The Difference Between Reading the Bible and Meditating on God’s Word

There always has to be a good reason to read the Bible. Even

“simply wanting to know what all the hoopla was about and why people were so hyped up on it”

could already be a good reason to start reading the Bible. From that point of view, it could give some good idea of what others are saying, what would or would not be in Scripture.

Best is to read the Bible to study it and to gain more knowledge of what is written inside it. Then it will give also a good idea of what others, like clergy, are insinuating what would be standing there in those 66 books of the Book of books, the Bible, and coming to see what is really written in it.

When

“in no way shape or form, did reading the Bible had anything to do with God.”

then it would be a very difficult start, already closing some gates to receiving knowledge or to coming into conversation with God. Reading the Bible is namely like being present by someone, listening to what He has to say. Reading the Bible also gives an opportunity to come into conversation with the Divine Creator of heaven and earth, the God of gods. When starting to read what He has to say, there has to be a willingness to listen to Him.

For sure, several people coming to read the Bible,

“some of their reasons aren’t particularly holy.”

Several people want to find reasons and words to attack those lovers of God, who find those words in the Bible sacred.

Sometimes, as the article writer mentions, coming to read the Bible is

“done out of curiosity”

as her friends in school did for religious studies

“and other times it’s for understanding the religion better.”

And that is a very good reason, more people should consider why reading that book is as important as reading other basic scriptures of certain religious groups.

All people should learn about the different religions and have to go through their basic scriptures. When the reason to read the Bible is to debunk the Bible, like some atheists and other (religious) people do they would often be surprised where they end up. More than once, an atheist or even a Christian or other religious person came to see the truth and came to look for a church that is living according to those Words of God.
That

“they use part of the bible to show why other Christian religions are wrong”

is not such a bad idea, when they do it with the right intention and lovingly, to bring people closer to the One and Only Real God, the God of Israel, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah, Who is One and not two or three.

Too often, people who call themselves Christian, do not dare to open their ears fully to those words of God, but prefer to be chained to the doctrinal teachings of their church, be it a Catholic or Trinitarian Protestant Church, instead of trying to read and understand the words like they are written black on white.

When there is a willingness to listen carefully to God’s Word as presented in the Bible, the reader shall be surprised how a whole new world might open up before him or her. But then it becomes most important also to accept those Words from God and to act to the received new insight. And that last bit is one of the very difficult parts when one has lived for several years in a certain Christian denomination. Often it is easier for an atheist to become a true Christian than for a Christian to become a real follower and believer in the son of God, Jeshua or Jesus Christ. Most people coming from a certain denomination have difficulties changing their lives and changing church, after they discovered that there are differences in the teachings of their familiar church and the contents of the Bible.

The difficulty for reading the Bible is that it has to be done with an open mind geared toward spiritual growth and with a willingness to change.
The writer of this article still has to go a long way, because she writes

“After all, the time He walked the earth stone was the paper of choice”

giving an indication that she still considers Jesus to be God instead of him being the son of God. God never walked this earth. God is an eternal Spirit Being (meaning having no beginning or birth and no end = no death) no man can see. Clearly, the writer of this article is still confusing and mixing two different Biblical characters. This comes perhaps because she is so clinched or stuck by her Catholic upbringing, where they worship a Trinity and other gods and saints.

We can only hope that those who read the Bible also one moment come to listen more carefully to the Words of God and start meditating on them as well, giving a two-way communication platform to the Author of the Book of books, so that more insight and wisdom will come to them.

The writer of this article (Marita) ends very nicely but also hits the nail when she writes

“Basically, meditating on God’s word is supposed to bring about change. Change in you and the world around you.”

And changing direction and adapting their belief unto what is really written in the Scriptures is one of the most difficult tasks for people who grew up in a Christian church tradition and who have come to read the Bible more thoroughly.
And the Bible deserves a thorough reading and study to be moulded by God and filled with biblical clarity rather than church indoctrination.

 

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Preceding

People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers

People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations

God of gods

The Almighty Lord God of gods King above all gods

Is reading the Bible necessary?

Being in tune with God

How Social Media is Shrinking the Bible

Ways to Approach Difficult Bible Passages

Followers, protestors and reformers

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Additional reading

1. Bible
2. Unread bestseller
3. What Is: The Bible as Originally Written
4. Bible Word from God
5. Word of God
6. Bible Inspired Word of God
7. Today’s thought “Word of the Only One God – To be read and listened at” (November 21)
8. Bible Word of God inspired and infallible
9. Moshe Rabbenu and Torat Moshe
10. Bible in the first place #2/3
11. Appointed to be read (Our World) = Appointed to be read (Some View on the World)
12. Best to read and study the Bible
13. Not studying an abstract and arcane text of the ancient world
14. Best intimate relation to look for
15. No other god besides Jehovah who gives all explanation
16. Main verses in the Bible telling us Who God is #8 Some more attributes of God
17. Today’s thought “Jehovah God makes us dwell in safety and confident trust” (January 02)
18. Fill your hands with the Lord’s work
19. A living Word giving confidence
20. Praying and acts of meditation without ceasing
21. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #6 Words to feed and communicate
22. Pray that we will make the time to listen: listen to God and listen to each other
23. Today’s thought “On the eternity of God” (December 17)
24. Today’s thought “Ability to circumcise your heart” (May 13)
25. Conversations that Matter
26. Necessity of a revelation of creation 10 Instructions for insight and wisdom
27. Necessity of a revelation of creation 12 Words assembled for wisdom and instruction
28. Fear of God reason to return to Holy Scriptures
29. From nothingness to a growing group of followers of Jeshua 3 Korban for God or gods
30. Making time for God is crucial
31. 500 years of a provision of the Word in the language of the peoples
32. A special anniversary for the Church where Catholics and Protestants find common ground
33. Accuracy, Word-for-Word Translation Preferred by most Bible Readers
34. A Bible Falling Apart Belongs to Someone who isn’t

