I just came back from a
lunch get together with some
ministry friends of mine. We
call ourselves “The Dead
Prophet Society.” Perhaps it
should be “The Dead Profit
Society,” but I think there
is some gain in each
gathering.
We take loving shots at each other; support each other’s ministries; and, talk about God’s Word. Oh, and we always eat. There is nothing like a big slice of pizza to help one digest the Word of God. It is a fun group and we all support each other while holding each other accountable to a God’s plans for us.
Today, we discussed a myriad of subjects that I have been researching in-depth for Sunday School, Sermons and just because I am a curious kind of guy.
For instance, we delved into the “Elect.” Some would have translated that as the “Chosen,” had they translated the Bible, and they would have been correct. The question was, does that mean that God only chose some of us, while intentionally leaving other out? What does that do to freewill?
One of the guys suggested it is something like this: God is the coach of the team and He says to all the people He has created (and ever will create), “I choose you, all of you, to be on my team.” But there is a caveat. God says, “If you want to.” So, in one sense, that makes us all chosen, or elect - if we want to. In another sense, God could say (because He sees all and knows if we will accept or not) there are some who ended up not being chosen, or the elect, because they didn’t accept His offer. Great illustration, Huh?
Another subject we tackled was how long Jesus was in the tomb before He was resurrected, Friday to Sunday, not being 72 hours, or three days and three nights to us here in 2010.
It could be that when Jesus, speaking in Aramaic said he would be in the tomb 3 days and three nights, it might have been an idiom like we say we will be gone all weekend. You probably wouldn’t count on seeing me between Friday night and Monday morning. However, I might only be gone from Saturday noon to Sunday noon.
Or maybe He didn’t die on Friday. The Bible only records for certain that He was alive on the first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath.
Well, here’s what we came up with. It doesn’t matter.
If it was an idiom, obviously it meant the same thing to the Pharisees or they would have jumped all over it to prove Jesus a fraud, and they didn’t. Or, if it was a lack of information that lead us to think He died on Friday rather that a Thursday, what’s the difference. He still died for our sins. He was still buried. He still arose again. He will still come again to judge the living and the dead.
Amen
We take loving shots at each other; support each other’s ministries; and, talk about God’s Word. Oh, and we always eat. There is nothing like a big slice of pizza to help one digest the Word of God. It is a fun group and we all support each other while holding each other accountable to a God’s plans for us.
Today, we discussed a myriad of subjects that I have been researching in-depth for Sunday School, Sermons and just because I am a curious kind of guy.
For instance, we delved into the “Elect.” Some would have translated that as the “Chosen,” had they translated the Bible, and they would have been correct. The question was, does that mean that God only chose some of us, while intentionally leaving other out? What does that do to freewill?
One of the guys suggested it is something like this: God is the coach of the team and He says to all the people He has created (and ever will create), “I choose you, all of you, to be on my team.” But there is a caveat. God says, “If you want to.” So, in one sense, that makes us all chosen, or elect - if we want to. In another sense, God could say (because He sees all and knows if we will accept or not) there are some who ended up not being chosen, or the elect, because they didn’t accept His offer. Great illustration, Huh?
Another subject we tackled was how long Jesus was in the tomb before He was resurrected, Friday to Sunday, not being 72 hours, or three days and three nights to us here in 2010.
It could be that when Jesus, speaking in Aramaic said he would be in the tomb 3 days and three nights, it might have been an idiom like we say we will be gone all weekend. You probably wouldn’t count on seeing me between Friday night and Monday morning. However, I might only be gone from Saturday noon to Sunday noon.
Or maybe He didn’t die on Friday. The Bible only records for certain that He was alive on the first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath.
Well, here’s what we came up with. It doesn’t matter.
If it was an idiom, obviously it meant the same thing to the Pharisees or they would have jumped all over it to prove Jesus a fraud, and they didn’t. Or, if it was a lack of information that lead us to think He died on Friday rather that a Thursday, what’s the difference. He still died for our sins. He was still buried. He still arose again. He will still come again to judge the living and the dead.
Amen