The Book of Genesis shows humanity as having a turbulent relationship with God, as in spite of the fact that He attempts to provide humans with all the resources required for them to thrive, most people fail to behave ethically. Similarly, when considering their position in regard to each-other, it appears that humans are unhesitant about committing immoral acts against other people. Jacob's act and the acts committed by eleven of his sons demonstrate that people are willing to act against their own kind in order to achieve greatness. Women are mentioned to a lesser degree and it seems that their purpose and the purpose of humanity as a whole is to perpetuate the species and live in honesty. In spite of expectations, humans appear to be determined to sin, as they are attracted to material wealth to a larger degree than they are attracted by spirituality.
The general message in…...
Many Judeo-Christina ethics are found most explicitly in the proverbs. Among them are purity, chastity, humility, and hard work.
Ecclesiastes: Possibly written by Solomon, this book is a philosophical reflection; another work of poetics/wisdom (Fee & Douglas, 1993). The author reflects near the end of his life that much of his life has been meaningless. The exact reason for this despair is unclear, though it could be because it was not in service of God, or because the pursuit of knowledge through reason alone leads to no ultimate truth. The author concludes that doing God's will is man's only duty.
Song of Songs: Again often attributed to Solomon, the Song of Songs has long been one of the most controversial books of the Bible (Harbin, 2005). It portrays the relationship between God and His people in an amorous and even erotic way. Another way of interpreting the poem is as celebrating…...
mlaReferences
Fee, G. & Stuart, D. (1993). How to read the bible for all its worth. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Harbin, M. (2005). The promise and the blessing: A historical survey of the old and new testaments. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Part 2- Does the Noah's Ark story need to be 100% true for it to have meaning? Hardly, and the two (science and spirituality) can certain coexist and find common ground.
When one looks at creation stories from various cultures, one is amazed at the similarities one finds between cultural explanations. This is perhaps because there are certain common questions that people ask about the "big" questions in life, among which, creation is often predominant. It is in the nature of humans to wonder about the unknown and search for answers. At the foundation of nearly every culture is a creation myth that explains how divine inspiration created the world, nature, and humanity. Within each culture, creation mythology provides the very basis of fundamental structure -- who are we as a species? How and why were created? Is there a master plan?
One must then ask if a creation story must be…...
Old Testament Theme
DAY OF THE LORD
The day of the Lod is a majo theme in the Old Testament, and it is mentioned in the New Testament as well. Remembe, the day of the Lod has two aspects: 1) the histoical aspect, whee some pophecies have aleady been patially fulfilled in histoy, and 2) the eschatological aspect, when pophecies will be fulfilled completely in a futue day. The futue day of the Lod includes both the coming tibulation peiod and the coming millennial kingdom of Chist hee on this eath.
The Day of the Lod is clealy chaacteized by a pouing out of divine wath on God's enemies (Joel 2:1-2; Amos 5:18-20; Zech 1:14-15). Imagey of natual disaste, devastating militay conquest, and supenatual calamity is connected to Day of the Lod efeences.
On the othe hand, the day is also chaacteized by a pouing out of divine blessing upon God's people (Isa 4:2-6;…...
mlareferences to blessing expand from David's kingdom (Amos 9:11-15), Zion (Isa 4:2-6), and all of Judah (Zeph 2:7), to the entire earth (Zech 14:6) and its creation (Isa 11:1-10; Hos 2:18). The Day of the Lord not only has
The scenario of outright conquest seems unlikely because of the vast organization in a relatively short period of time that it would have taken. A fully-armed and organized mass invasion of what was to become their homeland by a returning Israelite force seems, even by modern standards of warfare, to be an arduous and gargantuan task. Would the returning Israelites have actually slaughtered anyone who got in their way? One would think God's chosen people would have shown more mercy than such a plan allows.
The idea of quiet infiltration makes sense on a small scale, but it has limitations. Such a plan would take decades and generations to actually affect change. Even after the passing of much time with infiltration, commerce, intermarrying, etc., what is the guarantee that the governing body would actually be impacted and would surrender and shift?
Revolt: a combination of warfare and infiltration is the most likely…...
