What is the “Oral Law?” When we read of Jesus’s interactions with the Pharisees, we find that they had many laws and procedures that were not mentioned directly in the Law that God inspired Moses to write down. So, did the Pharisees or their predecessors create these, what could be termed oral law, sometime after the close of the Old Testament period?

Actually, the oral law was first mentioned directly in the book of Deuteronomy, and the necessity for oral law arises in the book of Exodus, and it may well be referred to in the book of Genesis, as will be mentioned later. So, what is the oral law, and why was it necessary, and when were parts of it created? In actual fact, there are three basic categories of oral law, each with a different purpose.

Continue reading "What do we know about the Oral Law? (Part 1)"

In part 1 of this Q&A, we discussed the fact that many religions believe that each person has an immortal soul.   Orthodox Christianity, in general, has the same understanding.   But is it true? 

In our booklet “The Theory of Evolution – A Fairy Tale for Adults,” the Spirit in Man is discussed and below are a few selected highlights taken from pages 19-26.   This shows that the Spirit in Man is not the soul.  

“Herbert W. Armstrong… published his findings in a book entitled, ‘The Incredible Human Potential.’ This is what he wrote on pages 74 and 75, ‘Animals are equipped with brain and instinct. But they do not have power to understand and choose moral and spiritual values or to develop perfect spiritual character. Animals have brain, but no intellect—instinct, but no ability to develop holy and Godly character. And that pictures the transcendental DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANIMAL BRAIN AND HUMAN MIND.

Continue reading "How Important is the correct understanding about the “Immortal Soul”? (Part 2)"

On the Britannica website we read the following:

“Human beings seem always to have had some notion of a shadowy double that survives the death of the body. But the idea of the soul as a mental entity, with intellectual and moral qualities, interacting with a physical organism but capable of continuing after its dissolution, derives in Western thought from Plato and entered into Judaism during approximately the last century before the Common Era and thence into Christianity. In Jewish and Christian thinking it has existed in tension with the idea of the resurrection of the person conceived as an indissoluble psychophysical unity. Christian thought gradually settled into a pattern that required both of these apparently divergent ideas. At death the soul is separated from the body and exists in a conscious or unconscious disembodied state. But on the future Day of Judgement souls will be re-embodied (whether in their former but now transfigured earthly bodies or in new resurrection bodies) and will live eternally in the heavenly kingdom.”

Continue reading "How important is the correct understanding about the “Immortal Soul”? (Part 1)"

It is a good question to ask.

Why do we keep this particular celebration?   Mainstream Christianity doesn’t even keep the weekly Sabbath or annual Holy Days which we do, and this particular celebration would also be rather strange to them.

We read in Exodus 12:40-42:

^“Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.  And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night of solemn observance to the LORD for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.”

Continue reading "And why do you keep the Night to Be Much Observed?"

As true Christians, we know that people cannot self-select to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Some may church-hop and browse the services to see if it fits their lifestyle. However, as we read in John 6:44: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” God the Father initiates the spark that draws a person to His Son. It is as wondrously simple and as complex as that. The 71 verses that comprise John 6 are packed with fundamental elements of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and coming King. Once I began my study of this particular chapter, I realized that I wanted to devote this entire Q&A to an examination of John 6 and the context of two questions shared in a conversation between Jesus and His apostle, Peter.

Continue reading "“Lord, to whom shall we go?”"

This is an age-old question, and to say it right from the start—the answer is difficult for us to comprehend and accept. Still, the Bible does give us numerous hints, leads towards and proofs for the correct understanding.

When someone were to ask where the Bible talks about the beginning of creation, many who know Scripture would turn to Genesis 1:1, where it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This statement identifies God as the Creator, and “God” describes more than one Person—the Hebrew word “Elohim” is a plural word, followed here by a singular verb, revealing the fact that God is a Family, consisting of the Father and the Son. We read that God the Father created everything through Jesus Christ.

Continue reading "Where does God come from?"

In the first part of this Q&A, we looked at the biblical evidence that God the Father, Jesus Christ the Word, and innumerable angels are all in the third heaven.

But are there any human beings in heaven?  What about those who have died and have lived good lives?  Did they go to heaven and live there now in a conscious state?

In Ecclesiastes 9:5 we read: “For the living know that they shall die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.” 

Psalm 146:3-4 illustrates that the day one dies, his thoughts perish.

No human being has ascended to heaven, as Jesus revealed in John 3:13, and this is a telling piece of Scripture: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from, and it is heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”   

Continue reading "Who and What is in Heaven? (Part 2)"

These are very interesting questions and the only place that we can find this information is in the Word of God, the Bible.

The spiritual realm is a fascinating subject.   Physical can’t see spirit.  Our physical life now, however long or short, will be a fraction of our life as a Spirit-born member of God’s Family if we make it into the Kingdom of God.

In an article entitled “What Science Can’t Discover About the Human Mind”, Mr Herbert W Armstrong (1892-1986), former leader of the now defunct Worldwide Church of God, wrote that “God has had to plan to bridge the gap between MATTER (of which MAN is now wholly composed) and SPIRIT (which God now is, and man must become).   The body that comes in the (first) resurrection is not the same body that was flesh and blood in this human lifetime. God does not turn flesh and blood matter INTO Spirit. The flesh and blood physical body, after death, decomposes and decays, but the spirit that was IN that body, like the sculptor’s mold, preserves all the form and shape, the memory, and the character INTACT. And that mold, being spirit does not change — even though the resurrection may take place thousands of years after death.”

Continue reading "Who and What is in Heaven? (Part 1)"

It is useful to appreciate who Ezra was. What was his family line? This is listed in Ezra 7:1-5. In this list, certain names stand out, Hilkiah, who was the high priest in the days of Josiah, 2 Chronicles 34:9, Zadok the priest in the days of David and Solomon, and going back further, Phineas, Eleazar and Aaron, the chief priest. So, Ezra was of the priestly line; in fact, going by his ancestors, very distinguished in the priestly line. He was one of over four thousand priests in Judea, most of whom had already returned to Judea years before Ezra. But he was the one selected by God to restore the true religious observance and worship in the country. He is reputed to have written three books of the Bible, Ezra, and the last two books of the Jewish Scriptures, 1 and 2 Chronicles. He also arranged the books of the Old Testament in the order in which we have them today in the Hebrew Bible, but not in the English Bible (compare “The Authority of the Bible”, page 85). So important was he in the eyes of his people that later tradition regarded him as no less than a second Moses. It is interesting that Ezra himself is not even mentioned in his book until the seventh chapter.

Continue reading "What does it mean that Ezra was a skilled scribe?"

In 2 Corinthians 15:29, Paul utters a statement which is difficult to understand. He wrote: “Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?”

Many explanations have been given as to what Paul might have meant—some good, some not so good, and some blatantly wrong. We addressed some of those explanations in a Q&A, which was written in 2006, https://www.eternalgod.org/q-a-3014/, which had the following headline: “Would you please explain 1 Corinthians 15:29, speaking of ‘baptism for the dead. Are we to be baptized for those who have already died?”

In that Q&A, we showed that the concept, practiced by some, to baptize someone for a person who had died without having been baptized is totally unbiblical. We said: “This practice is not based on God’s Holy Word. Baptism only makes sense when and so long as the person to be baptized is ALIVE. Baptism for a dead person, that is, vicariously, derivatively or by proxy, accomplishes nothing.”

Continue reading "Baptism for the dead in God’s Church?"