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The Coming of Jesus: Coming on the clouds

...anding of Scripture. Lets begin by looking at what Daniel saw. A little context first: the setting is Daniel in the throneroom of God, watching as the "court sat in judgment, and the books were opened" to begin a judgement process. Daniel 7:13-14 As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being    coming with the clouds of heaven.And he came to the Ancient One    and was presented before him.To him was given dominion    and glory and kingship,that all peoples, nations, and languages    should serve him.His dominion is an everlasting dominion    that shall not pass away,and his kingship is one    that shall never b...

Lent Day 28: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 71-80

...know from Scripture, is not something unexpected (1 Cor 1:18). On hearing their objections, Anthony answered them by turning their own beliefs against them; Which is more beautiful, to confess the Cross or to attribute to those whom you call gods adultery and the seduction of boys? [...] Next, which is better, to say that the Word of God was not changed, but, being the same, He took a human body for the salvation and well-being of man, that having shared in human birth He might make man partake in the divine and spiritual nature; or to liken the divine to senseless animals and consequently to worship four-footed beasts, creeping things and the likenesses of m...

Lent Day 29: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 81-94

...from the Scripture”. The monks “wept, and embraced, and kissed the old man” and he advised them on how to bury him, since the Egyptians liked to wrap their dead and display revered men in their homes as a display. Anthony instructed them that since Jesus was buried in the ground, that that was the only proper way to treat the dead; not to display them. So he left for the inner mountain where he had his two companions promise to bury him secretly, and then he lay down and died with a smile upon his face, “as though he saw friends coming to him and was glad because of them”. Athanasius closes his record of Anthony’s life by praising the type of li...

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

...ssages of Scripture about this in the New Testament, albeit debated, such as 2 Tim 1:16-18 which seems to imply Onesiphorus was dead, yet Paul prays on his behalf (plus the strange reference to baptism of the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:29). Prayers for the dead was not an uncommon practice in the early centuries of the Church, though I’m not entirely sure where the practice arose, but possibly from interpreting Luke 20:38 in an open-ended way to mean the dead in Christ are alive and in communion with Him on our behalf (along with the Hebrews 12:1 “great cloud of witnesses”) – Luke 20:38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all...

Lent Day 39: Leo the Great: Sermon XLIX (On Lent XI)

...h 3:30 as Scripture to back up his point. Regardless of that, it is right to focus on helping the poor and destitute during our times of fasting, which is the true fast which the Lord wants from us, as he said through the prophet Isaiah: Isaiah 58:6-7 Is not this the fast that I choose:    to loose the bonds of injustice,    to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free,    and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,    and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them,    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?  Let us bear this in mind always, no...

How many apostles are there in the New Testament?

...Often in any discussion on the gifts of the Spirit and whether they are still active today (Cessationism vs Continuationism), the topic of Apostles comes up and whether the gift/office is still active today in the Church. Detractors of the Continuationist position will often quip that ‘if there were modern-day apostles, they would be world famous!’ – though I’m not sure why. Even the original Twelve weren’t “world famous” in the sense that they mean. But I digress. This isn't a question of practice, or opinion, but to examine the Scriptures to see what they say about the gift. Scripture gives us an indication that this gift, or role, wasn’t jus...