Posted February 27th, 2010 in Ikvot ha'Mashiach
Last Week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley
The Ottoman Empire existed from 1299 until 1922. It was in many respects the Islamic successor to the Eastern leg of the Roman Empire and like the Romans had its headquarters in Constantinople (Istanbul). At the peak of its power, the Ottoman Empire extended from the Adriatic Sea in the west to the Caspian Sea in the east and from Austro-Hungary in the north to the southern tip of the Red Sea. It was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for 6 centuries. The Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War 1 after aligning with Germany. Its dissolution at the end of the war led to the formation of 40 new nations in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa, many of them on land once claimed by the Romans.
Read Post »
Posted February 28th, 2010 in Ask a Bible Teacher
Q. I screw up every day! What a surprise, huh? I needed the article you sent me on forgiveness (Psalm 3). I feel bad and ask for forgiveness as soon as I mess up. I know the Lord forgives me, I just have a hard time forgiving myself! I never want to hurt my Father’s feelings, or cause Him shame, but sometimes I act before I think. Am I the only one who does this?
Read Post »
Posted February 28th, 2010 in Ask a Bible Teacher
Q. I believe that the reason the earth and the light from the stars appear old or mature is because God created them in a mature state. I take my theory from the creation of man and woman as they were created in mature state.
Read Post »
Posted February 28th, 2010 in Ask a Bible Teacher
Q. I have been listening to some teaching by a messianic Jewish bible scholar who was talking about the identify of the antichrist. Though he agrees no one knows the antichrist’s identity, he believes the little horn mentioned in Daniel suggests the antichrist will be (a)-syrian.. or from Syria. He traces Syria history back from the Hittites, to the Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Empire, Persian Empire, Alexander, Ottoman and so forth. What are your thoughts?
Read Post »
Posted February 27th, 2010 in Ask a Bible Teacher
Q. I recently read that the idea of eternal punishment came about “because of a preconceived, unbiblical notion that the soul is immortal (see 1 Tim. 6:15-16). We have read eternal torment into the Scriptures when it was never intended for mankind. Hell was created for Satan and his Angels, not for Mankind and it is Satan and his demonic hordes who will be consigned to Hell and its torments eternally.” Do you believe 1 Tim. 6:15-16 actually means mans soul is not immortal and that it could be destroyed after serving a period of time in Hell?
Read Post »
Posted February 27th, 2010 in Ask a Bible Teacher
Q. My sister is reading a book in which the author speaks of the angel in Revelation 8 : 3-7 as being Jesus. The author also says that the prayers of the saints which are being offered with the incense upon the golden altar are the prayers of the raptured church for those ‘christians’ who missed the rapture and are now enduring the tribulation. To settle a disagreement about these verses, my sister would like you to explain who the angel and the saints are.
Read Post »
Posted February 27th, 2010 in Ask a Bible Teacher
Q. I always thought Hell was forever, but I recently read another view called the conditional view. It teaches that the unrighteous will be resurrected, judged, punished in Hell for a period of time proportional to their sins, and then suffer destruction (both body and soul). The author mentions several points against eternal punishment but he states “the most convincing of all arguments against the traditional viewpoint relates to what Jesus Himself suffered on the cross. What was that punishment? It was extreme punishment followed by death. If Jesus did not suffer the full penalty for our sin, our debt has not been paid. But the Scriptures say that He paid the full debt and it was not eternal torment.” What do you think of that argument?
Read Post »
Posted February 26th, 2010 in Ask a Bible Teacher
Q. I have been a Christian for a long time and have always believed in Jesus Christ, however, as of late, I realized that I didn’t understand why I believed what I believed, so I set out on a quest. I wanted to understand why others from different faiths believed what they believed about God. This quest brought me to a finding that I have a question about. It would appear that Hinduism predates Judaism. I also found that Krishna has a very similar story as Jesus. Now please don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in Jesus, I was just hoping for an explanation for my findings. Again, I am a firm believer, but I guess I am on a quest of reassurance. I wish I had more faith so I didn’t doubt all the time. It really isn’t that I doubt what I believe, I just want answers to back it up. Do you think this is wrong to have a lack of faith like this? To question things all the time like I do?
Read Post »
Posted February 26th, 2010 in Ask a Bible Teacher
Q. I discovered a site that offers articles on Conditional Salvation and The Two-Phase Atonement. They claim “Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary was but the first half of the process, with the second phase still in the future. The sacrifice has been made, they say, and the blood has been shed, but the final atonement has not yet been made.
Read Post »
Posted February 26th, 2010 in Ask a Bible Teacher
Q. My question has to do with what the Bible refers to as “hardening of hearts”. There are many examples in the Bible of people hardening their hearts toward God. For instance Ephesians 4:17-18 (NLT) states, “Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him”. My understanding of verses like these are that our hearts are hardened toward God and accepting Jesus as our savior because of our sinful and ungodly behavior.
Read Post »