Old Testament
Traditional theodicy
The ook of Job presents us several faces of theodicy and all of them make excellent examples of traditional Judaic theodicy. What is theodicy and more importantly, what are the characteristics of traditional Jewish theodicy as they appear in the ook of Job?
A discussion on traditional theodicy could probably start with an extract from Leibnitz's book "Theodicy," written in 1710, where he explains the concept of theodicy by using a syllogism:
Whoever makes things in which there is evil, which could have been made without any evil, or the making of which could have been omitted, does not choose the best.
God has made a world in which there is evil; a world, I say, which could have been made without any evil, or the making of which could have been omitted altogether.
Therefore God has not chosen the best."
Leibnitz overthrows this syllogism by stating that God, having a choice of…...
mlaBibliography
From G.W. Leibnitz, "The Philosophical Works of Leibnitz," pp. 194-197, 202-204. Published, 1890, by Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. Excerpts from the book can be found at http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/leib.htm .
The definition is taken from "Essay on Theodicy," written by Wim van den Dungen. It can be found on the World Wide Web at www.sofiatopia.org.
See Theodicies in the book of Job by Adam J. Smargon.
Isaiah, 45: 5-7
Old Testament by Elemer L. Towns the organization PDF book review
Noble Attempt
In many respects, Elmer Towns' non-fictional narrative, A Journey Through the Old testament: The Story of How God Developed His People in the Old Testament, serves as a helpful guide for correctly reading, and interpreting, the most influential events and people that occur throughout the first half the Bible (which is, of course, the Old Testament). Towns' writing style is academic, yet not so scholarly that it is difficult for the layman to comprehend. Furthermore, the author offers a number of direct quotations and passages from throughout the Bible (including some passages from the New Testament) to corroborate his findings. One of the key facets about this particular narrative is that it offers a chronological perspective of the people who directly influenced the events that are the most important in the Old Testament. By doing so, Towns is…...
mlaReferences
Towns, E 1996, A Journey Through The Old Testament: The Story of How God Developed His People in the Old Testament, Harcourt Brace, Fort Worth, TX, http://elmertowns.com/books/online/journey_ot/journey_through_the_old_testament%5Betowns%5D.pdf
Old Testament
Genesis 1: The first, foundational book of the Old Testament, defining the relationship between the creator and the creation. It defines that God and one God alone is the creator of the world.
Genesis 2: Defines the relationship of God to humanity. Humanity is lionized as superior to the other animals. Adam is given the task of naming all of the animals. Eve is portrayed as coming 'from' Adam, suggesting an inferior position of women in the eyes of many readers in successive generations.
Genesis 3: Eve's sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge is deemed greater because of her influence over Adam. Her condemnation to bear children as well as being expelled from the Garden of Eden after being tempted by the Serpent further underlines the inferior position of women in the eyes of many readers. Protestants often read this first major narrative as defining Original Sin which…...
Old Testament and the Pentateuch
The Old Testament & the Pentateuch
The Pentateuch is the Greek word for the first five books of Moses, which is also the Torah. The first five books of Moses make up the legal and ethical religious texts of Judaism. The Torah is written on a parchment scroll and referred to as the book of Torah, or Sefer Torah in Hebrew (McDermott, 2002). A specially trained scribe writes the Torah in a traditional manner that has formalized strict requirements.
The founding religious document of Judaism consists of three main parts and, in its totality, is referred to as the Tanakh. The Torah is the first of the three parts of the Tanakh (McDermott, 2002). . The Torah has five books, the Hebrew names of which are the incipits -- the first few words in the initial verses of the books -- also known as the beginning phrases…...
mlaReferences
Al-Araf (The Heights), Translations of the Qur'an, Surah 7. 206 Total verses. Revealed at Makka. Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement, University of Southern California. Retrieved / resources/texts/muslim/quran/007.qmt.html#007.144http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement
Blenkinsopp, Joseph (1992). The Pentateuch: An introduction to the first five books of the Bible. Anchor Bible Reference Library. New York, NY: Doubleday.
