Nick Hassan,Mysticism is merely an outlook.The spirit is the spirt of righteousness. The spirit has a mystic outlook that is also righteous and thus will alow you to correctly interpret the parables, i.e. riddles of God.On the other hand mysticism guided by the sinful nature will take you some very stange places as has been attested to by the…[Read more]

Adam,You have no real evidence that either Ephesians or Hebrews are forged letters.  At the best you have suspicians and I have my doubts they can be called reasonable.In short we are examining the truth of scripture and I pointed out that those two letter do teach Jesus' action was one of self sacrifice and self sacrifice is a Jewis teaching…[Read more]

Thank you for bringing this up.  Here is where parables and metaphor are mentioned in that entry though you might have to scroll down a little.

Adam,I do not know about mainstream Christianity but scripture teaches that Jesus sacrificed himself for the sins of each of us, Ephesians 5:3, Hebrews 7:27, and Hebrews 9:26.  It does not teach he was a human sacrifice.As far as I can see calling Jesus' act of mercy a human sacrifice is just a way to call what is good, evil.God stated he…[Read more]

Adam,It is true that I hold both Matthew and Luke to be reliable witnesses because their teachings are consistent with the good news of the Messiah and the rebirth in spirit.  I have no shame in this as I believe is speaks that my soul hungers and thirsts for righteousness which is a blessing from God.   Since I hold them to be reliable it f…[Read more]

Adam,The bible is a book of mysticisms and often requires one to have a mystical outlook as well as one that seeks righteousness to understand it more completely. I do admit that there are those that go too far in such an outlook but there are also those that do not go far enough. God does seem to like riddles or at least use them for teaching.…[Read more]

Kangaroo Jack,Once again you fail to understand what scripture means when it states that the watchmen watches in vain unless the Lord watches over the city, Psalms 127:1.In the same way the accuser accuses in vain unless the Lord is with him.   This is true even when the Lord's motives are different than the accuser.As far as I can tell you are…[Read more]

Quote (Nick Hassan @ June 03 2010,03:42)Hi KW, The sons of God rejoiced when the foundations of earth were laid.Also seen Ps 89, Jb 1-2, Gen6Good point about Job 38. I plan to to look up Genesis 6 and Psalms 89 when I have time and remember to, God willing. Your fellow student,Kerwin

George,Jewish Law is the application of their interpretation of God's law to possible occurrences in life.I believe I do understand their reasoning though as the penalty for the actions they state self sacrifice is not suicide for is death. Since God sentences you to death for these actions it follows that if you kill yourself to avoid doing them…[Read more]

Kangaroo Jack,Do you know that Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word and means the Lord saves.  Why do you think the people of that time chose to translate the meaning of the name from one language to another instead of using Jesus' given name which was most likely Joshua?  To me it seems clear in that they believe the name spoke of a q…[Read more]

Quote (Kangaroo Jack @ June 02 2010,13:44)Quote (kerwin @ June 02 2010,18:21)Kangaroo Jack,How do you conclude that Mosses was not a savior from Numbers 20:16?Hi Kerwin,Moses said that the Messenger of Jehovah delivered “US” including himself. He included himself among the delivered. Therefore, Moses was not a “savior.” Furthermore, the song of…[Read more]

Adam,I have agree that the Jews of the First Century and their ancestors where adherents of a mystical religion but probably not apocalyptic beyond satisfying a general curiosity.They believed in angels both fallen and non-fallen as well as demons and looked for hidden meanings in the words of God.

Adam,Thank you for answering and I agree that the main topic of Leviticus 17:11 is about explaining to the people of Isreal-Judah why God chose to ban the eating of blood.  God's explanation though is that the blood among other things was given to the Israelites to make atonement for their lives.  You did not clearly make the point that he was s…[Read more]

Adam,I agree that Isaiah 14 may not be speaking of Satan but then I see no evidence that Paul even held such a belief when he spoke of Lucifer.  Paul is speaking of a fallen angel who he refers to as the morning star.  Jews do believe that there were angels that fell from heaven.Satan is believed to be such because Jesus stated he saw Satan fall f…[Read more]

Kangaroo Jack,How do you conclude that Mosses was not a savior from Numbers 20:16?

Adam,What is your position on Leviticus 17:11?

Adam,This might come as a surprise but God does things without telling human beings why he does them.   The bottom line is that he is always right.  So if he does something then why would I say he would not do it because he had no motive when I simply do understand his motivation?  That is one of the hidden things of God.  He did not tell me why…[Read more]

Quote (gollamudi @ June 02 2010,11:53)Thanks brother Kerwin,I already know that site. It is irrelevant for me since I believe Jesus was born to human parents.Adam,I was not arguing one way or another on who were Jesus parents but just pointing out that according to Jewish traditions an adopted child is treated as a natural child.  This accounts…[Read more]

Adam,I found a Messianic Jewish site that points out what scripture and the Talmud state about the practice of adoption in the Hebrew culture.Talmud reads:Quote R. Simon b. Pazzi once introduced an exposition of the Book of Chronicles as follows: 'All thy words are one, and we know how to find their inner meaning'. , And his wife the Jewess bore…[Read more]

Kangaroo Jack,You are correct that Satan is the accuser of our brothers who accuses them night and day before God.  If he has done what John states in Revelations 12:9-10 then he is hardly in the lake of fire.  In fact he in a like manner accused Job in the book of that is why he tempted David to take a census.  Why 1 Chronicles also declares Go…[Read more]