is likely (3) that John is emphasizing both the degree to which God loved the world as well as the manner in which He chose to express that love. This is in keeping with John’s style of using double entendre or double meaning. Thus, the focus of the Greek construction here is on the nature of God’s love, addressing its mode, intensity, and extent.

² tn Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna qeou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).

³ tn In John the word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) can mean either (1) to be lost (2) to perish or be destroyed, depending on the context.

⁴ sn The alternatives presented are only two (again, it is typical of Johannine thought for this to be presented in terms of polar opposites): perish or have eternal life.

Notes on Matthew 6

²⁵ tn The term σής (shs) refers to moths in general. It is specifically the larvae of moths that destroy clothing by eating holes in it (L&N 4.49; BDAG 922 s.v.). See Jas 5:2, which mentions “moth-eaten” clothing.

26tn The pronouns in this verse are singular while the pronouns in vv. 19-20 are plural. The change to singular emphasizes personal responsibility as opposed to corporate responsibility; even if others do not listen, the one who hears Jesus’ commands should obey.

27sn Seeking heavenly treasure means serving others and honoring God by doing so.

Wikileaks: Pope’s conversion offer damaged relations

For so many years Catholic Church was urging Evangelicals and other Protestants to unite rather than convert Catholics to their brand of Christianity. Should we be surprised that at the very first presented opportunity they have chosen to exploit this situation to their own advantage? I guess here in UK Christianity is being  eroded by the secularism and atheism, where modern media has complete freedom to say what it likes and any reports that supposedly represent opposite viewpoints can be carefully selected individuals who are handpicked by the editorial team.

But as always there are groups of Christians who are happy to stand for what is right. I’m just glad that we are able to use Blogs and internet to show that there are other types of Christians that are not branded by the allegiance to any particular denomination but to the very originator of our faith Jesus Christ.

Division in church may be necessary as there are so much rubbish and corruption inside religious institutions but I thank God that we can still focus on God and his teaching rather than man made man made stupidity.

I thank God that there are still evangelicals who will stand for self sufficiency of the Bible and emphasise the need for personal relationship with God rather than demand intermediary representation.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

When Jesus Died on the cross and the curtain was torn that hid Holy of Holies from us, God had made it clear by this action that now we need only God.

Matthew 27: 50 – 51 “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom”

Priesthood of all believers

1 Peter 2: 5 – 9 “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ … But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light”

This does not mean that we are all church ministers, but it does mean that  we can all be responsible for leading others to Christ. There is no need to receive your forgiveness through the priest anymore, we can approach our saviour direct. And for that we can thank our saviour and Lord Jesus Christ who is capable of keeping his promises that we are not left to our own devices but could count on his support.

Matthew 28: 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Defend the Word

FROM BBC

11 December 2010 Last updated at 02:46

The ambassador believed the Pope had put the Archbishop in an “impossible position”.

The Pope’s invitation to Anglicans to convert to Roman Catholicism pushed relations between the churches to their lowest point in 150 years, Britain’s ambassador to the Vatican warned.

Francis Campbell also feared a backlash against UK Catholics after the offer to those opposed to women bishops.

His fears are detailed in the latest US embassy cables released by Wikileaks.

The comments were made after Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams met Vatican officials last year.

A cable from US ambassador Miguel Diaz, published in the Guardian newspaper, said Mr Campbell believed Pope Benedict XVI had put the Archbishop in an “impossible position” with his conversion invitation.

For full  story go to BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11974543