by Robert Angle | Feb 19, 2012 | Exegesis, Preterism
This post is based on a discussion I had with someone who finds the preterist approach to eschatology to be very intriguing.
What is Preterism?
Eschatology (from ἔσχατος meaning “last” and -logy meaning “study of”) is a part of theology concerned with what are believed to be the final events of history commonly referred to as the end of the world.
Christian eschatology is a major branch of study within Christian theology. Eschatology, from two Greek words meaning last (ἔσχατος, last) and study (λογία, lit. discourse), is the study of the end of things, whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, or the end of the world. (more…)
by Robert Angle | Feb 3, 2012 | Exegesis, Organized Religion
What does the Bible say about the organizational structure of the first century congregation?
Is Organized Religion a Choice? Or a Requirement?
There are some who claim that the congregations throughout the known world in the first century were completely autonomous, to which such claims are made usually with the intent of justifying a personal dismissal of all denominations today, or negating the need to assemble for worship with others altogether. “I just wanna worship God in the way that I personally want to” they say, which for many is often a clever way of minimizing the worship of God as a whole in favor of self-indulgence. Though for others, it is because organized religion has proved to be disappointing to them, at least to the degree in which they have sincerely and with fairness investigated them. This can be understandable, as the majority of organized religions are disappointing! But what do the scriptures teach us about the organization of first century Christianity? Was the first century Christian congregation an organization, or not? (more…)
by Robert Angle | Oct 15, 2010 | Stauros ≠ Cross
Jesus was hung on a stake, likely without a crossbeam.
So this is really an interesting article that follows, originally published by ABC News. A few months back, a similar article appeared in the Daily Mail, and we had posted about it and discussed it over at JWTalk. The Daily Mail is a news publication in print over in Britain. But this one by ABC News is interesting because it is local to us in the USA, is reputable, and the details of this version are much more interesting.
This article will be of particular interest to Jehovah’s Witnesses, as Christians are known as today. It is widely known that we do not believe that Jesus died on a cross, because the exact wording of the Holy Bible gives strong indication that he did not. Whether he did or did not is a moot point, and a blog entry for another day. And while we certainly do not need secular support for anything we know to be true based on the scriptures, the article below based on the recent comments of one scholar is very interesting indeed. (more…)
