I received some questions about how divine institutions are coming under attack by Russian and Western political theories, so I thought I would adapt the answer for our blog here:[Read More]
history
Putin’s Shared Nazi Roots With The Left Part I: The Emerging of Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger was a Nazi who is loved by the Western Left as well as Russian ideologues. He was not born in a vacuum but had several influences. Heidegger’s philosophy cannot be understood holistically without understanding him on the backdrop of Nietzsche’s existentialism[1] among other issues, but to understand where Heidegger’s ideas are being repurposed in the most dangerous ways today—specifically in the Russian genocide against Ukrainians in the Russian struggle against the West—it is helpful to understand Heidegger’s role as a fascist philosopher among the 20th century Marxist discussion.
Ezra 10:6 in light of Nehemiah, Josephus, Elephantine, and 1 Esdras
The Book of Ezra records Israel’s return to the land after the Babylonian exile. The first half deals with Zerubbabel’s return and its ramifications (Ezra 1–6) and the second half deals with Ezra’s return and its ramifications (Ezra 7–10). Chapter 7 has a decree by Artaxerxes that gives Ezra permission to return, chapter 8 records the return. Then in chapter 9, Ezra learns that Israel had been intermarrying with pagans and prays and chapter 10 shows how Ezra dealt with this sin. The Book of Nehemiah would have originally been part of the same volume, so chapter 10 would actually be part of a 23-chapter book, though the versification was not added until much later.[Read More]
What about Miracle Stories?
The Bible says that we must believe in Jesus alone—not self—for eternal life. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and others say that we must contribute our works—not believe in Christ alone—for eternal life. There are stories about Catholic and Orthodox saints performing miracles, so does that mean that they were saved? The short answer is “no.”[Read More]
Four Objects Related to the 70-Year Chronology
Lately, I have been doing some work with the Book of Ezra, which begins with Cyrus’ decree that was issued, “that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished” (Ezra 1:1). Ezra does not actually quote Jeremiah, but assumes that the reader is biblically literate. The work that I am doing will explore the biblical issues further, but as I studied for that project, I came across some archaeological items that are worth discussing here.[Read More]
The Magic Elf Analogy
Roman Catholicism is a false religion. The gospel according to Roman Catholicism is not salvific. This is a point where most Christian Pluralists will disagree with Faith Alone in Christ Alone.
When we say “Faith Alone in Christ Alone,” we refer to the school of thought that a man is saved when he believes in Christ Alone for salvation, rather than believing in his own work, or, by extension, in some combination of Christ’s work and his own works. When we say, “Christian Pluralism,” we refer to the school of thought that a man does not need to believe in Christ for salvation, but can rely on his own works instead, so long as he has some belief about Jesus. There are various camps within both of these schools of thought, but that’s the issue in a nutshell (read a more thorough and boring article here or download a full book here).[Read More]