"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...
There is so much misunderstanding in the Church today regarding the gift of prophecy. Many people believe that prophecy only refers to telling something before it happens. However, even in the Old Testament, the messages of the prophets contained as much, if not more, about the present than they did about the future. In Hebrew, the word translated prophecy is based on the word stem nābā, which simply means “to speak by divine inspiration, either in prediction or simple discourse.” “ Prophecies ” is transliterated (i.e. brought straight over from Greek to English) from the noun prophēteia . It is made up of pro , meaning “before, in time or position” and a form of the verb phēmi , meaning “to tell.” The verb form of this word can refer EITHER : Foretelling (predicting or telling something before it happens). It seeks to predict the future. It predicts or reveals personalities, occurrences, circumstances that will hap...
The phrase "rebuke the devourer" is found in the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. (Malachi 3:11 KJV) And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. In this verse Malachi records a wonderful promise of God to the nation of Israel. The Hebrew word translated “devourer” means “eater” and refers to the locust or caterpillar or any such creature that devours crops. The NIV translates Malachi 3:11 as “I will prevent pests from devouring your crops.” The “devourer” could also refer to plant diseases—really, anything that would destroy Israel’s crops: the NLT says, “Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.” Swarms of locusts were common in the Middle East in those days and could destroy virtually all the produce of an entire country. The devastation brought by locusts could be horri...
Today we address one of the most quoted and most commonly misinterpreted passages in the Bible, a verse usually cited to mean that people shouldn’t judge one another but meaning something entirely different: Matthew 7:1–2 “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged, since you will be judged in the same judgment that you make, and you will be measured by the same standard you apply.” Popular Interpretation This is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible, usually in a context something like this: “Yeah, he cheated on his wife, but who am I to judge? Hey, we’re all sinners, right? Like Jesus said, ‘Judge not, lest you be judged,'” or “Don’t judge me—if you were really a Christian you’d listen to Jesus when he said, ‘judge not.'” That is, the verse is often marshaled in order to defend against any declaration that a given person’s behavior is wrong (quite often marshaled by the person in question). Effectively, when quoted as such, the verse is understood as a prohibition...
Some people contend that Jesus' ministry was only for the Children of Israel and not for all mankind. To support their claim, these people are quick to cite the following verses from the New Testament: (Matthew 15:24) He (Jesus) answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." (Matthew 10:5-6) These twelve (disciples) Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." It is important to realize first of all that Jesus was born of the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham many centuries earlier. Because of obedience and submission to God's will, God's promise to Abraham was two-fold. First, God promised to bless his lineage, namely Isaac, Jacob (Israel), and the Children (descendants) of Israel. Secondly, God promised that from this lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would...
By Lex Meyer The “Rapture” theory is one of the most recent doctrines to have developed in modern Christianity. It was developed around the nineteenth century and has become exceedingly popular in the past 50 years. There are a number of variations about the rapture, such as pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation, but the general idea is that all Christians will be taken up to heaven at some point during the last days. It is sometimes referred to as the “secret rapture” because they believe it will come suddenly and without warning. They teach that the rapture could happen at any moment, so we must always be ready because no one knows the day or the hour. Many of the recent books and movies about the rapture convey an almost comical situation in which piles of clothes are left on chairs where people once sat, vehicles are suddenly abandoned while driving down the road, and everyone on earth (who are “Left Behind”) are overcome with confusion and...
(Mark 10:25 KJV) It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle , than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Have you ever heard the teaching that the "eye of the needle" as used by our Lord Jesus Christ in the above verse is a small gate on the Jerusalem wall, besides the main gate, by which a camel can go through (not without difficulties though) if it is made to stoop and pushed through the gate with all its baggage removed? Most of those that offer this teaching believe that this statement of Jesus Christ concerning the rich man is exaggerated, hence they try to provide the above explanation to soften it down. Well, there is no widely accepted evidence for the existence of such a small gate. The statement of Jesus is rather a proverbial expression denoting something that is impossible for humans or very difficult. If you like our blog, kindly share your views, suggestions, and comments. Like our Facebook page @BibleWatch , follow us on...
The Scriptures refer to King David as a man after God's own heart. This can be found in 1Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22: 1 Samuel 13:14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee. Acts 13:22 says, “After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” In both Scriptures the exact meanings of the Greek and Hebrew prepositions (le and kata respectively) are pretty broad, however, the context makes it clear that the meaning was basically "a man who seeks the same goals and desires that I have."
The first occurrence of speaking in tongues in the New Testament is in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:1-6 "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language." The Greek word translated tongues literally means "languages." Therefore, the gift of tongues is often speaking in a language a person does not know in order to minister to someone who does speak that language. The Jews visiting from the Diaspora that ca...
Many Christians believe that the word translated “whole” in Luke 17:19 KJV refers to both physical and spiritual healing and that the nine lepers in the chapter received only physical healing because they did not return to give thanks to Jesus where as the leper that returned to give thanks to Jesus received both physical and spiritual healing. They believe all the lepers were cleansed but the one that returned to Jesus got something extra which is that he was made whole (i.e his limbs which may have been lost or deformed as a result of the leprosy were restored or that he got salvation for his soul). Though this may be true, there's however a more likely possibility that the leper did not get something more than the rest of the nine. Let's first read the story: (Luke 17:12-19 KJV) And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when h...
"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