- Epistemology by Ready2Rapture
19 y
4,028 4 Messages Shown
Blog: Bible Study
e`pis`te`mol´o`gy
n. 1. The theory or science of the method or grounds of knowledge.
I'd like to elaborate on the description of this blog, where I say everyone has a belief system based on a foundational assumption.
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you believe as you do? Most people don't realize the extent to which everything they hold to be true is based on things they assume-- really, on nothing at all. We just accept things without question, so most people believe what they were told as children. If they do come across a new foundational belief system, they either reject it without a reason or accept it, frequently without a reason other than the "missionary"'s persuasive speech (and I'm not just talking about Christian missionaries here).
So should you base your life, here and later, on what someone told you? Is there a way to find Truth beyond feelings or philosophies or peer pressure?
No, yes. :-)
Your soul is of great value, so don't leave your destiny to chance. But you must choose a method of finding facts that does not depend solely on emotion or experience or sensation or popularity. Many religions claim that your brain is the obstacle to enlightenment, but they used their brains to decide that! There is no escape; you are at the mercy of your brain. Use it for what it's best at: evaluating evidence and drawing conclusions.
We find ourselves in a physical universe, one which screams Design with every molecule and atom. From this we must conclude the existence of a Designer, who transcends the space-time continuum, who is not bound by the laws of physics (which couldn't be laws if the universe were chaotic). Through observation of all we see, and by thinking about what it would take for it all to come into being, there must be a First Cause who is more than a force, more than a principle, more than a cosmic bean counter who tracks karma for people who can't be sure (beyond emotions) what they ever did in an alleged past life.
Those who claim they reject God because they cannot sense him are really saying they can't see or hear or feel anything at all, because our senses are what tell us about our orderly universe. To sense the physical is to know that a Designer exists; anyone who can call it all a cosmic accident is in denial of even the most basic science.
So both the atheist and the spiritualist are without excuse. Any way you look at it, there must be a God who is personal and powerful. Check back on previous blog entries for the details. If your belief system is based on nothing, then you need to decide whether that nothing is worth gambling with your eternal destiny.
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Ready2Rapture
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- Question on the geneology of Jesus by eileen45
19 y
1,654
R2R: The following statement was made in a commentary regarding the geneology of Jesus...and I would very appreciate your comments on it. Thanks much~!
"The Messiah is not a descendant of King David. He was conceived by God and is God. There is no human bloodline in the body of Christ Jesus."
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eileen45
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- Re: Question on the geneology of Jesus by Ready2Rapture
19 y
1,681
First, let me recommend this link on the two genealogies of Jesus:
http://www.bible.org/qa.asp?topic_id=55&qa_id=61
This article is a short summary, but there are other more detailed ones that I can try and locate if you want. Even so, you'd still come to the conclusion that there is some room for disagreement on this issue.
Now to your question: while it is true that Jesus had no human father, he did have a human mother. This in no way means he was only half-human or half-God, as some religions teach, but fully human and fully God. As such, his physical/ethnic lineage would be through Mary only, but his legal/royal lineage could be through both, according Jewish reckoning.
I don't have the context in which that commentary's statement was made so I can't say what point they wanted to make, but the bottom line is that Jesus had every legal and ethnic right to David's throne; legal because Joseph was his guardian, and ethnic because of Mary being Jewish. This may be partly why God instituted the kinsman/redeemer law for Israel.
At the very least, the commentary's statement, "There is no human bloodline in the body of Christ Jesus", is in error at face value. Mary was human, and a sinner (which brings up the "original sin" issue since Jesus was sinless, but that's for another day). The only way they can claim otherwise is to assume, without any Biblical support, that Mary contributed no genetics at all. But this denies the Bible's clear teaching that Jesus "was made like his brothers in every way, yet was without sin" (Heb. 2:17, 4:15). Also there was no value in his sacrifice for us if he wasn't fully human and fully God.
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Ready2Rapture
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