The name "Old Testament" implies it has been replaced by the new shiny "New Testament" and is no longer valid. Jews don't believe that. God's convenant with Abraham has no exit clause!
This is a heresy introduced into Christianity by Marcion. He is responsible for the insidious separation between "Old" and "New" "Testaments" and the contrived dichotomy of "Law vs. Grace." 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed," and the Tanakh makes clear that God has always shown grace to the humble.
It is ironic that perhaps one of the most influential of figures in Church History is also one of the most reviled heretics: Marcion. [...] Marcion's teachings departed from traditional Christianity in a number of ways. Most dramatically, perhaps, Marcion rejected the idea that the Old Testament God and the New Testament God were the same being. Up until then, the traditional Church had considered the Old Testament to be sacred and assumed that Christianity was a fulfillment or continuation of Judaism. Marcion's rejection of that idea affected many different doctrines and beliefs.
"In the middle of the second century, the Hebrew foundations of Christian faith were attacked by the first great heresy that challenged the church. Some of the ideas of this heresy so permeated the church's corporate psyche that it has not yet fully recovered its spiritual and scriptural equilibrium.
Marcion, son of a bishop of Sinope in Pontus, (there is some question about this) joined the Syrian Gnostic Cerdo in Rome in developing a dualistic view of sacred history which postulated the existence of two gods, the good and gracious God (Christ) and the Demiurge (Jehovah of the Jews). Marcion taught an irreconcilable dualism between gospel and law, between Christianity and Judaism. The Demiurge and his religion were seen as harsh, severe, and unmerciful, and they were cast into Hades by Christ, the good God. Marcion invented a new canon of Holy Scripture which included only an abridged Gospel of Luke and ten of Paul's epistles, some of which he edited. He wrested the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:17 to declare, 'I am not come to fulfil the law and the prophets, but to destroy them.' (Actual text of Mat. 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (NIV) -superyooser)
In Marcion's view, Christianity had no connection whatever with the past, whether of the Jewish or the heathen world, but had fallen abruptly and magically from heaven. Jesus, too, was not born, nor did he die. His body was a phantom to reveal the good God, and his death was an illusion. This Christ was not the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament; he was a totally new and unforeseen manifestation of the good God of Greek dualism. Because the rest of the apostles were Judaizing corrupters of pure Christianity, Christ called Paul as the apostle to preach the truth of Marcion's extreme antinomianism and anti-Judaism. [(Context from first linked article:) Significantly, Marcion also took a scalpel to Paul's letters, eliminating as many positive references to Judaism or the Old Testament as possible. "Marcion dealt with the text of Paul's letters in the same way as with the text of Luke's gospel: anything which appeared inconsistent with what he believed to be authentic Pauline teaching was regarded as a corruption proceeding from an alien hand." See also the book Paul the Jewish Theologian - superyooser]
While the church officially denounced the heresy of Marcion (his own father excommunicated him) and affirmed monotheism, the authority of the Hebrew Scriptures, and the deity, humanity, atoning death, and resurrection of Jesus, Marcion's extreme antinomianism
Yes, that was humorously ironic, considering the subject. On second thought, maybe it was very clever. Berkun perhaps put that there as a test (to be graded by feedback) to see if the reader had really comprehended what he was saying by modeling for a moment that which he was condemning (smart people defending bad ideas). I wonder if anybody else caught that.
The article says, "Sleep is when your brain processes new memories, practises and hones new skills - and even solves problems."
Not just during sleep, but during rests between studying sessions or attempts at acquiring a skill. Breaking up the time you spend in trying to learn, memorize, or achieve something into several attempts instead of laboring for long sessions will accelerate your progress. I.e. 4 x 30 minutes is better than 1 x 2 hours. This probably applies to physical training, too. I first learned this from a book on trumpet playing (A New Approach to Altissimo Trumpet Playing).
A subtlety of practice that escapes most players is that proficiency increases between exercise attempts, i.e. when the horn is silent. If we rest after five or six attempts to execute an exercise for as much as sixty seconds (as opposed to playing more or less continuously) we can substantially accelerate our progress. Similarly, if we practice twice a day for one-half hour sessions, resting for at least one-half hour between sessions instead of practicing for one continuous hour, a similar accelerating effect may be seen.
