From Agnostic Cavemen to the Most Ancient Religion

Posted on 21 May 2013 by

Do apes worship and practice religion? No. If prehistoric men had existed in a more primitive form and nature, they would have had to have invented religion, because only humans believe and practice religion. According to Darwinian evolution, religion would not have been practical for the survival of the fittest. Who would have thrived: the mystical cavemen who offered their animals to imagined spirits or the cavemen who did not waste their time offering their hunted game and gathered crops unto a deity? Under this framework, the cavemen, who did not waste their resources, should have Continue reading →

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Google Censures Jesus

Posted on 21 May 2013 by

Jesus’ Words and other Bible verses are marked as “Explicit Results” on Google. One of my articles has 3 pictures of Bible verses highlighted within context: Mark 10:6, Romans 1:26, and 1 Corinthians 6:9. Mark 10:6 and Romans 1:26 are filtered by Google’s SafeSearch as “Explicit”, which most people would think to include extreme displays of lewdness, gore, and violence. Google defines SafeSearch’s purpose to Continue reading →

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10 Clear Characteristics of the Church of Christ

Posted on 20 May 2013 by

1. The Church of Christ has a complete and whole faith in one God. God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit are all one God, three Persons, Deity, and are not created since God is eternal (Gen. 1:26, 3:22, Matt. 28:19, Luke 3:22, Acts 10:37-38, Rom. 8:9-11, 9:5). From the beginning, the Word was God, who came in the flesh being the Christ (Isa. 9:6, 48:16, John 1:1, 14, Phil. 2:5-8, Col. 1:15-20). The Church believes Jesus, who taught that God created the world in six literal days (Exo. 20:11, Mark 10:6-8). Jesus is the Christ, who was born of a virgin and was predicted to come centuries before His birth (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 48:16, 52:13-53:12, Psalm 22:1, 7-18).Jacksonville-Church-of-Christ God sent Jesus being in His express image being tempted in all ways, He did not sin and yet died (Heb. 4:14-15, 1 Pet. 2:22, Phil. 2:5-11). Therefore, Jesus did not earn death or condemnation in Hell, and yet He destroyed the power of death by being raised from the dead (Heb. 2:14, Rom. 6:8-10). Jesus “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). In the end, Christ will be the Judge, and He will judge the nations giving the righteous to eternal life in His heavenly kingdom and sentencing the others to eternal punishment (Matt. 25:31-46, Rev. 20:11-15).

2. Christ’s Church truly loves God and one another. Christ’s disciples are to be known by their love for one another (John 13:35, 14:21-24, 1 John 3:10, 16, 5:1-3). Their love for one another is included in their love for God in which their love for God is seen by their obedience to observe all that Christ has commanded (1 John 5:2-3, John 14:23, Matt. 28:20). The Church loves one another so much that they follow Jesus’ pattern and lay down their lives for one another for there is no greater love (1 John 3:16-17, John 15:13, Rom. 5:8). The Church practices true religion in the care of Continue reading →

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Is the Soul Destroyed in Hell?

Posted on 16 May 2013 by

What did Jesus mean that body and soul could be destroyed in Gehenna in Matthew 10:28? These words of Jesus are used by many as the starting point for doubting the eternity of condemnation in Hell, Gehenna. Rather than Hell being the place of everlasting torment, some have concluded that lost souls are destroyed unto non-existence. In 2012, the movie, “Hell and Mr. Fudge” was released about the “true story” of a preacher,Gehenna Hell who was paid to challenge the idea that Gehenna was an everlasting torment. The preacher, Edward Fudge, concluded that torment in Hell was not eternal and that expectantly led to his teaching being rebuked by others and his removal from his preaching position. Was Mr. Fudge right about Hell? Are lost souls totally obliterated in Hell?

While the idea of Gehenna being a destruction into non-existence is appealing to defend, this peculiar teaching lacks being reconciled with the Bible. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus taught that the soul can be Continue reading →

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The Valley of Dry Bones and Being Resurrected with Christ

Posted on 9 April 2013 by

Are you dead dry bones or are you alive? Is your spiritual life lifeless? Do you fully understand the concept of being resurrected with Christ?

Jesus’ rebuke of Pharisees was really striking and challenging to the Pharisees.Valley of Dry Bones Jesus said,

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” (Matt. 23:27).

We are challenged to not be like the Pharisees in so many ways., and we do not want to be dead inside. The Pharisees were those who maintained the tombs of the prophets (Matt. 23:27), and they were defined for their belief in the resurrection (Acts 23:8), and now to be exposed as dead men’s bones.

For so long, the Jews, all Israel, and the Hebrew patriarchs practiced the burial the bones of their dead (Gen. 50:25, cf. 1 Sam. 31:8-13, 2 Sam. 21:14, 1 Kings 13:31). Moses brought the bones of Joseph out of Egypt (Exo. 13:19), and Joseph’s bones were not buried until Continue reading →

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When Should I Be Baptized?

Posted on 4 April 2013 by

When you believe, confess your faith, and repent, then you know that you can and must be baptized (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, 8:12, Rom. 10:9-10). You must believe in who Jesus says that He is, which He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the offering for sin forever, the “I am” who is God having came in the flesh, and who was tempted and is without sin (John 8:24, 58; 1:1, 14; Isa. 9:6-7, Col. 1:15-18, 2:9, Heb. 4:14-15, 9:26, 10:10-18, 1 Pet. 2:22). Jesus said, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

Jacksonville FloridaWhen you are convinced that you must have your sins washed away, then you will be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38, 22:16). When you understand that you must be baptized to be saved (Mark 16:16, 1 Pet. 3:21, Acts 2:41, 47), then you should be seriously considering being baptized.

When you are baptized, you are baptized through the resurrection (1 Pet. 3:21). This is when you are born again through the resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3). When a believer is immersed in water in Jesus’ name, that person is born again by the water and the Continue reading →

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Top 10 Scriptural Sources for How the New Testament was Formed

Posted on 3 April 2013 by

The New Testament scriptures were collected under the oversight of the Apostles of Christ in the 1st century AD. Here are some essential points:

1. The Apostle John wrote “we write to you”. John describes “we” in the context. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life — the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness” (1 John 1:1-4).How the New Testament formed

2. Before 70 AD, a church elder in Rome, named Clement, confirmed Peter’s 2nd epistle by quoting 2 Peter 3:4 as being of “the scripture” (Clement to the Corinthians, 23:3; cf. 41:2 for Clement writing this before 70 AD).

3. Peter said that “all” of Paul’s writings were considered a part of “the other Scriptures” (2 Pet. 3:15-16). Peter speaks of “the prophecy of scripture” guided by the Holy Spirit, which included Paul’s writings (2 Pet. 3:15-16), John’s, and his own (2 Pet. 1:16-21).

4. Continue reading →

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