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Search by subject, then refine by approach. A prophecy study may also be apologetic or discerning because subject tells you what it examines, while approach tells you how it examines it.
28 results for “Ancient worship”
Clear searchMarvin W. Meyer · Historical sourcebook · 1987
I recommend The Ancient Mysteries because it gives an excellent view of the Gentile religious world in which Paul preached. Rather than leaving the mystery cults as vague names in a textbook, Meyer lets the…
View recommendation →El, the Exodus, and the God Who Came from Sinai
…ells the religious history of Israel in approximately this way. The patriarchs originally worshipped the Canaanite high god El. Yahweh was a separate deity from the southern wilderness—perhaps Midian, Edom or Seir—whose worship was later brought into Israel. Over time, the two go…
Read article →History, heresy, and the temptation of private Christianity
…nostic impulse has reappeared within modern Protestantism, particularly in North America. Ancient Gnostics, on his account, sought salvation in private illumination rather than the public life of a believing community. Modern Protestants likewise elevate the knowing self over the…
Read article →An unrequited love for the historic Church
…leave an institution that binds the conscience beyond Scripture are said to resemble the ancient Gnostic impulse—a flight from matter, history, authority and ordinary Christian fellowship into a private world of disembodied knowledge. The charge would be easier to dismiss if I f…
Read article →Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ
…lvation and universal allegiance to Him. This is not merely a rule that Israelites should worship their own national deity. It is a claim upon the nations because He alone is God. The God who declares, saves and forgives Isaiah 46:9–10 connects uniqueness with God’s declaration o…
Read article →Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose
…d's purpose The New Testament teaches a unity so profound that it would have startled the ancient world. In Christ, Jewish and Gentile believers are reconciled to God in one body. Both possess the same Spirit, approach the same Father, and inherit salvation on the same basis. It…
Read article →The incarnation, the limits of created perspective and the love philosophy could not imagine
…they are true. But we should not pretend that they are philosophically ordinary. To many ancient minds, the idea would have sounded almost absurd. The higher belonged above; the material belonged below. Perfection meant freedom from change, bodily weakness and suffering. The jou…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…rsian decree begins the count, whether the relevant year should be 445 or 444 BC, how the ancient calendars should be correlated, and which date best fits the crucifixion. Even the popular summary of Anderson's arithmetic is often misstated: the final twenty-four days are not sim…
Read article →Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body
…omplish God’s will. There is also a translation detail worth knowing. Hebrews follows the ancient Greek form of Psalm 40, which says, “a body hast thou prepared me.” The Hebrew wording reflected in the King James Version of Psalm 40:6 says, “mine ears hast thou opened.” These exp…
Read article →Eustathius of Antioch, the human soul of Christ and the pictures created by our words
…another person. The man Jesus is the Son living as man. A modern hand inside a glove This ancient problem has not disappeared. It survives in many of the simple images Christians use when explaining the incarnation. Ray Comfort has sometimes said that God created a human body for…
Read article →Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation
…the divine Son. They commonly ask where Jesus said the exact modern sentence, “I am God; worship me,” as though Christ’s identity depended upon His reproducing a formula chosen by His questioner. The Qur’an itself rejects both the deity of Christ and divine Sonship (for example,…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…o trace the development accurately: neither excusing indefensible words nor forcing every ancient writer into a modern category. The apostolic starting point was Jewish The earliest Church did not think of Christianity as a Gentile religion which had displaced Israel. Jesus and t…
Read article →A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation
…plicit sequence as an imposition, constructs two questionable seven-year fulfilments from ancient history, and makes AD 70 exhaust a prophecy whose narrated conclusion reaches the visible coming of Christ. The article’s governing problem is selective compression. Passages are col…
Read article →Testing Islam's evidence for divine revelation
…ed, written, collected and transmitted with remarkable stability. Its language has shaped worship, law, civilisation and personal devotion across many centuries. The informed argument is therefore cumulative: Muhammad was not equipped by ordinary education to produce the Qur'an.…