They listed The Fly (?!) but already forgot about The Passion of the Christ? The movie that broke box office records with no traditional marketing or advertisements and got major news coverage beginning two years before its release? And what about The Ten Commandments (1956)? It was a landmark movie for its special effects in depicting miracles, especially the parting of the Red Sea.
Here's another method of "encryption." Start with a common word or name. When you type it, type one letter to the right or left (have a policy) of each character. You can add a character at the beginning to remind you which direction to go. For instance, start with an R (Republican) if you need to type the keys to the right. D (Democrat) to remind you to go left. If G (Green), go two keys to the left. Be creative, but don't try to go up or down, because rows on different keyboards do not line up the same, and it's hard to tell which character you're supposed to move to.
When using keyboard tricks in lieu of memorizing the actual passwords, beware of potential problems if you ever have to use international or DVORAK keyboards.
Notice that as Firefox and Opera compete for the lead, and Safari, Camino, Mozilla, and Konqueror speed behind, IE is not even in the race. It's been lapped five times while it was in the pit, and the driver just woke up.
Microsoft is recommending a 256MB video card for Longhorn, and that's just to handle Windows' own GUI. Now imagine what cutting edge games in 2007 will be like, and you won't want anything less than 512 MB. I'm glad 256MB cards are coming out now so that they'll be cheap by the time Longhorn is released.
I'm insisting on God's way, and God's way is the way of love.
You will love your neighbor as yourself
How would I be loving my neighbor by excusing his offense against God, nature, and humanity?
You pick out three or four passages to degrade, demean, oppress, and otherwise bully
They have degraded and demeaned themselves through their behavior.
Oppress?? I'm a guy with a keyboard.
Bully? Better to receive a stern word from a man than to be left in the hands of an angry God.
a group of God's children
Until they are born of the Spirit, they are Adam's children. See 1 Corinthians 15:47-50.
The American Psychiatric Association has removed it from the DSM about 20 years ago (meaning it's not an illness and not a condition to be treated)
God has not changed His position.
The major health and wellness organizations have advocated for gay rights and pediatric associations claim same sex couples make wonderful parents and the children? They seem to turn out just fine.
No, they don't.
I remember a dude named Galileo. He was right. He contradicted the Bible.
Galileo did not contradict the Bible. He contradicted an opinion of the Vatican.
And how does preventing loving couples for legally marrying somehow promote marriage?
They are preventing themselves from marrying, legally or otherwise, by choosing partners who, by nature of their sex, have made their relationships incapable of constituting marriages. No, they have to find somebody of the opposite sex, just like everybody else does.
I know I didn't address your question in the way you had expected, so see argument 1 here.
For the record, I reject your premise that a couple who embraces and encourages each other's degeneracy is demonstrating love. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. Love rejoices in truth. (1 Corinthians 13)
All the kingdoms of earth could not be seen from Mount Everest even if the Earth were flat. I've read many explanations of this verse, but the People's New Testament commentary is the simplest and most common-sense.
Taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain. From some lofty center he spreads before Jesus a panorama of the kingdoms of this world with all their glory. We are not to suppose that all the kingdoms were literally visible, but they are portrayed in such a way as to be present to the mental eyes.
Mental eyes... And since Jesus and the devil are spiritual beings who have seen the whole world (Jesus created it), going up on a mountain was not necessary to see it. The notion of viewing the world from an exceedingly high mountain is an aspect of the story to help relate it to humans for whom it is necessary to climb up high to see a lot of area.
I believe that Jesus and the devil actually did go up on a mountain where much of human civilization could be viewed with the naked eye. But really, what was seen with the mortal eye was only the beginning of what they could see by means of previous knowledge or by means of mental extrapolation or by means of spiritual vision. So, they really did see all the kingdoms of the earth from that mountain. Whether the earth was flat, spherical, cubic, or 4-D, it would not have prevented Jesus and the devil from seeing all the kingdoms of the world.
An infinite God cannot be satisfied with a finite creation.... However, if God creates an infinite number of worlds, then it will be significant and meaningful and purposeful to an infinite God.
I agree that God is inclined to create an infinite number of worlds because He is an infinite Being, but I disagree that this is necessary to have sufficient meaning and purpose for God.