McDermott, J.J. (2002) Reading the Pentateuch: A historical introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press. Retrieved http://books.google.com/
books?id=Dkr7rVd3hAQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Reading+the+Pentateuch:+a+historical+introduction&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Jesus Through the Old Testament
There is no denying the impact of Jesus on Christianity and on many of the fundamental tenets that form the core of this particular religion. However, the fulfillment of the prophecy that Jesus manifested is merely one in a long line of prophecies that stem from the Old Testament. Oftentimes, this fact is overlooked by modern evangelism and teaching about Christianity. However, this very topic provides the subject of Christopher J.H. Wright's Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, which provides a prolonged, analytical look at how various facets of the Old Testament were instrumental to the life and times of Christ. In fact, one may successfully argue that it is because of the Old Testament that Jesus was able to fulfill his prophecy and provide redemption and salvation to the world at large and to Christians in particular. Therefore, the author is careful to denote…...
mlaBibliography
Wright, Christopher J.H. Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992.
End Notes
1. Christopher J.H. Wright, Knowing Jesus Through The Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarstiy Press, 1992), 108.
2. Wright, Knowing Jesus, 102.
In Genesis 3:15, God said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel." According to some biblical experts, this is an oblique reference to the coming of Messiah.
This is taken by many as one of the earliest Messianic prophecies describing Satan's brief victory over the Messiah and the Messiah's ultimate victory over Satan. It is mentioned here because the offspring (Messiah) is described as being of the woman (Eve). This is extraordinary as the nation of Israel has always been patriarchal; people are mentioned in terms of their fathers, not their mothers. Because of this, many see this verse as also being a prophecy of Messiah's birth through a virgin
Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus)
The Book of Genesis also makes reference to the importance of the lineage or the heritage of the…...
mlaWorks Cited
Alexander B. On the threshold of the New Millennium. 30 Dec. 2006. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=96960198 http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/new_millennium_threshold.htm
Clements, Ronald E. One Hundred Years of Old Testament Interpretation. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976. Questia. 31 Dec. 2006
Jesus through the Old Testament
Christopher J.H. Wright's Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament is a book written to connect the two halves of scripture, in a way that helps Christians better understand that "…it is Jesus that gives meaning and validity to the events of Israel's Old Testament history."[footnoteRef:0] Wright is an Old Testament scholar -- an Ulsterman whose own parents had been Presbyterian missionaries in razil, although he would convert and become ordained in the Anglican church, and now resides in London where he directs an international ministry. His academic background is in historical study of the Old Testament, and his first full-length book was a study of economic ethics in the Old Testament. (He confesses endearingly, but unnecessarily, in the present work that he feels much less at ease with the New Testament as a scholar.) Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament is his second work, first…...
mlaBibliography
Alexander, Paul. "Book Review: Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament." IX Marks, (accessed 15 April 2011).http://www.alliancenet.org/CC/article/0,,PTID314526_CHID598026_CIID2438290,00.html
David Murray, "Jesus never read the New Testament." The Gospel Coalition, / (accessed 15 April 2011).http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2010/04/21/jesus-never-read-the-new-testament
O'Collins, Gerald and Jones, Michael Keenan. Jesus Our Preist: A Christian Approach to the Priesthood of Christ. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Wright, Christopher J.H. 1992. Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press.
God of the Old Testament is one that must not disappear from the minds of those that embrace the Christian faith. Brueggemann notes, "The Old Testament is indispensable...because it is a peculiar witness to elusive, irascible, multilayered, multivoiced holiness that can affect agency in the world" (Brueggemann, 2015, p. 263). It is in the Old Testament that God shows His presence not just in the sense of the beginning, but also the end. Brueggemann mentions this inhabiting God as a keeper of the world as well as people's pretensions, penultimate and open, helping believers resist deadly idolatries that come packaged in the guise of something precious.
With regards to Holiness or the term 'holiness' Brueggemann mentions the irreducible otherness of God'. Meaning, God supersedes and defies a formulation, domestication, and morality in pathos/power. God then becomes through holiness, a multifaceted topic of scriptural discourse. Is then that the Old Testament becomes…...
.....prophets influence the monarchs?
By deriving their power from divinity, prophets possessed an incredible amount of credibility and influence. They provided a divine foundation of power for monarchs, and could influence the policies of monarchs because of their prophetic power. Prophets were "closely connected with kings," part of the "royal establishment," (Coogan, 2011, p. 301).