Read article →The covenant son and the sacrifice that points to Christ
…d God's provision of a substitute becomes the location of Israel's temple and sacrificial worship. Abraham calls the place Jehovah-jireh: "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen" (Genesis 22:14)…
Read article →A response to Michael Horton on the land promise, Amos 9, and the people of God
…come “seek.” The difference probably reflects either a distinct Hebrew textual form or an ancient interpretive rendering. It should be examined rather than silently harmonised. James introduces the quotation by saying: “And to this agree the words of the prophets.” —Acts 15:15 Th…
Read article →The divine identity of Jesus across the Gospels
…cles are signs granted by God, not evidence that He shares God's identity. He must not be worshipped, and the Christian confession of His deity is treated as a corruption of true monotheism (Surahs 3:45-49; 4:171; 5:72-75; 19:30-36). That is the strongest recognisable form of the…
Read article →Sources behind Qur’anic narratives
…kthall). It then tells of young men who believed in God while their people embraced false worship. They withdrew into a cave, where God caused them to sleep for many years. When they awoke, they supposed they had slept only a day or part of a day. One was sent into the city with…
Read article →Spiritual ecstasy, altered states, and discerning what is from God
…confined to one religion. They appear in forms of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islamic mysticism, ancient paganism, occultism, New Age spirituality, and some movements carrying the Christian name. This should immediately make us cautious about the claim that the experience authenticates…
Read article →The Messiah cut off before the Temple fell
…e Christian case; it is simply the truth. The Old Greek witness Daniel also circulated in ancient Greek. The earlier Old Greek translation arose within Jewish transmission before it was displaced in most Christian manuscripts by the version associated with Theodotion. The Old Gre…
Read article →Creation, judgement, and the coming reign of Christ
…that some Christians instinctively recoil from the subject itself. We rightly reject the worship of nature. We rightly deny that human policy can redeem a creation subjected to the curse. We rightly resist movements which diminish the unique dignity of man as the image of God. B…
Read article →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
…. Nor does the literacy level of Galilean fishermen settle how testimony reached writing. Ancient authors could use scribes. Mark and Luke were not members of the Twelve. A community could preserve eyewitness testimony through literate associates. The question must be investigate…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
…ed. Yet they did not disappear into the nations among which they lived. Their Scriptures, worship, identity, and hope of return endured. On 14 May 1948, Jewish sovereignty was re-established in the ancestral land through the declaration of the State of Israel. That event does not…
Read article →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
…lks upon the waters in a manner which recalls the LORD’s mastery of the deep. He receives worship rather than refusing it. He identifies Himself with Daniel’s Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven. He claims to possess glory with the Father before creation. He says: “Before A…
Read article →The glory philosophy could not contain
…s a box at all. That truth should do more than answer an objection. It should enlarge our worship. The Incarnation is not merely a difficulty Christianity can survive; it is glory Christianity alone can proclaim. The Maker entered His creation. The eternal Son made our nature His…
Read article →Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die
…Christianity. The emperor chose the books of the Bible. Reincarnation was removed. Sunday worship was imposed. The bishops settled everything by imperial command—and perhaps discussed rosary beads or beards while they were there. These stories differ in detail, but they share a m…
Read article →Governmental restraint, the final ten kings, and the preparation of the temple
…gs us to a practical consideration. A sanctuary must be constructed and equipped, and its worship made operational. Scripture does not tell us how long that preparation will take, but its existence at the moment of desecration implies preparation beforehand. Revelation 17:12 desc…
Read article →How Christians can think politically without surrendering conscience to a package deal
…another duty of government which can be overlooked: the duty to see danger coming. In an ancient city, the watchman stood where he could see what others could not yet see. He was not expected to defeat an invading army alone. He was expected to remain awake, recognise a genuine…
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