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Victory over Satan The whole Bible is the story of a war - a war that begins in the book of Genesis and ends in the book of Revelation. Way back at the beginning of human history, the first human beings were tricked into rebelling against their Creator - and thus the whole of our species joined...

No need to get all excited over this... the "missing" words are in verse 4 (which is where they originally came from) and can be found there in all the modern versions.

Redemption Redemption is a technical term. In ancient times, the usual reason for becoming a slave was bankruptcy. It was like pawning a valuable article, only that article was yourself! You sold yourself into bondage, so in order to be set free again you had to be bought out by someone. This...

I think we're saying effectively the same thing but defining our terms slightly differently.

Is that a discrepancy? The point is that people often do re-offend - but we still have to forgive them. The "70 x 7" is a Jewish way of saying "without limit". How many times do we go on sinning against God? Yet He still forgives... (and still expects us to repent, every time) The centurion who...

Well, I agree that we should forgive first - in the sense that we don't bear a grudge or seek revenge. My point is that such "one-sided" forgiveness is an incomplete forgiveness.

Propitiation and reconciliation Propitiation is probably the aspect of the atonement that our culture finds most difficult to come to terms with. Perhaps because Christians have been preaching for two millennia about the God who is Love, people in the West seem to have forgotten that the...

It's not that the relationship shouldn't be restored, but that it cannot be. It takes two... King David was persuaded to forgive Absalom for murdering his brother Amnon. But there was no repentance on Absalom's part and the relationship between him and his father was not healed - Absalom went...

We are always to forgive, in the sense that we are not to bear grudges or nurse bitterness in our hearts. But the one who sins must repent if they are to receive our forgiveness and have their relationship with us restored. So yes... accountability is important. If they have committed a...

Substitutionary sacrifice To most modern Europeans, the whole idea of animal sacrifice seems barbaric. Even those of us who happily eat meat have probably never actually seen an animal being slaughtered. But sacrifice was an essential component of almost all ancient religions, and in Judaism...

Jewish Christians may continue to observe the Torah (and many do) so long as they are not trusting in it for salvation. Jesus obeyed it because He was a circumcised Jew. But His perfect obedience releases us from that obligation. So what point is there in a Gentile doing so? It was not given...

Judgement Jesus came to execute judgement upon all the sins of mankind. “Now is the time for judgement on this world,” He said, a few days before His death (John 12:31). But when that judgement was passed, to everyone’s surprise, it was the Judge who died… We all know, deep down, that there...

What difference does being Gentile make? Didn't Jesus say, ""Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them..." And salvation has always been of grace!

You could take it either way. There's a lot more that could be said on the subject. Any comments would be welcome.

But "taking the symbols" makes our faith visible.

Moving churches doesn't necessarily imply changing one's beliefs. We did have problems with that particular church - but they weren't doctrinal.

Moved on from where to where?

In some ways, Christianity is a very odd religion. For it makes the claim that God Himself, in the form of a young Jewish teacher, was put to death in a manner that was not only shockingly brutal and inhumane but also intensely shameful (crucifixion was reserved for the dregs of society). Even...

So what's interesting about it?

It was only Peter who walked on water. The other disciples stayed in the boat! And Jesus didn't rebuke them for lack of faith! Another point: Peter didn't step onto the water until He heard Jesus' summons. Taking a step of extreme risk like that (in any context) without first hearing Jesus'...