Theocentric Musings

If your reading of the bible leads you to hate your enemies and pray for their destruction, you're not reading it by the Spirit you're reading by the letter. What did Paul have to say about that? "The letter kills, the Spirit gives life." Selah.

I wanted to talk today about "Thorns", I had realized in conversation with a friend that I had studied this topic for so many years, but I had never actually placed my thoughts down on pad, or in this case into the 0s and 1s of my blog; so, today is the day I tackle the subject. Firstly, I want to make it abundantly clear that Paul's thorn in the flesh was not "sickness", any teaching claiming it was sickness is untrue. I wont go as far as saying it is satanic in origin, but it is promoted by those that have been misled. We are speaking of a man that walked in healing in such a powerful way that fabric that touched his skin would be used to heal those miles away. He had no problems when it came to healing, there is not one documented time he failed in healing.  Someone may say "hold on, what about Timothy (1 Tim 5:23)?" But in that case I believe the issue was simply something similar to what happens if an American goes to Mexico and drinks the l...

Let's think about Ananias and Sapphira. If God was in the "kill people for being dishonest" business, you and I and everyone around the world would already be dead, so there should be a tugging by the Spirit telling you something else is afoot. Some scholars say they were guilty of hypocrisy. I have to laugh even louder over that one, because I witness hypocrisy in the Body on an almost daily bas is, from many on Facebook, in person, on blogs, as well as from myself to be honest, and I and they are still standing. Some then say, well it's the Grace of God that protects us. So, billions of us get away with the same crime, but God just had it in for 2 people a couple thousand years ago. They are the 2 people that God's victory over sin didn't cover. They were the 2 people that had to be taught a lesson. Not the people that killed all the disciples in so many heinous ways, not the people currently killing Christians across the world, nor even the people tha...

Long though worthwhile read regarding Bible Inerrancy from C.S. Cowles: Prominent evangelical scholar J. I. Packer defines `inerrant’ as “not misleading or being misled,” or “not deceiving or being deceived.” This was how it was used in the Church until the 19th century, and how Nazarene theologians understand its use in Article IV today: that is, the Bible can be trusted not to mislead us relative to “all things necessary to our salvation.” If this moral rather than technical understanding had prevailed, then the word would have incited little controversy. Unfortunately, Protestant Fundamentalists loaded up an inherently benign word with claims about the Bible that it does not make about itself, and that do not accord with either its contents or purposes. Nearly three hundred evangelical theologians and biblical scholars—mostly from within the Calvinistic theological tradition—gathered in Chicago in 1978 to establish the Council on Biblical Inerrancy. Out of it came the famous...

Regarding the inerrancy of scripture William B. Evans explains it very well: Having discussed what inerrancy is, we also need to note what it is not. That is, the doctrine is sometimes misunderstood, and all too often a caricature of the doctrine is attacked. Five persistent misconceptions may be mentioned here. First the Bible's view of inspiration is not a sort of mechanical "dictation theory." Such theories we rightly associate with the Book of Mormon and the Muslim view of the Qur'an. By contrast, the Christian view of inspiration involves a proper recognition of the genuinely human element in Scripture, and so as students of the Bible we strive to understand the historical context of the biblical writings and the characteristics of the human authors. To be sure, there are isolated examples of dictation, such as the giving of the Ten Commandments, but that is not the usual mode of inspiration. Second, the doctrine of inerrancy does not require that ...

Paul named names of people teaching falsehoods and Jesus called a gentile woman what would probably in our terms be a "worthless b****", that doesn't mean we should do the same, maybe you also are engaging in smashing babies on rocks to be blessed and happy because the Psalmist certainly spoke of doing that in scripture. I hate when people use behavior that you can see clearly doesn't line up with 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 by saying they read of someone doing it in the bible.

I want to talk to you today about love. I mean, do we even really know what love is? Most of our definitions of love have been shaped from various influences, maybe Disney movies like Snow White, Cinderella, or Tangled, romance novels, TV shows, Hollywood movies, our friends, our parents, and maybe even music. Everyone has a song that either makes them happy they are in love or sad that they were in love. In 1984 Tina Turner released the third single from her album ‘Private Dancer’, it was called “What’s love got to do with it”. It became a huge success for her and almost everyone has heard her song. But does it really represent love in a positive way? Listen to some of the lyrics: “What’s love but a second hand emotion ” “What’s love but a sweet old fashioned notion ” “It scares me to feel this way” “Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken ” Tina’s question was “what’s love got to do with it” and her answer made love sound like something not important or ...

Corinthians 11:26-32 (YLT)  for as often as ye may eat this bread, and this cup may drink, the death of the Lord ye do shew forth -- till he may come; so that whoever may eat this bread or may drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, guilty he shall be of the body and blood of the Lord: and let a man be proving himself, and so of the bread let him eat, and of the cup let him drink; for he who is ea...ting and drinking unworthily, judgment to himself he doth eat and drink -- not discerning the body of the Lord. Because of this, among you many [are] weak and sickly, and sleep do many; for if ourselves we were discerning, we would not be being judged, and being judged by the Lord, we are chastened, that with the world we may not be condemned; I wanted to address a certain part of this scripture. Many have cowered in fear and had their minds totally twisted because of the many teachings based on these verses. It's very easy to research what was actually happening at the time so I won...