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Related

1. Are you making time or making excuses?
2. Practical Christianity: Give Your Time
3. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
4. Seeking God’s manna
5. The Book
6. Our Amazing Bible
7. The Original Biblical Writings
8. Scriptures
9. Purpose of Scripture
10. God breathed
11. Bible Reading Discovery
12. Conversation between God and Me
13. How to Begin Conversations with God
14. Conversations with God part 2
15. Talkative God
16. Confirms the Word
17. The Word, Faith, and Testing
18. The Word – Good News and Bad News
19. Believing God
20. A way to look for Christ, the Bible, Word of God
21. Light Unto My Feet
22. Practical Christianity: Don’t Be A Jerk
23. When My Mental Health is Suffering
24. Bad News and Good News
25. How Do I Read the Bible?
26. How to Interpret Scripture
27. Book: How (Not) to Read the Bible
28. Read the Bible in a Year
29. The Bible Tells Me SoFall in Love With Reading the Bible: 10 Tips to Keep You Motivated & Passionate
30. The Not-So-Quiet Time

Seeking Redemption

To those now deep into biblical scripture you are probably aware of the difference between reading the bible and meditating on the world. Naturally, like many young Christians, I had assumed that once you read the bible, and you knew God’s words and it was enough. But I kept hearing about ‘meditating on the word’ and never understood what it meant. Until over a decade later when I began meditating on God’s word.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and, training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work,” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Reading the Bible

I’ve read the bible twice, decades ago and still could quote a single lick of scripture. I read it just like I did with any storybook. Enough to know all the main characters and get a clear…

View original post 1,410 more words

Between theology and philosophy

Theology is a heavily loaded word, which belongs more to the domain of philosophy and when looking at the many Theology colleges or universities one can wonder if it really is about studying the Logos or Word of the Theos the God, because in the majority of such institutions most time is spent into the writings of human beings, giving more attention to the many false human doctrines than the Biblical doctrines.

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To remember

• on ThinkNet age-old debate on relationship between theology & philosophy.
• reformational school of Christian philosophy > Neo-Calvinist movement inspired by Abraham Kuyper but brought to fruition by the legal philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd and his brother-in-law, D.H.TH. Vollenhoven).
• James W. Skillen: when we write or speak + we know those reading/listening will think that any reference to a Christian, biblical perspective means “theology,” = simply talking about finding our place in the ongoing biblical drama of life in Christ–finding our place in the history of God’s work in Jesus Christ
•  N.T. Wright insist that Paul is doing “theology,” > working to explain how God’s covenant drama with Israel is now being fulfilled in the revelation of Jesus Christ
•  Paul =  following up on (or anticipating) his times of preaching + teaching in their midst, sending pointed summaries, extensions of what he already told them, + opening new vistas > communicating by living letters about life they share in Christ by the ongoing work of the Spirit.

• Augustine used word “theology” in 2 different ways > represent essentially distinction many of us are trying to make.  = offer a preliminary explanation, “life of faith” <-> “theology”
• the Christian way of life = Christian discipleship in all of life > not only a way of worship.
  
• explain + interpret Christian struggle
• multiple issues of political philosophy & “science” = to engage in theoretical enterprise including multiple “-ologies”

• “politics,” > “political life as a whole” “dirty dealing,” “actions of government” (but not citizens), or “actions of citizens +  interest groups outside government.”
• In political arena = to find ways of explaining + making distinctions

• DFM Strauss (South African philosopher and author most recently of Philosophy: the Discipline of Disciplines):1) Theology =/= theological question = domain of philosophy => “Encyclopaedia of Theology” does not mention itself as a theological subdiscipline
  
•  2) Dooyeweerd > not defend view that theology studies the faith aspect of creatio => Theology merely studies concrete reality as it functions within the faith aspect.= focuses on coherence of actual phenomena which function within that structure”
  
• 3)   Calvinism/ Calvinistic = term only be explained historically by fact that this movement originated in the calvinistic revival which toward the end of the previous century, led to renewed reflection on the relation of the Christian religion to science, culture, and society.
• Abraham Kuyper could not continue to be restricted to the reformation of the church and theology.
• 4)    Thomas Aquinas “hijacked” Christian intellectual endeavours for theology by assuming that whenever something is considered in respectu Dei (in relation to God) such an activity is theological in nature.
• Calvin Jongsma: Developing a theology of X = rampant among scholars who desire to advance a Christian perspective of X  >  Many will say = just a matter of terminology
• Ponti Venter neo-liberal New Scholasticism = expansion of Theology to include all of human life has a number of contemporary sources:

 

• marginalising of theology + religion in a secular society. => theology using secular natural science-theology debate to annihilate reformational philosophy for sake of their own financial survival.
• We now have a huge faculty of theology, catering for every possible discipline and church, while the quality of ministers that is produced is weak, and every year fewer Reformed students report to study for the ministry. There are as many vacant pulpits in the Church as professors of theology who do weak research for the University, there and there are less students in the pipeline than professors.

