BIBLE WATCH

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...

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...

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 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 ...