Perspective On Eternity

Seriously, Who’s this Epaphras? Colossians 1:3-8 Have you ever asked that question, but instead you have your name in it’s place?  Seriously, who is...well me?  What can I (Average joe) do to make a difference in the kingdom of God (You know the God who created EVERYTHING)?   Epaphras, only mentioned 3 times in the whole New Testament (Colossians 1:7, 4:12, and Philemon 23).  But I want you to notice something about Epaphras and it comes from understanding the progression of this section of Colossians 1:3-8.  Paul, in a sense, talks about results and takes 7 verses to get to the foundation to these results. First, Paul is rejoicing and thanking God.  This is the ultimate result of what is described in the verses to come.  But let’s not skip over this to quickly.  I wonder who was a part of these prayers of thanksgiving?  Why does he say “we?”  According to Colossians 4:12 I think it is safe to assume that Epaphras must ...

Hell? Is it being treated fairly?   I was recently tagged in a note that referenced a website that made some very strong claims about the Bible’s teaching about God and about the reality of hell (as a reaction to the Crazy Harold Camping’s prediction that May 21st is the rapture).   My intention in this post is not to write an exhaustive argument for or against hell but to respond to the website that was referenced in the Facebook note.   To begin I would like to recommend a video posted by Francis Chan on studying this topic. Response to Bill Mcginnis ‘Do all non-Christians go to hell? Bible says “No!” ( Click Here to see the original site) * The text in bold will be direct quotations from Mcginnis’ website   It was this false doctrine, as much as anything else, which allowed the Church to authorize torture to be used to extract confessions from suspected witches during the Inquisition. "After all," the reasoning went, "what is a few hours or days ...

Websites: http://apologetics315.blogspot.com/ The most comprehensive website I’ve found with a ton of resources. You have to see this sight to realize how much there is. Phil Fernandez lectures are an excellent resource. net.bible.org Excelllent resource for one of my favorite bible translations the NET bible. There are over 75,000 footnotes that deal with a number of textual issues throughout the scripture. He is straightforward and honest about what he has found from his manuscript studies. www.christiancourses.com This has a number of different free bible training classes. This is much more on the lighter side than something like The Theology Program at www.reclaimingthemind.org http://www.csntm.org/ This is the center for the study of New Testament Manuscripts. This is an excellent website if you would like to do some in depth study on textual criticism. They have committed to taking high resolution pictures of manuscripts. S...

A Response to William Clifford ( Click Here to read the original text) William Clifford makes some pretty strong claims against those that hold to any sort of belief with insufficient evidence. It would be best to respond to him by breaking down his argument into two parts: First, he claims that one cannot begin to believe something until there is sufficient evidence and second, one should challenge all that they already believe . These are the two points that I will address below. The first of the two assumptions made by Clifford is that no one should begin to hold to a belief until they have weighed all the evidence. He says that this is our “duty to mankind”, and by believing in something with insufficient evidence you affect many around you into believing this false accusation.” He says that the word belief “is rightly used on truths which have been established by long experience and waiting toil , and which have stood in the fierce light of free and fearless questioning....