Many pagans in ancient times, and maybe modern times too, had a hard time believing that huge and powerful gods could care about small concerns. So they made idols to represent different kinds of gods; big idols for big gods and little idols for little gods. They prayed to the big gods for big concerns (rain for crops) and the little gods for little, personal concerns. We Christians shouldn't fall into the trap of thinking that our infinite God doesn't have the power or ability to focus Himself on small things. Omnipotence means being able to have concern for every creature and concern, no matter how small.
"Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the
very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows." -- Jesus Christ in Luke 12:6-7
Look under a microscope, and you'll see that the infinite God has a fascination for tiny things. God doesn't just go far out; He goes far in.
God can be satisfied with life on one world.
God can be content to focus on one creature in that world: mankind.
Furthermore, He can be content to choose one people from among peoples.
But GOD himself took charge of His people,
took Jacob (Israel) on as His personal concern.
He found him out in the wilderness,
in an empty, windswept wasteland.
He threw His arms around him, lavished attention on him,
guarding him as the apple of His eye.
-- Deuteronomy 32:9-10 (The Message)
See also 1 Kings 8:52-23.
The apple of God's eye? Does God say that about certain creatures on other planets, too? Martian to God: "Oh, I bet You say that to all the creatures." Is there an "Israel" on other planets? How many eyes does God have?
The Bible doesn't rule out the possibility of other life or even life that is especially important to God, but it seems very doubtful that such exists. If there is, God has put it beyond the concern of Earthlings.
"... you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." -- Acts 1:8 (NASB)
The way this verse is taught to apply is that Jerusalem is your hometown. Judea and Samaria represent your state or region. The rest is the rest of the world. The Greek word for earth here (gei) is not equivalent to words like the Hebrew olam, which can mean "universe." It is more like the Hebrew aretz, which refers specifically to the earth and is sometimes translated as "land" or "earth," as in tierra.
Well, it does speak of spirit creatures that exist in another realm, with God himself being one of these creatures.
Whoaah, buddy, God is not a creature. Creatures, by definition, are created beings. Look at the word: create-ure. Since all created things were created by the Creator (God), God is not a creature.
Slashdot Mirror
This is a heresy introduced into Christianity by Marcion. He is responsible for the insidious separation between "Old" and "New" "Testaments" and the contrived dichotomy of "Law vs. Grace." 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed," and the Tanakh makes clear that God has always shown grace to the humble.
Christian Origins
CenturyOne
but if you also tell me that they can recover soft tissue with capillaries and cells visible from 70 million years ago, i wouldn't believe you
but that's what they did
Did they really?
so now i don't know what to believe
It starts to make sense if you allow yourself to question the extreme age that this tissue is claimed to have.
It could work.
Gush Katif (Jewish Gaza)
Bush supports Hamas
Bush pushes Israel to "Auschwitz borders"
Pay attention.
Yes, that was humorously ironic, considering the subject. On second thought, maybe it was very clever. Berkun perhaps put that there as a test (to be graded by feedback) to see if the reader had really comprehended what he was saying by modeling for a moment that which he was condemning (smart people defending bad ideas). I wonder if anybody else caught that.
Not just during sleep, but during rests between studying sessions or attempts at acquiring a skill. Breaking up the time you spend in trying to learn, memorize, or achieve something into several attempts instead of laboring for long sessions will accelerate your progress. I.e. 4 x 30 minutes is better than 1 x 2 hours. This probably applies to physical training, too. I first learned this from a book on trumpet playing (A New Approach to Altissimo Trumpet Playing).
You're just mad that Fahrenheit 9/11 wasn't on the list. (And Bush won.)
I personally prefer Celsius 41.11 .
They listed The Fly (?!) but already forgot about The Passion of the Christ? The movie that broke box office records with no traditional marketing or advertisements and got major news coverage beginning two years before its release? And what about The Ten Commandments (1956)? It was a landmark movie for its special effects in depicting miracles, especially the parting of the Red Sea.
Did he have to write it again, and have to do it fast, so it wasn't as good?
(famous words of a student)
When using keyboard tricks in lieu of memorizing the actual passwords, beware of potential problems if you ever have to use international or DVORAK keyboards.
Notice that as Firefox and Opera compete for the lead, and Safari, Camino, Mozilla, and Konqueror speed behind, IE is not even in the race. It's been lapped five times while it was in the pit, and the driver just woke up.
Not to worry. The NYT's articles contain as much opinion as the op-eds.