• 5. Neo-pragmatist scientism – or new old Scholasticism => to enlighten + govern. => Neo-pragmatism = one of worst forms of authoritarian elitisms
• Rudi Hayward: Calvin Seerveld’s attempt to dissuade people of the “theology of arts” approach.> promotion of a general spiritualization of art, or a liturgical cast to art, or an evangelizing requirement for art, as the most Christian task misses the grounding biblical insight that art as normal creatural service can be a restored and redemptive, holy act, so artistry does not need an “extra,” theologically explicit insignia to be truly full-fledged service by Christ’s body-at-large.
• Kerry John Hollingsworth: Philosophy of The Cosmonomic Idea = provided way to see that theoretical analysis (including theological analysis) does not give structural form to human experience within the creation > unpacks structural order of + for creation that is part of God’s “Let there be . . ”
  

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Find additional reading

1. Protestant denominations of the Low Countries and Abraham Kuyper
2. Wes Bredenhof on Abraham Kuyper
3. Fullness of summer and abundance of harvest found in the satisfying plenitude of life in Christ

memory's sacred domain

There’s been some interesting discussion recently on ThinkNet on the age-old debate on the relationship between theology and philosophy. For the uninitiated, ThinkNet is a mailing list of people from various disciplines interested in the reformational school of Christian philosophy (often identified by the shorthand — for good or ill — as the “NeoCalvinist” movement. But for insiders, it is a philosophical movement inspired by Abraham Kuyper but brought to fruition by the legal philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd and his brother-in-law, D.H.TH. Vollenhoven).

On this point I have found useful Dooyeweerd’s introduction to his philosophy, In the Twilight of Western Thought, which has a chapter on theology and its relation to philosophy. One of his students, Johan P.A. Mekkes, also has a nifty volume on the topic, recently translated into English as Creation, Revelation and Philosophy. 

I present below snippets of the discussion, with some editing on…

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Ogen open doen voor transparante verkondiging te zien

In onze huidige wereld willen mensen voor alles wel een uitleg vinden. In de vorige decennia namen velen omtrent het geloof hun toevlucht in interpretatieve geschriften.
De laatste jaren is de hermeneutiek de belangrijkste wetenschap geworden in de theologie.

Velen vinden het moeilijk om dat alles te verbinden met het leven hier en nu. Maar moet men daar niet stellen dat velen het veel te ver gaan zoeken? Heeft de mens werkelijk zulk een noodzaak aan al die theologische werken?

Men zou eigenlijk kunnen verwachten dat de Bijbel op zich toch genoeg duidelijkheid zou moeten kunnen scheppen. In wezen kan die dat ook maar de meeste mensen schenken nog het liefst het meeste vertrouwen in mensen die zij rondom zichzelf kunnen benaderen. Schrijvers en denkers van nu spreken hen dan ook het meest aan.

Velen blijken te vergeten dat het Christelijk Geloof niet zo moeilijk hoeft te zijn of niet zo overgoten moet zijn met onbegrijpelijke verhalen of gebeurtenissen. Men moet maar de bijbel ter hand nemen en men zal, als men zijn ogen open doet, wel de transparante verkondiging weten te zien.

Review: What happened at the cross?

We never hear such thing as people having an “idea that God killed Jesus”, but with trinitarians such ideas are possible, the same as they think God gave Himself on the cross for the sins of the people.

Naturally when a church creates all sorts of false teachings, starting with making Jesus in their god, they continually have to create new false teachings, like Jesus having a mother than God would have to have a mother a.o..

It is curious to see how different protestant groups handle with the atonement and do not see that Jesus did not do his own will (what he would have done if he is God) but did the will of God, and as such gave himself as a ransom for all.

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To remember

Jesus is the most fully realized revelation of God that we’ve got, and what we can see of God in the life of Jesus is the perfect example of self-limitation and humility. (p238)

• many Christians naively believe that the Payment Model (or penal substitution theory) = commonest view in Western world =  only one => ‘atonement wars’
  
• Tony Jones, associated with the ‘emergent’ stream of Christianity, his book sets out all the major (plus a few minor) theories of the atonement and tries to reach a balanced assessment of each one.
• God’s with us, expressed in the cross, => ours with him. = what the atonement is really all about.
• Trinitarians must believe God is by nature self-limiting, choosing to use his sovereign freedom to unite himself to humanity in the person of Jesus, and especially in the sufferings of Calvary.
• Some believe that the frequent emphasis on a bloodthirsty God, marked by punishment and sending folk to hell, is one reason for the decline of Christianity in some of its historic bastions.
• rivalries developed, leading to violence. Sacrifice developed as a safety-valve: violence was perpetrated on an innocent victim, making everyone feel better, at least for a while. Meanwhile, the person sacrificed was perceived as almost divine, because their death had had such a powerful violence-quenching effect on the society
• Nowhere does the OT law explicitly condemn child sacrifice (the closest it comes is Lev 18:21), though the practice was common among Israel’s neighbours.
  But Israel did not practise it (Jephthah’s killing of his daughter is a rare exception).
  Animal sacrifice, by contrast, soon became an integral part of Israel’s worship, and it was the blood that made it valid
  (Lev 17:10-16). Two kinds of blood sacrifices were seen as appeasing God: the guilt offering and the sin offering (the kind offered at Yom Kippur). These continued through the desert years, and continued when the Israelites were settled in the land, becoming more elaborate, in spite of the prophets’ condemnation (e.g. Hos 6:6). Their practice continued into the time of Jesus.
• So God took something that humans were already doing — being violent and shedding blood — and made it sacred. He
  went along with them where they were at, but did not see it as the ideal, and he took human sacrifice out of the picture.
  The sacrificial system controls violence, giving it boundaries.
• occasional verse talks of God’s anger at particular sins or human behavior that God considers an abomination, > overarching message of scripture is clear = God created us, God loves us, + God wants the best for us. => Bible = rife with stories of God going out of his way to set people on the right path — despite our failures, despite our sins.
• A lot of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the regnant interpretation of Jesus’ death as primarily the propitiation of a wrathful God. 1. we don’t experience God as uber-wrathful toward us. 2. it simply doesn’t make sense that God would game the whole system so that he has to kill his own son just to vitiate this wrath. It just doesn’t smell right. (p26)

