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David, Saul, And How We Respond To Broken Leadership

...Saul’s evil. David fled from Saul’s violence; he challenged Saul’s paranoia; he even cut the corner of Saul’s robe to prove he had the chance to kill him but chose not to. Yet throughout, David refused to take matters into his own hands by force. Why? Because David understood that even flawed authority ultimately rested in God’s hands, he trusted that God would remove Saul at the right time. This is echoed later in the New Testament when Paul writes in Romans 13 that “there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God”, something even Jesus reminded Pilate of during his trial (John 19:10–11). I...

Support Israel? OK, which Israel?

...se on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous." – Matt 5:44-45 "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." – Rom 12:21 In the midst of all this though, there is one meme I've seen which seems to go against the grain, and which I would feel most comfortable sharing online, which I will do here too: This, I can agree with. Memes aside, what does the Scriptures say on the matter of Israel, war and support for violence? Being against the war that is being waged isn't the same as condoning the actions of terrorists or racism or killing children. The arguments just become emotional knee-jerkers...

BOOK REVIEW: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...t as the devil and his minions.” (41) Stackhouse counters that Rev 14:10-11 actually culminates in a Sodom-like “incineration of fire and sulphur”24, while Rev 20: 10,15 have to account for Death and Hades also being cast into the lake of fire: “The passage makes better sense if Death and Hades were understood to end, and indeed that is what the passage says…Since the very next verse is the one that speaks of lost humans, the most natural reading is to conclude that they, too, experience the second death. To state the obvious, the passage does not say that humans will be tormented forever and ever, and in fact the passage seems, in its basic literary...

Lent Day 25: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 41-50

...for the Devil (sorry, couldn't help myself!). Satan then goes on to say that there's no point in cursing him so much since he doesn't have as much power as people think, and then goes on to quote Psalm 9 saying, “I have become weak. Have they not read” the Scriptures? Psalms 9:6The swords of the enemy have come to an end, and you have destroyed the cities? “I have no longer a place, a weapon, a city. The Christians are spread everywhere”, Satan goes on to explain. Anthony agrees with him, rejoicing that, “the coming of Christ has made you weak, and He has cast you down and stripped you”! But on mentioning the Lord's name, Satan vanished as he...

Lent: Day 15 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 36-47

...avoiding evil and choosing good by free choice, they are not accountable for their actions He goes on to make the argument that if fate decides how people act, then it is fate which is the cause of evil, and not people, and this is not how God has made mankind to be. To borrow from the terminology of “fate”, Justin makes one final point that there is one thing in which the Christians “assert is inevitable fate” – that those who choose good, will be rewarded, and those who choose evil will be punished. By this, prophecy is not nullified by free will, and free will is not overcome by prophecy, but that all which God spoke through his prophets concern...

Lent Day 23: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 21-30

...forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12), whose number is great in the “air around us”, he says. Going into a little more detail on the deceptions of demons, Anthony explains how the more Christians press into God and keeping good discipline for living a Christ-like life, the more often demons will throw temptations and evil thoughts our way to try and distract us and cause us to stumble. But with prayer and fasting we can overcome and strengthen our resolve against their attacks, which we'll need since once we defeat the weaker demons by our faith, they will come with stronger powers to try and bring fear through terrible visions and dreams and...