Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all tell the story of Jesus being anointed by a woman with oil (identified as Mary Magdalene in some accounts), and she is rebuked for it (by Judas in John’s account). Still, some details don’t seem to harmonize across all four Gospel accounts. Are they different events but with similar actions, or in the same event with conflicting information?
Continue readingContradiction: Paul Conversion Testimony
Let’s take a look at one of those “contradiction” controversies. In the book of Acts, Luke records Paul’s testimony about his conversion to following Jesus three different times. The first time is the event itself, and the second and third are retellings by Paul before the authorities. There is a discrepancy between them. Let’s look at variations between English translations (NLT and KJV).
Continue readingJourney In The Wilderness Pt.5 (Numbers 32-36)
Part 5 of the overview of Numbers with commentary featuring chapters (32-36).
Continue readingJourney In The Wilderness Pt.4 (Numbers 27-31)
Part 4 of the Numbers overview with commentary featuring chapters 27-31.
Continue readingJourney In The Wilderness Pt.3 (Numbers 19-26)
Part 3 of my overview of numbers with commentary featuring chapters 19-26.
Continue readingJourney In The Wilderness Pt.2 (Numbers 9-18)
Part 2 of the overview of Numbers with commentary featuring chapters 9-18.
Continue readingJourney In The Wilderness Pt.1 (Numbers 1-8)
Part one of an overview of Numbers with commentary. This first part features the first 8 chapters.
Continue readingLove Your Enemies
Often, people seek vengeance and revenge for the injustices and wrongs committed against them by others, yet they desire mercy when they wrong others. If you are not willing to show mercy, then you should not expect mercy in your life (Lev 19:18, Matt 6:14-15, Col 3:13). True justice is given out by God (Deut 32:35, Prov 20:22, Prov 24:29), so believers should only respond in love, their enemies can be humbled into shame for how they treated others and repent. If they refuse, then God will condemn them. In the meantime, we must love our enemies (Prov 25:21-22, Matt 5:43-48, Luke 6:27-28, Rom 12:14-21).
Continue readingThe Bible On Self Defense
Is it a sin for Christians to defend themselves? We are supposed to turn the other cheek, right? Fighting fire with fire, retaliation, or vengeance is more in line with what Jesus said in Matt 5:38-42 when he said to “turn the other cheek”. Defending oneself against both slander and physical assault is acceptable. Jesus even told his disciples to take two swords with them for the time after his ascension (Luke 22:35-38). Throughout the Bible, God instructed Israel to go to war to defend themselves; Jesus didn’t change that.
Continue readingDoes God Value Life?
Someone made this image with the argument that the Bible doesn’t care about the sanctity of life to suggest that it’s okay for humans to take the life of the unborn. These kinds of arguments are based on misreadings of scripture taken out of context.
