One command in the Old Testament which is frequently lampooned by sceptical readers is Leviticus 20:9,
If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.
Some contend that that this passage commands the courts to execute [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Sunday Study'
Sunday Study: Does the Bible Teach that Children Should be Executed for Swearing?
August 23rd, 2009 3 Comments
Tags: Sunday Study
Sunday Study: 666 The Number of the Beast
August 17th, 2009 6 Comments
On 29 March 1982 Iron Maiden released the album The Number of the Beast; this album’s self-titled song was to become one of the most influential heavy metal songs of all time and stirred up a firestorm of controversy. Apparently Iron Maiden’s bassist, Steve Harris, had been up late one night watching Damian: Omen II, [...]
Tags: 616 · 666 · Iron Maiden · Nero · Number of the Beast · Sunday Study
Sunday Study: The Mosaic Covenant as a Vassal Treaty
August 9th, 2009 No Comments
The central event in the Old Testament is the enactment of the Mosaic Covenant. God and Israel (the descendants of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham) entered into a covenant during the time of Moses where Israel promised to worship God and obey his laws and God promised to give them land and protection. The covenant [...]
Tags: Sunday Study
Sunday Study
August 2nd, 2009 No Comments
There will be no Sunday Study this week as the past week has been taken up with preparing for the memorial service on Waiheke Island, the Faith and Science conference I spoke at yesterday and two other deadlines for written work due Friday; and on top of all that, our family car blew its head [...]
Tags: Sunday Study
Sunday Study: Abraham and Isaac – Did God Command the Killing of an Innocent?
July 26th, 2009 12 Comments
Perhaps the most infamous passage in the Hebrew scriptures occurs in Genesis 22:2,
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
Of course, as anyone who has read [...]
Tags: Sunday Study
Sunday Study: Christ on The Prohibition on Homicide Part II
July 19th, 2009 10 Comments
This post is the second in my series on Christ’s exposition of the 6th Commandment, the prohibition on homicide, contained in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5: 21-26. In Sunday Study: Christ on The Prohibition on Homicide Part I, I looked at what The Torah taught about homicide, in this post I will [...]
Tags: Homicide · Sermon on the Mount · Sunday Study
Sunday Study: Christ on The Prohibition on Homicide Part I
July 12th, 2009 No Comments
This morning I preached a sermon at Riverhead Presbyterian Church on Christ’s exposition of the 6th Commandment, the prohibition on homicide, contained in the Sermon on the Mount. This Sunday Study series is essentially a transcript of today’s sermon.
Christ states,
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and [...]
Tags: Homicide · Riverhead Presbyterian Church · Sermon on the Mount · Sunday Study
Sunday Study: Does the Bible Teach that a Rape Victim has to Marry her Rapist?
July 5th, 2009 37 Comments
In our recent discussion on the Bible’s teachings on slavery John Loftus asked Madeleine, “if you were raped you should marry your rapist? Get real. … Would you want to be treated the way the Bible says women and slaves should be treated?” Loftus then dedicated a post on Debunking Christianity to Madeleine’s “stupidity” for [...]
Tags: John Loftus · Michael Martin · Sexual Morality · Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Slavery, John Locke and the Bible
June 28th, 2009 96 Comments
It is often affirmed, as an incontestable and obvious truth, that the Bible supports slavery. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong cites Leviticus 25:44 as evidence of this charge in “Why Traditional Theism is not an Adequate Foundation for Morality.”[1] Although Armstrong is not the alone in making this claim, I think the charge is mistaken; the Bible does [...]
Tags: John Locke · John Loftus · Slavery · Sunday Study · Theology · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Sunday Study: The Virtue of Judging – Jesus was not a Relativist
June 23rd, 2009 3 Comments
About a year ago I gave a talk on moral relativism for Thinking Matters Tauranga. During that talk I noted that relativism entails that one cannot apply the moral principles you (or your culture) accepts to the practices of other people (or cultures). I was critical of this position arguing that it suffers from all [...]
Tags: Judging · Relativism · Sunday Study · Theology