Historically, the period of prophecy roughly overlaps the period during which the ancient monarchies arose (Coogan, 2011, p. 301). The two phenomena are therefore linked. In fact, it was not until the establishment of the monarchy that prophets started to feature prominently in the Biblical narrative. This shows the close connection between religious and political power in ancient times, as well as the direct ways prophets could influence the reputation of monarchs and the decisions that those monarchs might make. Prophets continued to influence monarchs by claiming to know the word and will of God.
2. How could…...
Christian religion, the Old and New Testaments form a whole upon which its belief system is based. The transition between the Old and New Testaments resides in the person of Christ, who came to earth as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Messianic prophesy.
This transition then occurs not only through the ultimate sacrifice of Christ at his death and resurrection, but also in his ministry during his lifetime. Christ uses the Old Testament in various ways in order both to establish the new order of the New Testament, but also to validate the authority of the Old.
As the son of God, Christ shows his relationship to the Father through his respect for the validity and authority of the Old Testament. He does this in various ways, of which one is his acceptance of the history of the Old Testament. Jesus refers to various persons of the Old Testament, confirming…...
mlaBibliography
France, R.T. Jesus and the Old Testament: His application of Old Testament passages to Himself and His mission. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1982
Holmgren, Frederic C. The Old Testament and the significance of Jesus: embracing change -- maintaining Christian identity: the emerging center in biblical scholarship. Grand Rapids, Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans Publishers, 1999.
Smith, Barry D. "The Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament." Atlantic Baptist University, 2005. http://www.abu.nb.ca/courses/NTIntro/OTinNT.htm
Sper, David. "Jesus Christ and the Old Testament." RBC Ministries, 1990. http://www.rbc.org/ds/sb101/page6.html
I. Introduction
- Introduce the topic of Jesus fulfilling Old Testament prophecies
II. Background on Old Testament prophecies
- Explain some key prophecies in the Old Testament that point to the coming of a Messiah
- Discuss how these prophecies were written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth
III. Jesus fulfilling the prophecies
- Explain how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of being born of a virgin, from the line of David, and in Bethlehem
- Discuss how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of being a suffering servant and a conquering King
IV. New Testament references
- Provide examples from the New....
I. Introduction
A. Hook: The enduring legacy of Jesus's life and teachings
B. Thesis statement: Jesus fulfilled numerous Old Testament prophecies, demonstrating his divine nature and the fulfillment of God's plan.
II. Prophecy: The Suffering Servant
A. Isaiah 53:3-5
B. Fulfillment: Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection
C. Significance: Demonstrates Jesus's compassionate sacrifice for the redemption of humanity.
III. Prophecy: The Anointed King
A. Psalm 2:6-7
B. Fulfillment: Jesus's birth as the Messiah
C. Significance: Establishes Jesus as the rightful ruler of God's kingdom.
IV. Prophecy: The Prince of Peace
A. Isaiah 9:6-7
B. Fulfillment: Jesus's teachings and ministry of reconciliation
C. Significance: Offers hope and peace in an often-troubled world.
V. Prophecy: The Eternal High Priest
A.....
1. The biblical narrative of creation, which depicts God creating both men and women in his image, challenges traditional gender roles by emphasizing the inherent equality of the sexes.
2. The story of Deborah, a female judge and military leader in the Old Testament, provides a powerful example of a woman breaking out of traditional gender roles and exercising leadership and authority.
3. The teachings of Jesus Christ, which emphasize love, compassion, and service, challenge traditional gender roles by valuing qualities that are not typically associated with masculinity or femininity.
4. The role of women in the....
1. The significance of Jesus' teachings and parables in the New Testament
2. The role of the apostles in spreading the message of Christianity in the New Testament
3. The themes of love, forgiveness, and redemption in the New Testament
4. The impact of Paul's letters on shaping early Christian beliefs in the New Testament
5. The relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament in terms of fulfillment and continuation of prophecy
6. The importance of the resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament and its implications for Christian faith
7. The cultural and historical context of the New Testament and its influence on....
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