When I was in the Army, I thought it would be cool to get a tattoo that said, “I run with scissors!” with a skull and cross-scissors above it. I was telling my brilliant idea to my father, who told me, “Son, most people I know who are my age and have tattoos are folks that got the tattoos when they were your age and now they regret it.”
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Greek
Abundant Eternal Possession
I came so they could have life and so they could have it abundantly.
-Jesus
Eternity lasts forever, so not a single day could be added to or taken away from it. What, then, does Jesus mean when He says that He wants us to have eternal life abundantly? It is not that He wants us to have more eternity, but that He wants us to have more in eternity.
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Hanukkah, Jesus, and Potato Pancakes
Hanukkah had begun in Jerusalem. It was winter and Jesus was walking around in the temple at Solomon’s Porch, so the Jews surrounded Him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us bluntly.”
Jesus answered them, “I told you and you don’t believe. The work that I do in the name of My Father testifies on my behalf, but you don’t believe, since you are not from My sheep, as I’ve told you. My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me and I give them everlasting life and they will never ever perish and nobody will pry them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all and nobody can pry them from the hand of My Father; My Father and I are one.” (John 10:22-30)
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”
-Yoda
In the Star Wars franchise, “The Force” is a metaphysical energy source that flows in all and through all. There is a dark side and a light side and characters can manipulate the force to do the bidding of whichever side they align with. The Force is impersonal, that is, it does not have a will, intellect, or emotions.
It’s no secret that The Force was not George Lucas’ creation, but spurred from the New Age Movement of the 1960s-70s, which was actually rooted in ancient philosophies and religions that were around before the Bible was completed. The early Church had to deal with proto-New Age heresies that developed when people combined Paganism with Christianity. The early councils gave us some great creeds (and a cool story about the infamous Santa punch), but unfortunately, some modern forms of these ancient heresies are still attacking the doctrine of the Holy Spirit today.
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What does the word, “baptize,” mean?
Here are some samples of Greek literature that were written before or around the same time as the New Testament. They all use a particular word in Greek and you’ll find the English translation of this word in boldface. Read the passages and see if you can come up with an idea of what the word means:
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Read the Bible like an Architect Part II
This is Part II of a two-part series. Read Part I.
We are reading the Bible like architects by using what we know to find what we don’t know. In the last article, we looked at the core of Jas 2:14-26 and saw that “justify” only means “to declare righteous.” God calls someone righteous when he believes and people call someone righteous when they see his good works. For example, Abraham was justified by and before God by faith and he was justified by and before men by works.
Here are nine easy things we noticed about Jas 2:21-25 in Part I:
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