• Calvin + others upped the ante from Anselm => not just that Jesus made our payment for us, = he pays a penalty on our behalf — a penalty that we cannot pay. In theological jargon, this is how it goes from substitution to penal substitution, the “penal” connoting the penalty. This change happened during the Reformation, and it remains popular today. (p113)

• supposed to learn about love from God => idea God predestined us to sin = results in our eternal damnation + requires God’s Son to die on the cross, teaches very little about love. (p132)

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Additional reading

1. Atonement And Fellowship 6/8
2. Atonement And Fellowship 7/8
3. In the death of Christ, the son of God, is glorification
4. Omniscient God opposite a not knowing Jesus
5. Redemption #2 Biblical solution
6. Redemption #4 The Passover Lamb

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Further related

1. 15/01/2018: Atonement 10
2. Facets Of Redemption
3. Mimesis and atonement
4. A better way to view the atonement of Christ: Christus Victor
5. Athanasius as Interpreter of the Trinity: Why the Nicene Creed and Penal Substitution Are Incompatible, Part 2 | New Humanity Institute
6. Thinking Outloud: Atonement
7. Triune Atonement in Westminster
8. How to Understand the Once for All Sacrifice of Jesus Christ
9. What the crucifiers didn’t understand
10. Penal Substitutionary Atonement Exemplified In Film
11. Irenaeus and the Problem of (Greater) New Testament Wrath
12. Penal Substitution is good news
13. Penal Substitutionary Atonement – a myopic narrative.
14. Review: Tom Wright on the Crucifixion
15. Why you should read Ian McEwan’s ‘Atonement’

Dave's Deliberations

This book’s title may mislead you. It is really an examination of the main theories of the atonement; the idea that God killed Jesus on the cross is just one aspect of the Payment Model of the atonement. The book is:

Did God Kill Jesus?: Searching for love in history’s most famous execution by Tony Jones (HarperOne, 2015).   

The ‘atonement wars’ are raging right now, in spite of the fact that many Christians naively believe that the Payment Model (or penal substitution theory) that they have been taught—and which remains the commonest view in the Western world—is the only one there is. Jones’s book sets out all the major (plus a few minor) theories of the atonement and tries to reach a balanced assessment of each one.

The major ones he designates the Payment, Victory, Magnet, Divinity and Mirror models. He assesses each against the answers it offers to…

View original post 3,084 more words

Application of old pagan concept of trinity

Many who believe in the trinity are surprised to learn that the idea of divine beings existing as trinities or triads long predated Christianity. Yet the evidence is abundantly documented. So let us have a look at some of the evidence.

Marie Sinclair, Countess of Caithness, in her 1876 book Old Truths in a New Light, states,

“It is generally, although erroneously, supposed that the doctrine of the Trinity is of Christian origin. Nearly every nation of antiquity possessed a similar doctrine. [The early Catholic theologian] St. Jerome testifies unequivocally, ‘All the ancient nations believed in the Trinity’.” — (p. 382)

Notice how the following quotes document belief in a divine trinity in many regions and religions of the ancient world.

Sumeria

Ur III Sumerian cuneiform for An or Anu, the earliest attested Sky Father deity. In Sumerian religion, he was also “King of the Gods“, “Lord of the Constellations, Spirits and Demons”, and “Supreme Ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven”, where Anu himself wandered the highest Heavenly Regions.

“The universe was divided into three regions each of which became the domain of a god. Anu‘s share was the sky. The earth was given to Enlil. Ea became the ruler of the waters. Together they constituted the triad of the Great Gods.” — (The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, 1994, pp. 54, 55)

Babylonia

“The ancient Babylonians recognised the doctrine of a trinity, or three persons in one god— as appears from a composite god with three heads forming part of their mythology, and the use of the equilateral triangle, also, as an emblem of such trinity in unity.” — (Thomas Dennis Rock, The Mystical Woman and the Cities of the Nations, 1867, pp. 22, 23)

India

Purana or “ancient, old” Manuscript

“The Puranas, one of the Hindoo Bibles of more than 3,000 years ago, contain the following passage:

‘O ye three Lords! know that I recognise only one God. Inform me, therefore, which of you is the true divinity, that I may address to him alone my adorations.’

The three gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva [or Shiva], becoming manifest to him, replied,

‘Learn, O devotee, that there is no real distinction between us. What to you appears such is only the semblance. The single being appears under three forms by the acts of creation, preservation, and destruction, but he is one.’

Hence the triangle was adopted by all the ancient nations as a symbol of the Deity … Three was considered among all the pagan nations as the chief of the mystical numbers, because, as Aristotle remarks, it contains within itself a beginning, a middle, and an end. Hence we find it designating some of the attributes of almost all the pagan gods.” (Sinclair, pp. 382, 383)

Greece

“In the Fourth Century B.C. Aristotle wrote:

‘All things are three, and thrice is all: and let us use this number in the worship of the gods; for, as the Pythagoreans say, everything and all things are bounded by threes, for the end, the middle and the beginning have this number in everything, and these compose the number of the Trinity’.” — (Arthur Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, 1928, pp. 197, 198)

Egypt

“The Hymn to Amun decreed that

Re, also spelled Ra or Pra, in ancient Egyptian religion, god of the sun and one of the creator gods, who rose from the ocean of chaos on the primeval hill, creating himself and then in turn engendering eight other gods.

‘No god came into being before him (Amun)’

and that

‘All gods are three: Amun, Re and Ptah, and there is no second to them. Hidden is his name as Amon, he is Re in face, and his body is Ptah.’

