"Heaven helps those who help themselves" is not in the bible from my understanding, rather its the opposite. God helps the helpless, the powerless etc. please enlighten me more on this, thank you.
It is not in the Bible. However, we should not completely discard the "possible" underlying interpretation the initial writer of the quote was trying to convey
Many Christians thought that Jacob worked seven years for Laban, realized that Laban deceived him to marry Leah, and then worked seven more years before finally getting married to Rachel. However the bible shows that he took both Leah and Rachel immediately before he began serving Laban. For clarity, I advise you to read this Jacob's story in other translations of the Bible aside King James Version (KJV). Meanwhile lets look at look at some of the facts from the Bible: (Genesis 29:21 KJV) And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. Please note that the 7 years of service required of Jacob were the total dowry and not the customary waiting period before a wife was given to the groom. In other words, Jacob took Leah after the customary waiting period which was a couple of days just like we read in vs 21. Notice that he said, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled" implying a certain number of d...
The Bible shows that only Genesis 1:1 gives the account of the original creation. Here, God created a perfect world. However, in Genesis 1:2, something happened to the perfect earth which caused it to become formless and void. From Genesis 1:3, the Bible describes the restoration of the earth to its perfection earth. It is not describing the original creation. Here is the evidence that the six days account of Genesis chapter 1 from verse 3 is that of restoration of the earth and not the original creation: It is a fact that dry land must have been created before the waters, or there would have been no place to hold the waters. More so, comparing Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 1:10, we see that " earth " and " dry land " are synonymous. (Genesis 1:1 KJV) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:10 KJV) And God called the dry land Earth ; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good . So since the earth was orig...
What the Devil asked of Jesus in Matthew 4:3 was something moral and there is nothing in God's law that says it would be wrong to create a meal from stones. So why didn't he turn the stone into bread? (Matthew 4:3 KJV) And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Several reasons have been given for not turning the stones into bread by many writers and teachers but not all are accurate. Here are the reasons presented by some writers and teachers: " It was God’s will for Christ to overcome the sin of appetite that He may be an example for us." "The problem wasn't that God forbade turning stones into bread. The problem was that God hadn't authorized it." "If Jesus had turned the stones into bread, not only would He have been acting without authority, He also would have been demonstrating a lack of trust in God." "Turning stones into bread would have bee...
The concept of meditation has been mostly appropriated to other religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism and other eastern religions. Sadly, some Christians today have never practiced meditation the bible way, and typically when you ask some believers how many of them meditate on a regular basis, the answer is only a few. There are many forms of meditations encompassing practices from different traditions, cultures, spiritual disciplines, and religions which are not in line with the concept of biblical meditation. Some of them include: Silent meditation which involves simply sitting in quiet without thoughts for anything. Calming meditation which involves focusing on a particular object which could be your breath, a mantra, a visualization without focus on God and His Word . Yoga meditation which may include sitting calmly on a rug, and/or listening to sonorous music. Biblical meditation is not even primarily for relaxation, although you may find it calming and comforting. It is...
This should be obvious but it seems a lot of people are having problem with it. God made Adam male and female. In other words, when Adam was first created he was both male and female. For people that are finding it hard to accept this is what the bible says: (Genesis 1:27 KJV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 5:2 KJV) Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam , in the day when they were created. The first scripture in using the term "them" still seem to suggest that it was talking about both Adam and Eve and not only Adam at first. However the accounts in Matthew chapter 19 and Mark chapter 10 will give more insight. (Matthew 19:3 KJV) The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? (Matthew 19:4 KJV) And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read...
Most of us are very familiar with the story in Matthew chapter 16 where Jesus said that Simon, who was one of His disciples, is Peter (which means rock). The question is, why did Jesus call him Rock? (Matthew 16:18 KJV) And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18 NLT) Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. Before we answer the question, it is of note that there are many Believers and non Believers alike, who do not accept Peter as the Rock. They usually twist the above verse and play on words from the Greek translation such as: (Matthew 16:18) And I say also unto thee, That thou art PETROS , and upon this PETRA I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. They say that what Jesus called Simon was " Petros " which refers ...
Genesis 6:1-4 has had different interpretations. Some believe that the term "sons of God" used in the passage means the sons of Seth, others say they are just humans while others believe they are angels. However, there are more facts to believe that these "sons of God" are angelic or spiritual beings and here are some of those facts: It would not have been necessary for the bible to emphasize that women (either godly or ungodly) had children if the “sons of God” were ordinary men but having children with angels was something to make special mention. The giants, the Nephilim, that existed in those days (Genesis 6:4) are as a result of the union between the angels and humans. The fact that giants were mentioned points to some type of extraordinary explanation as to their existence. If the giants were not the offspring of these two groups then why is it injected here in the text? The best answer seems to be that the giants were the offspring of this union. The te...
When the disciples of Jesus asked Him why the man in John chapter 9 verse 1 was born blind He told them it was so that the works of God might be manifested in him. (John 9:3 KJV) Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. (John 9:3 NIV) “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:3 NLT) “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. This response by Jesus opened up several different interpretations from scholars who do not agree with the Bible translations above (and many similar translations) as it has serious implications. They say such translations go against the teaching of the scripture as it makes the man’s blindness intentionally brought upon by God, so that he could not see for the better part of his life, simply for the purpose of...
If God's love is unconditional, does that mean there are no strings attached? Want to start an interesting conversation among friends—or an endless argument among theologians? Ask this question: Is God’s love unconditional? Many will say yes. God is a loving God; in fact, God is love. So he’s going to love you no matter what you do. Someone who believes in this “no strings attached” kind of divine love might say, “Deep down you’re okay; God accepts you as you are—warts and all. God smiles on you even if you don’t jump through any hoops, because you have intrinsic worth. You can relax, bask in his smile, and let the basically good, real you emerge.” Others will say no. God is holy and his standard is absolute righteousness—perfection, even. If you are not righteous you do not deserve (and will not receive) God’s love. Someone of this school of thought might say, “The Bible says that God hates sin. So it can’t be true that you can sin all yo...
This is a two-part question. The first part is “Did God know Satan would rebel?” We know from Scripture that God is omniscient , which literally means “all-knowing.” Job 37:16; Psalm 139:2–4, 147:5; Proverbs 5:21; Isaiah 46:9-10; and 1 John 3:19–20 leave no doubt that God’s knowledge is infinite and that He knows everything that has happened in the past, is happening now, and will happen in the future. Looking at some of the superlatives in these verses—“perfect in knowledge”; “his understanding has no limit”; “he knows everything”—it is clear that God’s knowledge is not merely greater than our own, but it is infinitely greater. He knows all things in totality. If God’s knowledge is not perfect, then there is a deficiency in His nature. Any deficiency in God’s nature means He cannot be God, for God’s very essence requires the perfection of all His attributes. Therefore, the answer to the first question is “yes, God knew that Satan would rebel.” Moving on to the second par...
"Heaven helps those who help themselves" is not in the bible from my understanding, rather its the opposite.
ReplyDeleteGod helps the helpless, the powerless etc.
please enlighten me more on this, thank you.
Nice try Nze. Let's wait for comments from others.
ReplyDeleteNze, you are absolutely correct.
ReplyDeleteIt is not in the Bible. However, we should not completely discard the "possible" underlying interpretation the initial writer of the quote was trying to convey
ReplyDelete