One of the first things which struck me about the Qur’an the first time I read it was how it can suddenly and jarringly jump to a completely different scene,
I’ve often been told that the Torah and the Injil were only for the Jews. However, two problems: The Pickthall translation doesn’t hide it: He hath revealed unto thee (Muhammad)
John Fontain recently debated David Wood on the Islamic Dilemma, which points out that the Qu’ran both affirms the Torah and Gospel while contradicting them. John has a rather different
Those who attempt to say that the Qur’an teaches the corruption of the earlier scriptures, often appeal to Qur’an 5:48, but this argument turns on the translation of the word
I’m reading through the Qu’ran one last time this year and wanted to follow along with a Tafsir. I discovered Quran Garden which was just the sort of thing I
The Qur’an claims that if it were not from God, there would be many contradictions in it. However, there is one Qur’anic verse which presents an inherent contradiction! In chapter
The sun sets in muddy spring (18:86) Semen comes from between backbone & ribs (86:6-7) Stars are missiles to shoot devils (67:5) If a fly lands in your drink, one
The Qur’an speaks about Allah helping the followers of Jesus and keeping them “uppermost”, but this presents a dilemma since, historically, this has to refer to Trinitarian Christians… which is
While there was radio silence at the end of last year, Joe from Shameless Popery was busy at work. Not only did he give his blog a nice face-lift, he also produced an excellent series of posts, giving ten reasons to reject the Protestant Reformation:
From the Westminster Chorus, here is “Oh love, that will not let me go”:
Oh, love that will not let me go
I rest my weary soul in thee
I give you back the life I owe
And in your ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be
My life is not my own
It’s yours
My life is not my own
I know it’s yours
Oh, light that follows all my way
I yield my flickering torch to thee
And my heart restores its borrowed ray
That in your sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be
So light a fire in my heart
And I’ll burn for you
So light a fire in my heart
And I’ll burn for you
Oh, joy, that seeks me through the pain
I cannot close my heart to thee
I trace the rainbow through the rain
And feel the promise is not in vain
That morn shall tearless be
So anoint me with joy
And joyful I will be
So anoint me with joy
And joyful I will be
Oh, cross that’s lifing up my head
I dare not ask to fly from thee
I lay in dust life’s glory dead
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be
We will sing:
Holy, holy
Is the King of Kings
And we will sing:
Holy, holy
Is the King of Kings
On that day we will sing:
We will join with the angels and we will sing:
For my final month in San Diego, my Bible Study Group is going to be going through the epistles of St. John (1 John, 2 John, 3 John). However, this last week we reviewed our study of Ephesians. Here are the review questions the group came up with:
68. When was Ephesians written?
This letter is one of the “captivity epistles” and therefore was probably written during Paul’s Roman captivity in the early 60s.
69. What is significant about the destination of this epistle?
Mention of Ephesus in verse 1 is not found in the earliest manuscripts. It is therefore possible that this was a circular letter written to a number of congregations, one of which was Ephesus.
70. What was Paul’s relationship with Ephesian Church?
Christianity was present in Ephesus prior to Paul’s arrival. Paul used Ephesus as his base of operations for several years.
71. What does Paul write about in Ephesians?
Paul devotes most of the document to putting forth a vision of God’s redemptive work, brought about through Christ and manifested in the Church.
The Ephesians were mostly newly baptized Pagans and, because of this, some have referred to Ephesians as mystagogical catechesis.
Paul spends quite some time talking about “mystery”. This relates to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross which draws man, both Jew and Gentile, back into relationship with God. This relationship is communicated through the Church, which has Christ as her head.