It is right and proper for us to consider the dark side of things, but only after examining that which is bright, shining, and inspiring. Last time we examined TRUTH, with its power and practice. This time it is THE LIE. [Read more…]
20. The Power and Practice of the Truth
Truth is a strange commodity. People often talk about “the truth” without appreciating the incongruity of the term they employ. For example, my wife’s parents held to a certain system of Biblical interpretation known as “dispensationalism”, and were frequently heard to be saying about others, “The trouble is, they don’t know the truth.” To them, the words the truth represented a body of knowledge acceptable to their way of thinking. Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, each believe they hold “the truth” about Religion. Moslems are fanatical about the truth from the Koran. Some Christians are equally fanatical about theirs from the Bible. [Read more…]
114. Good and Evil
In September 1995 I wrote three papers based on an exposition of the words “Good and Evil.” (P.Ts 66 – 68) At that time the subject was brought to our notice, (by the Lord I am sure,) to alert us to an area of understanding that was entirely new, most exciting, and quite devastating as to its impact on our thinking. It came as a shaft of light, and the whole concept has been mulled over, and worked this way and that ever since. In this present paper, nearly four years later, I should like to draw some threads together and present a more rounded treatment of the subject and its consequences to the whole of Christian thought, behaviour, and future hope. I feel strongly that to make a study of these words and their implication is of such foundational value and importance that the outcome could be little short of a spiritual earthquake. So let’s see what’s in store. [Read more…]
68. The Evil Eye
A study on the Sermon on the Mount. Matt.6:19-34
Our Lord spoke about “the evil eye” in Matthew 6, and I began to wonder what He meant by the expression. I was aware that it is sometimes used today, so I looked it up in “Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable“, and this is what I found:- [Read more…]
67. “The Big Noise”
In P.T.66 we saw how the original meaning of “evil” (Hebrew RA) was connected with making a loud noise, and breaking in pieces. And it followed on logically that Satan must have chosen the concept of Noise, Display, Showmanship, and Pride as being the BETTER of the two ways. The other way, called “good” (Hebrew TOV) suggested Quietness, Softness, Beauty, and Peace. These qualities were relegated to the lower place by Lucifer. And even today we still refer to the “boss” as “the big noise”, though it is doubtful as to the origin of the expression. [Read more…]
66. Adam and Eve
The importance of this investigation can hardly be over-rated. But if you cannot accept that Adam and Eve were real people, living but a few millennia ago, then of course it is impossible to go further. We are aware that many philosophical ideas have arisen in the last century to cause an atmosphere of mirth, and even mockery, to arise whenever anyone talks about a LITERAL Adam, but as a personal testimony we should like to state the following. (a) “Jesus answered them saying, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female?'” (Matthew 19:4) (b) “As by ONE MAN sin entered the world, and by means of sin came death, and so death passed upon all men.” (Romans 5:12) (c) “Adam was formed first, and then Eve.” (1 Timothy 2:13) [Read more…]