How did Jesus become God?
11 May 2012 9 Comments
in Jesus Tags: Bible interpretation, christianity, doctrine, history, Jesus, New Testament
Bart Ehrman, a respected New Testament scholar who is not a christian, has recently written:
“Jesus is best understood as a Jewish apocalypticist from the backwaters of a rural part of the Roman empire, a Jewish preacher who got on the wrong side of the law and was executed for crimes against the state, how is it that within sixty years of his death his followers were saying that he was a divine being? And that within 150 years they were saying that he was the second member of the Trinity?”
What are christians to make of this?
Who’s afraid of Yahweh?
07 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Doctrine Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Bible interpretation, christians, doctrine, ethics, God, Old Testament
It doesn’t take long before a thoughtful Bible reader comes across some rather odd and nasty things, especially in the Old Testament. And non-believers use the odd and nasty things as a weapon against christians: “How can you believe in a God who is genocidal?” they might say.
What are we to make of these things? Do they make it hard to maintain faith in Jesus? And how should we answer the critics?
Why did Jesus come to earth?
25 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Jesus Tags: Bible interpretation, christianity, doctrine, Good news, Jesus, mission, New Testament
Whatever christians disagree on, we all pretty much agree that Jesus’ life on earth was pivotal in world history. But what was the purpose of his life? On that, you’ll get some different answers.
Jesus the subversive
27 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bible Tags: Bible, Bible interpretation, Jesus, New Testament
Not only did Jesus re-interpret many Old Testament passages (see Interpreting the Old Testament), but he sometimes undermined the authority of the Old Testament. This has some interesting implications.
Interpreting the Old Testament
25 Aug 2011 9 Comments
in Bible Tags: Bible, Bible interpretation, Jesus, New Testament, Old Testament
A long time ago I noticed that when Jesus and the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament, they did not always do it literally or accurately, but often used translations and interpretations that did not seem to be present in the original.
I felt this was an important fact, so I researched the matter (the way to learn new truths is to examine difficult facts).
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