Paul and Olena Miles with Grace Abroad Ministries
A statue of Reverend John Harvard wearing a rainbow flower necklace.
Reverend Harvard, the namesake of Harvard University, was a teaching elder at the First Church in Charlestown.
Harvard University was established in 1636 to train Christian ministers. Here are two points from the Harvard “Rules and Precepts” from 1646 that express the original sentiment:
[Read More]
One common argument in favor of the Quran being legitimate revelation goes like this:
In the Holy Quran, God speaks about the stages of man’s embryonic development, 1,400 years before modern day scientists ‘discovered’ important information on creation of man and his development:
We created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed. Then We made the drop into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a mudghah (chewed-like substance)… [Noble Quran 23:12-14]
[…] How could Muhammad (peace be upon him) have possibly known all this 1,400 years ago when scientists have only recently discovered this using advanced equipment and powerful microscopes which did not exist at that time? (source)
There are two assumptions here: 1) that men did not know about the development of embryos and 2) that they could only know from revelation from the creator. But, here’s why this argument is rather weak.[Read More]
When you take an in-depth look at the events in the book of Ruth leading to Ruth and Boaz’s marriage, you come to believe that Boaz might have actually been a victim of sexual assault very similar to date rape. This is a rather harsh accusation to make blindly, so let’s take a look at the evidence. The argument begins in an unlikely place: the conflict between Saul and David.
When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks. And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. (1 Samuel 24:1-4 ESV)
Now, where it says, “and Saul went in to relieve himself,” the Hebrew is a bit more graphic. More literally translated, it would say, “and Saul went in to cover his feet.” What does that mean? Well, first of all, the word, “foot,” can be confusing. In Russian, we have the word, noga, which can mean the entire leg. There is much controversy about how they nailed Christ to the cross, because the Greek word for “hand” can also include the wrist and above. Hebrew has one word, kârâ‛, which apparently comes from a primitive root meaning “to bend.” This kârâ‛ is said to mean from the knee down. But, the body part that Saul covers is the regel.
[Read More]
In part one of this post, we saw that the Law was set up to protect Israel, and we saw that Deut 22:13-30 contains laws to protect her from sexual debauchery. We looked at Deut 22:13-22, and are driving through vs 23-30 in this post. If you haven’t read part one, please do so.
[Read More]
Does God condone raping and buying virgins? This might seem like an odd question, but it is a sincere question that a close friend asked me a while back. The short answer is, “no,” but, let’s take a look at the Bible passage where my friend’s question comes from. The particular passage that he had in mind was Deuteronomy 22:28-29:
[Read More]
You must be logged in to post a comment.