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...