"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...
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...
The video above is the recording of my meditation on the word of God in Zephaniah 3:17. Meditate on these words for more minutes in both night and day. Learn more about meditation 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 wh...
The term " Born Again Christian " is used to describe anyone that has received Jesus Christ as his/her personal Lord and Saviour. One who believes in Jesus Christ and one who has been regenerated through the agent of the Holy Spirit. The phrase "born again" can be seen in John chapter 3 in King James Version (KJV) and most other English Bible Versions. (John 3:3 KJV) Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again , he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3 CEV) "Jesus replied, "I tell you for certain that you must be born from above before you can see God's kingdom!" The Greek phrase is gennēthē anōthen which generally means "begotten from above" or "born from above". It can also mean "born again". Does this same double meaning of this Greek phrase apply also in Aramaic, which Jesus is assumed to have spoken, or did Jesus also speak Greek? Well, some texts suggest ...
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 word lucifer is used only once in the English Bible and it is in Isaiah 14:12. Isaiah 14:12: “ How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" It is from the Latin term lucem ferre , which literally means “bringer, or bearer of light, the shining one, the son of the dawn, the morning star (the star we now know by another Roman name, Venus). The morning star appears in the heavens just before dawn, heralding the rising sun. Isaiah is using this metaphor for a bright light, though not the greatest light to illustrate the apparent power of the Babylonian king which then faded." The Hebrew of this passage reads: " heleyl, ben shachar " which can be literally translated "shining one, day star, son of the dawn, morning star or son of the morning." In the Septuagint, a 3rd century BCE translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, it renders הֵילֵל in Greek ...
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 ...
Many have taught that for anyone to be born-again or inherit eternal life, confessing, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ in accordance with Romans 10:9 and believing in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is all that is required. (Rom 10:9-10) “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” They have misunderstood this passage to mean that we are saved only by means of public declaration of the lordship of Jesus alone; whereas in Matthew 7:21 Jesus made a striking statement: (Matthew 7:21) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall inherit the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” He made it clear that merely acknowledging, declaring or confessing Jesus Christ as Lord saying “Lord, Lord” is not sufficient for anyone to...
One of the Bible verses that is most popularly misinterpreted is Matthew chapter 24 verse 40. (Matthew 24:40 KJV) Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Many Christians believe that the one that is taken, is the one that is raptured and taken to heaven while the one that is left is the one that is left on earth to suffer tribulation. However, a study of this verse in context shows that this verse has nothing to do with rapture or going to heaven and that the one that is "taken" is even the wicked not the righteous. (Matthew 24:37-41 KJV) But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and...
The parable of the dishonest steward is about a steward/ manager who, knowing that his master/employer was about to dismiss him because he was unfairly enriching himself through unethical and immoral practices in the course of transacting business for his master, repented of his sin and asked the debtors to only pay what they owed his master. Let's read the passage in the bible. (Luke 16:1-8) And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had squandered [wasted] his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his l...
"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