Some more old entries for review/for the blog, do you have any new thoughts about them?
Jesus asked John 21:22 only as a hypothetical to get the apostle Peter to confront any envy he might have over Peter's having to die a martyr's death (John 21:18-19) while the apostle John might not have to because John was "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 21:20). John 21:23 makes clear that in John 21:22 Jesus wasn't saying that John wouldn't die before Jesus came back.
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Those in the church are disciples (Acts 11:26).
The original Greek noun translated as "disciple" simply means a "learner", and Paul uses the verb form of the Greek word to refer to what those in the church have "learned" (Romans 16:17, Philippians 4:9, 2 Timothy 3:14) and need to "learn" (Titus 3:14) and can "learn" (1 Corinthians 14:31, 4:6).
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1 Corinthians 3:5 says "ye believed, even as the Lord gave", meaning that those in the Corinthian church believed because the Lord had given to them his miraculous gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8, John 6:65, Acts 13:48).
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"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4:11). Here "glorified" is the translation of the original Greek verb "doxazo", from the noun "doxa", which means honor, praise, worship. 1 Peter 4:11 means that those obedient to God through Jesus Christ should do all things to God's honor, praise, and worship.
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Jude 1:22-23 refers to the two basic ways that we save people, depending on what those people are like. We save some people by concentrating on God's compassion, His loving mercy toward sinners (Romans 2:4b); while we save other people by concentrating on God's fire-and-brimstone punishment of those sinners who refuse to repent; that is, we save some people primarily through the fear of God (Matthew 10:28b, Revelation 14:6-7).
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Our English word "worship", as Christians use it, means reverence paid to God; it comes from a Middle English word literally meaning "worthiness". When we "worship" God we are saying that he is "worthy": "worship him that liveth for ever and ever . . . Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:10b-11). Note that here God's "worthiness", his "worship", is connected with his identity as the sole Creator of everything. Here the original Greek word translated as "worship" means to revere, and the original Greek word translated as "worthy" means deserving. As Creator, God is deserving of reverence from all of his creatures. As God the Word, Jesus Christ himself is the Creator of everything that exists (John 1:1-3,14, Colossians 1:16-18), for God created everything by speaking his Word (Genesis 1:3, Hebrews 11:3). So Christians worship Jesus no less than God the Father (John 20:28); Jesus and the Father are one God (John 10:30). We must worship God in this truth (John 4:24b, John 14:6), and in God's Holy Spirit (John 4:24), who is one God with the Father, and with God the Son (Hebrews 1:8), Jesus Christ (John 10:36, 3:36, Matthew 28:19, Romans 8:9). [Note that Jesus doesn't tell people not to worship him, or praise him.]
It's not that God needs glory from us, for God doesn't need anything. But it is to his pleasure to be glorified, and he created everything for his pleasure (Revelation 4:11). And because his Consciousness is infinite, he can never max out on pleasure. Also, the glory that God gets by his work on the earth is not just the glory that we give him (e.g. Romans 15:9), but also the glory given to him from all of the angels in heaven (even the fallen), who can better realize (or be forced to admit) how great God's wisdom is by watching what he's doing on the earth with the church (Ephesians 3:10).
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The ministries of the old testament prophets weren't based on their backgrounds, but on divine inspiration (Amos 7:14-16, 2 Peter 1:21, 2 Timothy 3:16).
While Jesus was the prophet (Acts 3:22-26) and was also a carpenter (Mark 6:3), his parables didn't employ similes based on carpentry, for Jesus wasn't speaking from his own experience or his own ideas, but only what God the Father told him to speak (John 12:49, 14:24b).
Similarly, while Amos was a prophet and was also a herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit (Amos 1:1, 7:14), his message rarely employed herding similes and never used a sycamore simile, for, like any prophet speaking the word of God himself, Amos' message wasn't based on his own experience or his own ideas (2 Peter 1:21), but was what God told him to say (Amos 7:15-16).
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Actually, the Bible itself says that it is inspired: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16).
The original Greek word translated as "inspiration" in 2 Timothy 3:16 is "theopneustos". "Theos" means God and "pneustos" means "breathed". God's "breath" is the same as his "Spirit", his Holy Spirit. So saying that the Bible is inspired by God means that the Bible "came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). This means that those who wrote the Bible weren't just writing their own ideas, but the ideas that God's Holy Spirit moved them to write.
It means that all of the "doctrine" and "instruction" contained in the Bible is from God, that God conveyed infallible doctrine and instruction to us through the writers of the Bible: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The doctrine and instruction of the Bible can be translated into any language. No part of the Bible is from a non-inspired source (2 Timothy 3:16).
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The JW religion says that all Bible translations are incorrect except for its own translation, which inserts words not in the original texts, and mistranslates verses, when verses left alone would contradict its mistaken doctrines. Also, when verses can't be altered or mistranslated enough to not contradict its mistaken doctrines without those altered or mistranslated verses losing all connection with the original texts, the JW religion claims that no one can properly understand those verses apart from reading its own publications, which purport to explain those verses in a way that supports its mistaken doctrines.
Because the JW religion can't endure the sound, Biblical doctrine that God requires an infinite amount of suffering for sin (Matthew 25:41,46, Revelation 20:10,15, Revelation 14:10-11, Mark 9:45-46) and that Jesus is one God with the Father (e.g. John 1:1,14, John 10:30, John 20:28, Philippians 2:6, Revelation 2:8, Titus 2:13), and replaces these doctrines with its own fables, the JW religion is one fulfillment of the Biblical warning in 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
By trying to get rid of God's requirement of an infinite amount of suffering for sin, the mistaken JW religion thinks that it has no need for Jesus to be fully God. Instead, the JW religion tries to claim that Jesus is only Michael the archangel, even though the Bible makes clear that Jesus isn't any angel, but God the Son (Hebrews 1:4-2:16).
