The Glories of Romans 8:28

The Glories of Romans 8:28

The sons of God are under the sovereign watchcare of God (Ro. 8:28). “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

– For those who love God in Jesus Christ, this promise is one of the most precious and amazing promises in all of God’s Word. Just 13 simple words in Greek; 25 words in English, only two of which are more than one syllable, yet the teaching encompasses God’s plan of the ages and eternal election, God’s omniscience and omnipotence, God’s love, God’s redeemed people, and the earthly lives of every soul on earth. It is a companion to the teaching of Romans 5:3-5.

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching
Titus 1:12 – Epimenides’ Paradox: A Logical Discrepancy in Titus 1:12?

Titus 1:12 – Epimenides’ Paradox: A Logical Discrepancy in Titus 1:12?

Problem: Paul was a well-educated man. He was trained by the highly respected Jewish teacher, Gamaliel (Acts 22:3; 5:34), and was knowledgeable not only in Jewish Scripture and literature, but also in classical Greek literature. While lecturing a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in Acts 17:22-34, Paul, in verse 28, quoted from Epimenides’ Cretica (“For in him we live and move and have our being”) and Aratus’ Phaenomena (“For we are also his offspring”), using these two pagan poets to make a point. In 1 Corinthians 15:33, Paul quoted from Menander’s comedy Thais (“Evil company corrupts good habits”). However, when Paul spoke to Titus concerning his mission on the island of Crete, some critics have suggested that the apostle committed a logical fallacy by quoting the Cretan poet Epimenides: “One of them, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true” (Titus 1:12-13a).

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching
Scientists Learn from Flies

Scientists Learn from Flies

Your eye is a miraculous system of individual parts, all of which work together to provide vision. Light must be collected, focused, interpreted and then translated into signals that are sent to the brain, where the information is further processed and turned into the images we see. For as much as we know, modern science still isn’t quite sure how the whole system works.

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Posted by petra1000 in Apologetics, Creation, Evolution
Nothing Else but Sin

Nothing Else but Sin

If the leprous disease has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease.
(Leviticus 13:13)

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching, Prayer
2 Tim 2:16-17 – Biblical Consistency and the Believer’s Treatment of False Teachers

2 Tim 2:16-17 – Biblical Consistency and the Believer’s Treatment of False Teachers

Problem: If Christians are to be kind and loving to everyone (Luke 10:29-37), some question why 2 John 10-11 teaches, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine (‘the doctrine of Christ’—vs. 9), do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”1 Also, why did Paul instruct Timothy to “shun profane and idle babblings” (2 Timothy 2:16; 1 Timothy 6:20-21)? Are Christians to shun those with whom we disagree, and even go so far as not to greet them or allow them into our homes?

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching
Restoring the Literal Interpretation of Prophecy

Restoring the Literal Interpretation of Prophecy

The literal, imminent return of Jesus Christ was the heart and soul of the fundamentalist movement of the turn of the 20th century (last part of the 1800s and first part of the 1900s).

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Posted by petra1000 in Apologetics, Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching
2 Tim 2:15 – Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

2 Tim 2:15 – Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

Problem: This verse of Scripture ought to be very meaningful to those of us who are accountable to the Chief Shepherd of the flock. God has committed unto us sixty-six infallible, inerrant Books which we are to faithfully study, allowing the truth of His Word to become part of the very fabric of our being. We are then to teach others also (2 Tim. 2:2). “My brethren, be not many masters (teachers), knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation (judgment)” (James 3:1). We are certainly not to take this awesome responsibility lightly.

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching
Fish Teach Humans to Make Better Ceramics

Fish Teach Humans to Make Better Ceramics

When scientists finally learn how to make ceramics that can endure high temperatures and conduct electricity without resistance, they may have to thank the sea urchin for teaching them how to do it.

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Posted by petra1000 in Apologetics, Creation, Evolution
2 Tim 1:10 – If Jesus abolished death, why do we still die?

2 Tim 1:10 – If Jesus abolished death, why do we still die?

Problem: Paul affirms in this text that Christ “has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” But death is not abolished, since “death spread to all men” (Rom. 5:12), and “it is appointed for men to die once” (Heb. 9:27).

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching
Comfort, Comfort

Comfort, Comfort

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
Isaiah 40:1–2 ESV

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God,” the prophet Isaiah recorded. Let those words soak into your soul. God doesn’t say, “scold, scold.” Not “shame, shame.” Not “punish, punish.” “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching
2 Tim 1:7 – Are We to Fear God?

2 Tim 1:7 – Are We to Fear God?

Problem: The word “fear” appears in the New King James Version of the Bible 367 times. In some of these occurrences, the text is expounding upon “the fear of the Lord” and its relationship to wisdom (cf. Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7). In numerous other passages of Scripture, one can read where God commands that His creation fear Him (Leviticus 25:17; Deuteronomy 6:13; Matthew 10:28; et al.). It is widely known that one of the repeated truths in the Bible is that God’s “mercy is on those who fear Him” (Luke 1:50). It also is well known, however, that in the New Testament Paul informed Timothy that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). The apostle John went even further, saying, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment” (1 John 4:18).

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching
1 Tim 6:20-21 – Biblical Consistency and the Believer’s Treatment of False Teachers

1 Tim 6:20-21 – Biblical Consistency and the Believer’s Treatment of False Teachers

If Christians are to be kind and loving to everyone (Luke 10:29-37), some question why 2 John 10-11 teaches, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine (‘the doctrine of Christ’—vs. 9), do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”1 Also, why did Paul instruct Timothy to “shun profane and idle babblings” (2 Timothy 2:16; 1 Timothy 6:20-21)? Are Christians to shun those with whom we disagree, and even go so far as not to greet them or allow them into our homes?
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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty, Bible Study, Bible Teaching
A Look At Genesis Chapter 1

A Look At Genesis Chapter 1

Genesis chapter 1 opens the Bible with one of the most profound declarations in all of Scripture: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). These ten words establish the foundation of our faith. Before time, space, or matter existed, there was God—eternal, sovereign, and all-powerful. Unlike ancient creation myths that depict gods battling chaos or emerging from it, the biblical account presents one true God who speaks order into existence from nothing. This ex nihilo creation reveals His unmatched authority and sets Him apart as the sole Creator.

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Study, Bible Teaching