“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” Hebrews 1:1. So many people today resent the Old Testament as a dark and wrathful document of hate which paints God as a bipolar monster. And it’s understandable when we consider it only on... Read more
Here is a shock. In the King James Version, there is no New Testament post-resurrection verse where believers are ever instructed to “choose Christ.” Here is why. There is a difference between “willpower” and “willingness.” Choosing requires “willpower.” Effectual faith requires “willingness.” The former is man striving. The latter is God abiding. Here is a German word which explains it all: “GELASSENHEIT!” This beautiful German word simply means “letting-be.” But this meaning has prismatically blossomed over the last several hundred... Read more
Here is a quick historical survey of the EARLY CHURCH regarding their surprising beliefs about HELL: THE FIRST 500 YEARS: In the first five centuries there were six known theological schools. Four of them taught that all men would EVENTUALLY be rescued from Hell, a doctrine which came to be known as “Apocatastasis” (the eventual restitution of all living things to Christ). These four theological schools taught that all humans would EVENTUALLY be rescued from Hell: these being the theological... Read more
I had the honor of teaching my firstborn how to read. And it bonded us in a special way. How much more should we then let Abba’s paternal Spirit teach us to better read Scriptures. And, even on a more common sense level, shouldn’t we also grant the early church fathers a parental role in tutoring us on the reading styles prevalent in Jesus’ day? They knew the colloquial language and reading styles of Jesus’ world much better than we... Read more
Obviously, the early Church Fathers never actually watched the Matrix trilogy of movies. But, then again, maybe in some archetypal way, the Lord projected the movie’s major themes across time and space onto the screens of their corporate consciousness. I am awestruck at how closely the cosmology of the early Church lines up with metaphorical symbols in The Matrix movies. Cosmology is simply the metaphysical study of the form, content, organization, of the universe. Christian Cosmology helps us understand the... Read more
NEW AND UPDATED***THE JESUS HERMENEUTIC: THE GLORY OF ALLEGORY! “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” Hebrews 1:1. So many people today resent the Old Testament as a dark and wrathful document of hate which paints God as a bipolar monster.... Read more
Here is a shock. In the King James Version, there is no New Testament post-resurrection verse where believers are ever instructed to “choose Christ.” Here is why. There is a difference between “willpower” and “willingness.” Choosing requires “willpower.” Effectual faith requires “willingness.” The former is man striving. The latter is God abiding. Here is a German word which explains it all: “GELASSENHEIT!” This beautiful German word simply means “letting-be.” But this meaning has prismatically blossomed over the last several hundred... Read more
“I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.”– Jesus in Matthew 16:18. Below are six short allegorical possibilities from Scripture that we can apply to better understand the nature of God’s judgment and the nature of “the gates of Hell.” (See the comment section below for a discussion of how Paul frequently Christo-allegorized Old Testament narrative imagery to help us better understand New Testament dynamics, just as Jesus employed parables in the Gospels).... Read more
Were Ananias and Sapphira killed by the Holy Spirit as many claim (Acts 5:1-11)? Well, the passage doesn’t even “literally” say that God killed them, so we have to look closer at the passage’s subtext to do a fair CSI investigation as to the true cause of their deaths. Peter asked Sapphira in the literal Greek of verse 9, “Why did the two of you agree to pressure the Spirit?” (Word Study Greek-English New Testament, Paul R. McReynolds, Tyndall, pp.... Read more
Have you ever wondered why Jesus didn’t write the New Testament in His own perfect handwriting? If He had, then nobody could argue that Scripture wasn’t always literally accurate and historically perfect. And yet, Jesus didn’t do this for a very obvious reason. Had Jesus written the Gospels Himself, then we could then read them WITHOUT the Holy Spirit’s further guidance, and never question their meaning as being anything other than literal. We would, in effect, idolize literalism since it... Read more
Richard Murray
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