… This is a statement of trinity, the three chief gods of Egypt subsumed into one of them, Amon. Clearly, the concept of organic unity within plurality got an extraordinary boost with this formulation. Theologically, in a crude form it came strikingly close to the later Christian form of plural Trinitarian monotheism.” — (Simson Najovits, Egypt, Trunk of the Tree, Vol. 2, 2004, pp. 83, 84)

Other areas

Many other areas had their own divine trinities.

In Greece they were Zeus, Poseidon and Adonis. The Phoenicians worshipped Ulomus, Ulosuros and Eliun. Rome worshipped Jupiter, Mars and Venus. In Germanic nations they were called Wodan, Thor and Fricco. Regarding the Celts, one source states,

“The ancient heathen deities of the pagan Irish, Criosan, Biosena, and Seeva, or Sheeva, are doubtless the Creeshna [Krishna], Veeshnu [Vishnu], [or the all-inclusive] Brahma, and Seeva [Shiva], of the Hindoos.” — (Thomas Maurice, The History of Hindostan, Vol. 2, 1798, p. 171)

Arthur Edward Pearse Brome Weigall, English Egyptologist, stage designer, journalist and author, at the Temple of Edfu, before 1913

The deception is beautifully seen by the astonishing admission of Arthur Weigall who himself is a Trinitarian. Egyptologist Arthur Weigall summed up the influence of ancient beliefs on the adoption of the trinity doctrine by the Catholic Church in the following excerpt from his book:

“It must not be forgotten that Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon [the Trinity], and nowhere in the New Testament does the word ‘Trinity’ appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord; and the origin of the conception is entirely pagan …
The ancient Egyptians, whose influence on early religious thought was profound, usually arranged their gods or goddesses in trinities: there was the trinity of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, the trinity of Amen, Mut, and Khonsu, the trinity of Khnum, Satis, and Anukis, and so forth …
The early Christians, however, did not at first think of applying the idea to their own faith. They paid their devotions to God the Father and to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and they recognised the mysterious and undefined existence of the Holy Spirit; but there was no thought of these three being an actual Trinity, co-equal and united in One …The application of this old pagan conception of a Trinity to Christian theology was made possible by the recognition of the Holy Spirit as the required third ‘Person,’ co-equal with the other ‘Persons’…The idea of the Spirit being co-equal with God was not generally recognised until the second half of the Fourth Century A.D… . In the year 381 the Council of Constantinople added to the earlier Nicene Creed a description of the Holy Spirit as

‘the Lord, and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified.’

Andrey Davidson, Kingdom of God – Arius’ non-trinitarian Christian  theology

(Arian Church Facebook Group)

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Preceding

Roman, Aztec and other rites still influencing us today

Christianity without the Trinity

Next: A Father Who begat a son

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Additional reading

1. Tri-union gods and Pagan, Christian, Muslim and Jewish views on the Creator God
2. Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #1 Many gods
3. A Triple God or simply a rather simple One God
4. Trinity matter
5. Trinity – History
6. How did the Trinity Doctrine Develop
7. History of the acceptance of a three-in-one God
8. Altered to fit a Trinity
9. The Trinity – the truth
10. Trinitarian philosophy
11. Does there have to be a Holy Trinity?
12. Problems correspondents have with the Trinity Doctrine
13. How do trinitarians equate divine nature
14. The Great Trinity debate
15. Newton not believing in the Holy Trinity
16. Inspired Word
17. The habitual misreading of John 1 and the ‘Word being God’ #1
18. The habitual misreading of John 1 and the ‘Word being God’ #2
19. Who Is Jesus? God, or unique Man?
20. Jesus the “God-Man”: Really?
21. The saviour Jesus his godly side
22. The saviour Jesus his human side
23. Omniscient God opposite a not knowing Jesus
24. Jesus Christ being dispatched as the Figurehead of a Religion
25. The Christ, the anointed of God
26. Challenging claim
27. Challenging claim 1 Whose word
28. Challenging claim 4 Inspired by God 3 Self-consistent Word of God
29. Deity manifested in Messiah
30. Germanic mythological influences up to today’s Christmas celebrations
31. Problems correspondents have with the Trinity Doctrine

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Further reading

1. Is God comprised of three persons, or is He just one person?
2. Questions for those who believe in the Trinity
3. Trinity And Pagan Influence
4. The Trinity: paganism or Christianity?
5. Trinity in the Bible
6. Shiva, the destroyer yet the preserver
7. Universe according to Pythagoras – pt. 1 – Tetractys
8. A Note on ‘Biblical’ Simplicity
9. 1 John 5:7 And Matthew 28:19 – Fabricated Trinity Verses
10. What is God’s Glory and Why does it Matter?
11. Ethno-nationalism and the Christian Trinity
12. In the Newness of Prepositions
13. Labyrinth of the Week #2: Trinity Lutheran Church
14. Oneness Pentecostalism and Their False Doctrine of Modalism
15. ALiF Quotes: “Plurality of One is Duality and Plurality of Two is Trinity; everything else is their derivatives.”
16. Embrace the Mystery: Does all of theology “make sense”
17. The Trinity Dogma and the Worship of Angels
18. The Lord Jesus Christ and The Divine Trinity
19. A Glimpse of the Trinity
20. What is the Trinity?
21. The Trinity: It’s Not That Hard to Believe.
22. Easy Way To Know God’s Will
23. Trinity, logically described
24. Trinity, Part II
25. ​Unity of the Blessed Trinity
26. (Study) Jesus Is God
27. A Quick Stop at The Shack
28. Random Submission
29. Testament 26: His word is our bond
30. Islam and the Doctrine of the Trinity
31. Robert Wells Needs Help Responding to Muslims on Blogging Theology
32. The Hospitality of Abraham: The Liturgical Witness
33. Hays on Mark’s Jesus: The God Who “Walks By” On the Water
34. A Dove, 3, 7, and Creation
35. Irenaeus: Salvation is the work of the Trinity
36. Do Not Be Anxious to Be Modern In Theology
37.  Testament 24: how to receive grace and mercy 
38. Virgin Birth (Symbolism, Mythology, and Mystery)
39. Is Jesus a lesser God?
40. No One Knows the Father Except the Son: H.R. Mackintosh on the Radical Exclusivity of Revelation in Christ
41. Delighting in the Trinity
42. The Good God
43. The Curious Christian
44. Misquoted Verses #1: Judge Not
45. Let’s Get Lost: Mapping Religion in the 21st Century
46. The Most Shocking Thing Ever Uttered

