Category Archives: The Book of Genesis

The Fundamentals of Christianity, as encoded in the Writings of Moses

The core of the Christian/Jewish polemic: What was Moses trying to say? At the very core of the ministry of Jesus, and the teachings of his apostles, is a fundamental claim about what Moses was saying in the first five books of the Bible. Either he was saying that the Covenant struck at Mt Sinai […]

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Become like a little child; Understand the Kingdom of Heaven

The Story of Cain and Abel This basic little story is not complex. It is structured like a children’s story. But for reasons I list below, theologians almost universally fail to understand it. It means what it says: “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” ()

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Reflections on the Trip of a Lifetime: Day 14 Gallipoli

Gallipoli Without any hesitation I can state that this was the most moving and emotional day of the tour. Gallipoli is special.

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1 Corinthians 11 – Why Head Coverings for Women? Does it apply today?

1 Corinthians 11:3-12 – The Head Coverings. Must women cover their heads to pray? Must men remove head coverings? That is what this passage says, but does it apply today?

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Who are these “angels”, and what do they want?

The heavenly host Who are all those angels, and what’s going on in the throne room of God? I wrote this as part of another article entitled, “The Angels at Christmas time: What’s with that?“. I pulled it out as a separate item in the interest of keeping all my posts a little shorter. This is […]

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Ishmael: In the Abrahamic Covenant, or not?

Ishmael: Sidestepped or Sidelined? Abraham is the Patriarch who was chosen by God to be the ancestor of the People of God. Ishmael was Abraham’s eldest son. When Abraham was given the sign of his covenant with God, circumcision, he circumcised Ishmael into that covenant. But subsequent text in the Bible raises some questions as […]

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Genesis 3: No Curse on Adam and Eve. “μη γενοιτο”!

Human kind was certainly not cursed by God at the Fall, nor would it be theologically possible It is said (widely, but for example at Bible.Org), that when Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed them. This is not true, and I plan to demonstrate not only the fact, but also the theological reason why, it […]

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Original Sin: The Original Meaning

Original Sin, the meaning revealed… without even mentioning sex! Original Sin is a doctrine completely separate from any notion of sex or sexuality. The Church has managed to confuse those ideas in most unhelpful ways throughout history, but I won’t be doing so here. So if you’re in the mood for a salacious, sexy romp […]

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Genesis 2:2-3 – Why God rested

Why did God rest? We often ask our Biblical texts questions that they were not designed to answer. This can be ok sometimes, and it can yield information that is good and helpful. But at other times it can result in us reading the text in ways that were never intended, potentially obscuring or even […]

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The Big Biblical Covenants and their Relationship to Hittite Suzerainty Treaties

Summary The four “major covenants”, with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David are reviewed with a particular eye to their possible relationship with the Hittite suzerainty form of treaty, in the ancient Near East. The formal features of the four covenants are compared to the Hittite treaty form, and also considered without that constraint for their […]

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