It doesn't matter what it's called, because Apple will soon surrender.
You're on to something. It's called R-13.
Microsoft is recommending a 256MB video card for Longhorn, and that's just to handle Windows' own GUI. Now imagine what cutting edge games in 2007 will be like, and you won't want anything less than 512 MB. I'm glad 256MB cards are coming out now so that they'll be cheap by the time Longhorn is released.
I wonder if Yassir Arafat will be awarded this one, too. (posthumorously)
Same-sex "marriage" attempts to redefine marriage.
I'm insisting on God's way, and God's way is the way of love.
You will love your neighbor as yourself
How would I be loving my neighbor by excusing his offense against God, nature, and humanity?
You pick out three or four passages to degrade, demean, oppress, and otherwise bully
They have degraded and demeaned themselves through their behavior.
Oppress?? I'm a guy with a keyboard.
Bully? Better to receive a stern word from a man than to be left in the hands of an angry God.
a group of God's children
Until they are born of the Spirit, they are Adam's children. See 1 Corinthians 15:47-50.
The American Psychiatric Association has removed it from the DSM about 20 years ago (meaning it's not an illness and not a condition to be treated)
God has not changed His position.
The major health and wellness organizations have advocated for gay rights and pediatric associations claim same sex couples make wonderful parents and the children? They seem to turn out just fine.
No, they don't.
I remember a dude named Galileo. He was right. He contradicted the Bible.
Galileo did not contradict the Bible. He contradicted an opinion of the Vatican.
They are preventing themselves from marrying, legally or otherwise, by choosing partners who, by nature of their sex, have made their relationships incapable of constituting marriages. No, they have to find somebody of the opposite sex, just like everybody else does.
I know I didn't address your question in the way you had expected, so see argument 1 here.
For the record, I reject your premise that a couple who embraces and encourages each other's degeneracy is demonstrating love. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. Love rejoices in truth. (1 Corinthians 13)
What bothers me is that one judicial entity has so much influence over the legislative process.
You misspelled "pro-marriage laws."
They're about promoting marriage, not opposing a group of people.
We have not forgotten history.
I believe that Jesus and the devil actually did go up on a mountain where much of human civilization could be viewed with the naked eye. But really, what was seen with the mortal eye was only the beginning of what they could see by means of previous knowledge or by means of mental extrapolation or by means of spiritual vision. So, they really did see all the kingdoms of the earth from that mountain. Whether the earth was flat, spherical, cubic, or 4-D, it would not have prevented Jesus and the devil from seeing all the kingdoms of the world.
I agree that God is inclined to create an infinite number of worlds because He is an infinite Being, but I disagree that this is necessary to have sufficient meaning and purpose for God.
Many pagans in ancient times, and maybe modern times too, had a hard time believing that huge and powerful gods could care about small concerns. So they made idols to represent different kinds of gods; big idols for big gods and little idols for little gods. They prayed to the big gods for big concerns (rain for crops) and the little gods for little, personal concerns. We Christians shouldn't fall into the trap of thinking that our infinite God doesn't have the power or ability to focus Himself on small things. Omnipotence means being able to have concern for every creature and concern, no matter how small.
Look under a microscope, and you'll see that the infinite God has a fascination for tiny things. God doesn't just go far out; He goes far in.God can be satisfied with life on one world.
See also 1 Kings 8:52-23.God can be content to focus on one creature in that world: mankind.
Furthermore, He can be content to choose one people from among peoples.
The apple of God's eye? Does God say that about certain creatures on other planets, too? Martian to God: "Oh, I bet You say that to all the creatures." Is there an "Israel" on other planets? How many eyes does God have?
The Bible doesn't rule out the possibility of other life or even life that is especially important to God, but it seems very doubtful that such exists. If there is, God has put it beyond the concern of Earthlings.
The way this verse is taught to apply is that Jerusalem is your hometown. Judea and Samaria represent your state or region. The rest is the rest of the world. The Greek word for earth here (gei) is not equivalent to words like the Hebrew olam, which can mean "universe." It is more like the Hebrew aretz, which refers specifically to the earth and is sometimes translated as "land" or "earth," as in tierra.Whoaah, buddy, God is not a creature. Creatures, by definition, are created beings. Look at the word: create-ure. Since all created things were created by the Creator (God), God is not a creature.