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I am one with the Force; the Force is with me – A Star Wars theology

...ay in the Holy Spirit   Often people throw out that verse about not praying with “vain repetitions” (Matt 6:7) whenever you mention something like the Jesus Prayer (and sometimes even liturgy!). But is it vain? In this case, ‘vain’ means something that is pointless or futile (as opposed to meaning ‘self centred or narcissistic’, which is the more common understanding these days). If we look a couple of verses earlier, there’s a link with not being like “the hypocrites” who stand in the street making themselves seen when praying (and thus get their reward). With that in mind, I'd argue that liturgy and set prayers are not vain in the slig...

The Coming of Jesus: The Olivet Discourse – Part 2

...when the Holy Spirit was poured out on them, by telling the people watching that “this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16) and then goes on to quote the rest of Joel’s prophecy, beginning with “In the last days…” and ending with the Day of the Lord. These signs in Joel about the sun being darkened and the moon turning to blood etc, is the same imagery which Jesus uses in his Olivet Discourse with his disciples (cf. Mark 13:24,25; Matt 24:25; Luke 21:25), so we can see that all of these prophetic statements are linked together as one event.   In Luke’s Gospel he calls this “the time of the Gentiles”. This is when Jerusa...

The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 1

...rough the Holy Spirit, although this, of course, was unknown to Joseph, her husband to be. Certain questions arise immediately. First, we may note that Jesus being the Son of God in a unique sense (only-begotten) cannot be the result of his conception as a human by Mary as it is the Holy Spirit who begat Jesus as a man, rather than the Father. The Father is never identified as the Spirit and in 28:19 the Father, Son and Spirit are distinguished from each other. Since the Spirit is not the Father, but rather the Father is a distinct person from the Spirit, we can conclude that both the fatherhood of the Father and the sonship of the Son are not the result of his...

Lent Day 34: Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XXIII

...r and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and world without end. Amen  ...

Creedal Christians: The Apostle's Creed

...from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born from the Virgin Mary, Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:34-35; Galatians 4:4 Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, Matthew 27:1-2; Matthew 27:24; Matthew 27:57-59; Mark 15:15; Acts 4:27; 1 Timothy 6:13   descended into the grave (Gk. hades), Acts 2:31; Ephesians 4:9; 1 Peter 3:18-20 on the third day rose again from the dead, on the third day rose again from the dead, Matthew 28:5-7; Mark 16:5-6; Luke 24:5-7; John 20:8-9; Acts 2:31; Ephesians 1:20...

What are the Seraphim, and was the devil one of them?

...Have you ever wondered about what the devil is — or was, pre-Fall? You’ve probably been told that he used to be an angel with God, so then why is he often described as a snake, serpent or dragon? Though there isn’t a great deal given away in Scripture as to the nature of angels, or the heavenly realms in general, we get some glimpses from the visions of the prophets. But what we can also look at is the words which the Bible uses; some of which aren’t translated and so lose their original meaning in English. The Seraphim The word “seraphim” is a transliteration of a Hebrew word, rather than a translation, so in English we often will miss the me...