Tell Me All Your Thoughts on God

In the final chapter of 2 Peter, the writer (Peter or Not-Peter) describes what is termed the "day of the Lord."  The Sabbath is often referred to as the "Lord's Day",  but the arrangement of words for this phrase marks it as something quite different. The phrase "day of the Lord" is first seen in the Old Testament in  Isaiah  in which the prophet describes the Protagonist enacting a time of disciplinary action against His chosen people, Israel.  Amos  also uses the phrase in this way and describes it as a day of judgment and darkness that the people of Israel should fear and dread. This picture may or may not have hung in the church I grew up in. The phrase had had  resonance  with the people of Israel long before any texts were written down. The "day of the Lord" was something that was commonly announced as imminent. Later prophets proclaimed over and over that the "day of the Lord" was either coming, near or at hand. Much

The second chapter of 1 Timothy deals heavily with the working of the church and the roles of men and women in worship. Paul writes to Timothy about the ins and outs of church service and seems to pay special attention to the do's and do not's for women in the church. He notes what they should and should not wear and how they should conduct themselves. Then, he makes a statement in verse 15 that seems to contradict everything he's preached up to this point about justification through faith and salvation by grace. "Yet she will be saved through childbearing-- if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control." Upon first reading this seems at odds with Paul's other teachings. What about grace? Romans 3:24 states that all "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Are there different qualifications for salvation for women? Does a woman earn her salvation by providing offspring? Where

The book of Acts was written by Luke and serves as a vivid description of the work of the apostles of Jesus following his death, resurrection and ascension. This book differs a great deal from the four gospels that precede it, and Acts seems to set the tone for the rest of the Bible. In a variety of ways, Acts serves to provide a smooth transition from the three-year span of the gospels about Jesus to the ensuing span of three decades in which the early Christian church began to take shape and spread throughout the world. Transition of Focal Characters: In the four gospels, the action is focused around the life and work of the character of Jesus. The gospels tell about the Nativity, the parables, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus. For the book of Acts, the key to the focus is in the name: The Acts of the Apostles. The attention shifts from the earthly life and work of Jesus and is placed on the work of his followers . It is not only the original twelve disciples that are fro

The middle section of the  third chapter of Mark describes the calling of Jesus' twelve disciples. A disciple, as defined by Webster's dictionary, is "a pupil or follower of any teacher or school". While Jesus had varying numbers of followers throughout his ministry, the dozen that he handpicked seemed to have a special distinction. They were his inner circle of close companions with whom he traveled, worked, slept and ate.  It seems a bit counterintuitive that a teacher and would-be religious leader and political activist would surround himself with such a  blue-collar group of individuals . The disciples were for the most part uneducated, save for their trades which they likely learned from their fathers. They did not come from powerful families or places of influence or prestige.  For  centuries, the coming Messiah had been prophesied as a leader of strength and authority.  Genesis  describes a ruler to whom all nations give deference.  2 Samuel paints a p