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Over de overbodigheid van een faculteit theologie

Betreft al de theologische scholen valt het telkens op dat bij die instellingen wel wordt verwacht dat men geloof stelt in hun god en meestal ook wel behoord tot hun geaffilieerde kerkgenootschap.

Anders en niet gelovigen hebben het in zulke instellingen zeer moeilijk om voor de examens te slagen en daar een graad te behalen.

Natuurlijk hebben zulke hogescholen een betekenis van bestaan voor het leren van geschiedkundige achtergronden van religies, filosofische en religieuze denkwijzen, maar om er te leren wie de Ware God is en hoe Hem te dienen zijn het niet de ideale instellingen.

Voor de Ware Enige God te leren gaat men best te rade bij de Grootste Gever van Het meest juiste antwoord biedende Woord, de Bijbel. Daarin kan men de beste opleiding verkrijgen om de enige Ware God te leren kennen om Hem op de juiste wijze te leren dienen.

Men heeft geen theologie opleiding nodig om de bijbel te kunnen verstaan of begrijpen en/of om een goed Christen te worden.

*

Ter herinnering

Dawkins at the University of Texas at Austin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Maarten Boudry profileert  zich als de Richard Dawkins van de lage landen => waarmee de autistische informaticus Malakh Ahavah hem bekritiseerd op zijn dogmatische houding als atheïstische evangelist tegenover religie.

Maarten Boudry = neptheoloog

zond tweet de wereld in, (in de Wetenschappelijke taal Engels):

 

“No self-respecting university should have a Faculty of Theology. Even a Faculty of Astrology would make more sense. At least stars exist.”

.

verschillende opvattingen, > Descartes twee bewijzen voor het bestaan van God, + Lacant onderbewuste structureren als een taal

.

Universiteit Leuven > geloof van student niet geëxamineerd

theologie-studenten niet met geloof bezig houden <= Theologie op academisch niveau = niet studie in geloof

theologiestudie = confrontatie met alle facetten die mens eigen zijn: filosofie, geschiedenis, psychologie, religie en geloof

niet enkel Moslim bezig met spirituele vragen >> Spiritualiteit hoort bij de mens

.

Malakh Ahavah heeft geleerd hoe Joden, Moslims + andere gelovigen hun religie & geloof beleven + relatie tussen deze religies

Als student theoloog vooral leren denken + geschiedenis van denken onder de loep genomen

.

Theologie = geen bijbelstudie, al kan bijbelstudie er wel een deel van uitmaken.

+++

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malakhahavah

Steeds meer profileert Maarten Boudry zich als de Richard Dawkins van de lage landen, waarmee ik hem niet wil complementeren met zijn intellect, dat wil ik in het midden laten, maar wel wil bekritiseren op zijn dogmatische houding als atheïstische evangelist tegenover religie.

Maarten Boudry zal in het collectieve geheugen van de theologie altijd bekend staan als die neptheoloog die ooit brieven stuurde naar enkel conferenties, vol onzin, die ten zeerste door het theologisch establishment werden serieus genomen. Een “grap” waarmee hij nog steeds fel te koop loopt gezien zijn bijdrage onlangs in De Standaard.

Nu heeft hij het weer gedaan; onlangs zond hij een tweet de wereld in, uiteraard zoals het een goede wetenschapper betaamd in de Wetenschappelijke taal Engels, (of was het om meer lezers te trekken?): “No self-respecting university should have a Faculty of Theology. Even a Faculty of Astrology would make more sense. At least stars…

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How do I know if I’m called to ministry?

Lots of people do think only theologians may lead the church. they forget that the first churches in Christianity were not lead by theologians nor by very highly educated people, except the ecclesiae lead by Luke and Paul.

The followers of Christ arranged the meetings to bring and to keep people in the faith. also today it are those who have come into the faith who should arrange meetings and make the best of a service to study the Word of God and to worship God.

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Each believer should take up his or her task according the talents God has given him or her. Each person in the Christian community should remember that it is God Who calls and gives the blessings. We should be pleased with God’s election unto salvation and treat it carefully (Matt 9:13; 1 Cor 1:9; 7:18, 22; Gal 1:6, 15; 1 Thess 2:12; 1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 1:9).

.

We do have to follow God’s call and have to pursue the mission we are required to fulfil by Jesus Christ, going out into the world proclaiming the Gospel of the coming Kingdom. Those who are married, have no excuse saying they can not be a priest, pastor or ‘theologian‘. There is no obligation of celibacy. It may be more difficult as a married person to work for God and having a family, needing to work for a living, etc. when we do feel like we should engage ourselves in the work of God we should go for it. We should make work by studying the Bible and not as much all those theological books , writing of human beings, who were themselves not the chosen ones from God. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordecai David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Habakkkuk, Zephania, Zecchariah, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude were the men god has asked to write down His Words. Their writings we should take as the most important study material. Writings of others may be of help, but never may be receiving the priority, like they get at university and theology colleges.

.