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God had the Israelites kill the Canaanites as part of his righteous judgment against the Canaanites' sinfulness (Deuteronomy 9:4).
But even under the Old Covenant, God never commanded indiscriminate violence; any violence he commanded was just and right (Deuteronomy 32:4), usually a punishment from him for unrepentant wickedness: "for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee" (Deuteronomy 9:4).
While all of human life together has no relative value compared with God Himself (Isaiah 40:15,17), it still does matter if one human murders another human (Exodus 20:13). Under the Old Covenant, God's commanding the Israelites to kill the Canaanites was not genocide, or the murder of an entire people by humans, but rather was God's own capital punishment of the Canaanites for their unrepentant sins (Deuteronomy 9:3-5).
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Q: Do I pray to Jesus or God or both?
A: Jesus told us to pray to God the Father (Matthew 6:9-13), but we might also pray to Jesus (John 14:13-14). For Jesus is also God (Jn. 1:1,14, 10:30, 20:28, Titus 2:13, Philip. 2:6, Mt. 1:23).
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In Jeremiah 31:1-7, "the remnant of Israel" is the very small remnant of genetic Israel which will be saved (Isaiah 1:8-9, Romans 9:27-29). While spiritual Israel, the elect, is the only Israel God has ever loved (Romans 9:11-13), the elect includes a remnant of genetic Israel (Romans 9:27) as well as some Gentiles (Romans 9:24).
Jeremiah 31:1-7 by itself (like Romans 11:28b by itself) is referring only to God's love for the elect remnant of genetic Israel which will be saved (Isaiah 1:8-9, Romans 9:27-29). Other passages such as Romans 9:11-13,24 refer to God's love for all of the elect, both Jews and Gentiles.
The remnant of Israel in Jeremiah 31:1-7 is the very small remnant of genetic Israel which will be saved (Isaiah 1:8-9, Romans 9:27-29). There is also a spiritual Israel which is different than genetic Israel (Romans 9:3-8). Spiritual Israel consists of all of the elect (Romans 9:11-13), both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 9:24).
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Matthew 22:14 means that while everyone is called to believe the gospel insofar as it is preached to everyone (Mark 16:15), not everyone is elected (or chosen) by God to be granted the miraculous gift of faith in the gospel (Ephesians 2:8, John 6:65). The unelect cannot possibly believe in the gospel (John 8:47, John 10:26).
While God calls many men, he chooses to save only a relatively few of them (Matthew 22:14).
Many are called to repentance, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14) to be miraculously granted repentance (2 Timothy 2:25).
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John 12:46 means that Christ will draw all manner of men to himself (cf. Acts 10:12,28), not all men, for not all men are the good seed sown by Christ (Matthew 13:37-43).
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The Bible doesn't say when Jesus, as a man, first knew that he is the Son of God (John 10:36), but Mary could have told him as a young boy of his virgin birth (Luke 1:35). At least by the age of 12 Jesus had full knowledge of his Sonship (Luke 2:42-50).
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John's vision of the locusts in Revelation 9:2-11 was of things that must happen in the future (Revelation 1:1, 4:1). There's no scriptural basis for claiming that these things won't literally happen just as John saw them […].
The Bible doesn't say that the locusts will be Red Chinese soldiers. That's a man-made idea.
Red Chinese soldiers won't be released from the bottomless pit (Revelation 9:1-3), as the demonic locusts will.
Red Chinese soldiers won't be given power as the scorpions of the earth have power (Revelation 9:3), as the demonic locusts will.
Red Chinese soldiers won't be commanded that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads (Revelation 9:4), as the demonic locusts will.
Red Chinese soldiers won't be prevented from killing people, but only allowed to torment unsealed people for five months with the torment of a scorpion when he strikes a man (Revelation 9:5), as the demonic locusts will.
Red Chinese soldiers won't cause men to seek death, and not find it, and to desire to die, but death shall flee from them (Revelation 9:6), as the demonic locusts will.
Red Chinese soldiers won't be shaped like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads they won't have as it were crowns like gold, and they won't have faces merely "as" the faces of men (Revelation 9:7), as the demonic locusts will.
Red Chinese soldiers won't have hair as the hair of women, or teeth as the teeth of lions (Revelation 9:8), as the demonic locusts will.
Red Chinese soldiers could have literal breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron, but they won't have wings, the sound of which will be as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle (Revelation 9:9), as the demonic locusts will.
Red Chinese soldiers won't have tails like unto scorpions, with stings in their tails, and the power to hurt men for only five months, as the demonic locusts will (Revelation 9:10).
Red Chinese soldiers won't come preaching lies (plural) about God, for Marxist communism doesn't preach anything about God but atheism. And the preaching of atheism would hardly cause the unsealed and unbelieving people of the world to feel torment like a scorpion sting, so bad that they'll want to die. The lie of atheism doesn't even torment believers with a torment like a scorpion sting, so bad that they want to die; believers simply reject atheism as an absurdity.
Red Chinese soldiers won't have a king over them, who is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon (Revelation 9:11), as the demonic locusts will; for Marxist communism is antithetical to kings and to all religious ideas, including angels and a bottomless pit.