We always should remember that Jesus asked his disciples to proclaim the Word of God, and that is what each Christian should do. The biblical criteria for being qualified for ministry is not having a degree in theology but is most of all the will to be a servant for God. It is lowering yourself and giving yourself to take any position needed to have an ecclesia or church working and growing. To get life into an ecclesia there has first to be enough desire (1 Tim 3:1) and the right character to help all those in the group of believers. (1 Tim 3:2-7).

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God Himself has given the directions for creating, making and keeping a community of believers = an ecclesia or church. We should follow His directions and offer ourselves as a person willing to take up the necessary job in that ecclesia. Please never come with the excuse you are not a theologian, for not having to organise a bible study class, or to bring prayers in front of the community, or to lead a worship service.

*

To remember

• How do I know if I’m called to ministry? = common question posed by men + women feeling a tug to full time vocational ministry.
• Each of us called to love our neighbor as ourselves + each of us is called to ministry of reconciliation that Paul speaks about in 2 Corinthians 5.
• some are called to pastoral ministry as a vocation.
• Thomas Oden’s book, Pastoral Theology, offers some very helpful + probing questions to ask yourself if you’ve received a “call” to life-long church ministry.
  • intellectual ability up to it
  • Having means of grace (worship, sacraments, Scripture) ingrained in lifestyl
  • How much willing to give up in order to serve
  • competent to lead a community of faith
  • communicate Christian message with persuasiveness and integrity
  • cultivating spiritual disciplines
  • capable of becoming competent interpreter of Scripture
• = good gut-check

+

Preceding messages

Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight

Looking for True Spirituality 7 Preaching of the Good News

Missionary action paradigm for all endeavours of the church

Good Morning January 25 We are theologians

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

The Pastor Theologian

Theology as Discipleship

What Makes a Theologian

What Should I Preach ?

How to Choose a Bible for Preaching

 

++

Additional reading

1. To know Christ is filling life with meaning
2. A voice and a Word given for wisdom
3. Bible for you and for life
4. Bric-a-brac of the Bible
5. Necessity of a revelation of creation 10 Instructions for insight and wisdom
6. When believing in God’s existence and His son, possessing a divine legislation
7. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8Hope by faith and free gift
8. Your position about materialistic desires having conquered the world
9. Looking for a shepherd for the sheep and goats
10. Making church
11. Looking on what is going on and not being of it
12. Breathing to teach
13. Showing by the scriptures that …
14. Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
15. Different assessment criteria and a new language to be found for communicating the faith
16. What Should I Preach ?
17. Necessary to be known all over the earth
18. Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian
19. A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
20. A Christian has to have eyes and ears and a tongue to use in good ways
21. Proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation
22. Preaching Christ Is Not Enough
23. Preaching by example
24. Daring to speak in multicultural environment
25. Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news
26. Preaching to an unbelieving world
27. Crisis man needed in this world
28. It is Today
29. Signs of the Last Days
30. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
31. When discouraged facing opposition
32. Learn how to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News of the coming Kingdom
33. Engaging the culture without losing the gospel
34. Counting sands and stars
35. The Big Conversation
36. The Big Conversation – Christadelphians in the United Kingdom
37. The Big conversation – Antagonists
38. Trying to get the youth inspired
39. Preachers should know and continue the task Jesus has given his followers
40. Being Missional
41. Theology without spirituality sterile academic exercise
42. Let us make sure we are not stiff-necked
43. A Synod to speak freely and to listen without reservations

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• WATCH: Donnie McClurkin Calls ‘Preachers of’ Series ‘Vulgar, Despicable, and Damning to the Body of Christ’ (blackchristiannews.com)
• Pastor Matt discusses his past experiences as an atheist – part 2 (winteryknight.com)
• Book Review: An Invitation to Christian Analytic Theology, by Thomas McCall (bennasmith.wordpress.com)
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• Romans 4 and the Sacraments (fromguestwriters.wordpress.com)

Praxis

This is a common question posed by men and women who are feeling a tug to full time vocational ministry. Now, I get it. In one sense we’re all called to ministry. Each of us is called to love our neighbor as ourselves and each of us is called to the ministry of reconciliation that Paul speaks about in 2 Corinthians 5. I’m all for this!

But while each of us is called to ministry in that way, I do believe some are called to pastoral ministry as a vocation. Thomas Oden, in his book, Pastoral Theology, offers some very helpful and probing questions to ask yourself if you think you’ve received a “call” to life-long church ministry.

The questions speak for themselves. They are as follows:

Is my intellectual ability up to it? Can I write complete sentences? Think critically? Spell sacrament? Speak intelligibly? Identify a leap in…

View original post 338 more words

Good Morning January 25 We are theologians

The world has gone far away from the real study of gods and God, forgetting that the Word of God should be the main guide.

Lots of theologians teaching at colleges and universities have fallen into heresy and other substantial errors on doctrine, having been themselves already formed on the false doctrine of the trinity.

It would be lovely if we could find more theologians who really desire to know the Most High Theos or the Elohim Hashem Jehovah. For them as for all of us this demands works of faith, learning more about Jehovah God, and walking with Him through all the activities of daily life.

As Pastor Irvin Stapf of the Life’s Meaning Ministry correctly notes that

“In this way all Christians are to be theologians”

all those who say they are a Christian should believe in Christ Jesus and follow his teachings. Like Jesus, who did not do his own will, they should do everything to please God.

We too should be as Jeshua’s disciples getting to know Jesus better, following him as the Way to God. It is our faith in him that also should motivate us enough to come to know the heavenly Father of Christ and to do like Christ, doing God’s Will and not ours. Reading the Scriptures and giving ourselves to God shall bring us closer to God and create better relationships between God’s creatures.

*

To remember

• lessons = not always easy
• many of the circumstances we face in life = tools in God’s gracious hands
• fruit of the Spirit = nature of Jesus + what God is working to form in us
• God doesn’t do away with our personality + individuality, => works Christ’s nature into these so that we may be useful to Him and to others.

+

Preceding articles:

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

The Pastor Theologian

Theology as Discipleship

What Makes a Theologian

 

++

Additional reading

1. Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight
2. Necessary to be known all over the earth
3. Bible a guide – Bijbel als gids
4. A voice and a Word given for wisdom
5. the Bible – God’s guide for life #2 Needs in life
6. the Bible – God’s guide for life #3 Fast food or staple diet
7. the Bible – God’s guide for life #5 What is God like
8. Counterfeit Gospels
9. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path
10. To create a great journey
11. Colour-blindness and road code
12. We should use the Bible every day
13. Feed Your Faith Daily
14. Bric-a-brac of the Bible
15. What Are You Seeking?
16. Hang On!
17. Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion
18. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4
19. To know Christ is filling life with meaning
20. Best intimate relation to look for
21. God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace

+++

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Life's Meaning Ministry Blog

Thinking about words. We hear the word theologian and we think of someone teaching in a seminary, or writing many scholarly books. This is true. There certainly are such people who have been of great benefit to the church. But look at the word theologian again. The first part theos means God, ology is simply the study of. A theologian is one who studies the nature of God. I consider myself a theologian, but I’m not a well read scholar. I am a parish pastor and a wood worker. You, also, are called to be a theologian, one who seeks to understand more and more about the God we worship, the God who has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.
As theologians we desire to know our Lord, learning more about Him, and walking with Him through all the activities of daily life. In this way all Christians…

View original post 49 more words

What Makes a Theologian

Oswald Bayer wrote Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation > summarizes Martin Luther’s thinking on what makes a theologian and what rules should govern the theologian.

Luther argued that a theologian is made through six things.

1. The grace that is worked through the Holy Spirit
2. The agonizing struggle
3. Experience
4. Opportunity
5. Constant, concentrated textual study
6. Knowledge and practice of the academic disciplines

Luther goes on to say that three rules should govern the life and task of the theologian.

1. Prayer = Oratio (prayer)
2. Meditation = Meditatio (meditation)
3. Agonizing Struggle= Tentatio (affliction)

theologian = to know both sides of a theological concept: the objective + subjective

theologian = responsible to study, pray, meditate + agonize

+

Preceding articles:

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

The Pastor Theologian

Theology as Discipleship

+++

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• The Measure of Patience (heartpathjournal.net)
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• Jesus commanded us to love one another. What exactly does that mean? (BibleQ.net)

Gospel & Gratitude

Oswald Bayer wrote a fine book titled Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation. In this book he summarizes Luther’s thinking on what makes a theologian and what rules should govern the theologian. Luther argued that a theologian is made through six things.

1. The grace that is worked through the Holy Spirit
2. The agonizing struggle
3. Experience
4. Opportunity
5. Constant, concentrated textual study
6. Knowledge and practice of the academic disciplines

Luther goes on to say that three rules should govern the life and task of the theologian.

1. Prayer
2. Meditation
3. Agonizing Struggle

I love the intersection of experience, suffering and study in Luther’s thought on the development of a theologian. It takes more than books and a degree to make a solid theologian. As the quote goes, “a smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.”

One must know the roaring of a condemning conscience and the silencing power of the gospel to bring the…

View original post 216 more words

Theology as Discipleship

We should not so much focus on theological works, but concentrate on the Word of God, studying the bible itself, because that is the Word What tells everything a man should know.

There is a certain Catholic subculture among theologians today, especially those who teach at colleges and universities. This culture treats every question as if it were open to theological speculation. The terms heresy and heretic are not politically correct, regardless of how clearly a fellow theologian is rejecting Church dogma. They have excised from the Gospel message and from the example of Jesus every harsh rebuke of grave sin and sins against faith. They have reduced the number of dogmas to as few as possible. They ignore the anathemas of Ecumenical Councils. They have taken away all the sharp edges of the Gospel. {Who is qualified to write theology?}

*

To remember

• Theology is irrelevant to our life as Christians. = what many evangelicals tend to believe
• focusing on practical things
• theology = dangerous <= divisive + potential to confuse people about God
• Keith Johnson in Theology as Discipleship argues that neither of these are the case. In fact, theology is vitally relevant to our lives as Christians and it actually has the ability to help us grow in Christ. Or as he himself puts it:
• traditional goal of Christian theology = to develop a better understanding of God => can think + speak rightly about God within context of a life governed by our faith in Christ + our discipleship to him in community with other Christians.
• theology went “wrong” (i.e. anti-intellectualized & over-academia-ized)
• Part of theology’s purpose = to help us to know Christ + grow in our understanding of our union with Him

+

Preceding articles:

Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)

Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio

The Pastor Theologian

+++

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• We are all somehow believers (animperfectblog.wordpress.com)
• Atheism: Just one false god among many, and not the most dangerous (christiantoday.com)
• Christian College Alum: Fear Motivated Suspension Of My Former Wheaton Professor (thenewcivilrightsmovement.com)
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CWoznicki Think Out Loud

Theology is irrelevant to our life as Christians.

At least that’s what many evangelicals tend to believe. There is this thought that runs through much of evangelicalism that theology is either irrelevant because we should be focusing on practical things. There is also another line of thought that seems to believe that theology is dangerous because it is divisive, and has the potential to confuse people about God. Keith Johnson in Theology as Discipleship argues that neither of these are the case. In fact, theology is vitally relevant to our lives as Christians and it actually has the ability to help us grow in Christ. Or as he himself puts it:

The traditional goal of Christian theology is to develop a better understanding of God so that we can think and speak rightly about God within the context of a life governed by our faith in Christ and our discipleship…

View original post 271 more words