Bill Pratt | December 20, 2010
Post Author: Bill Pratt The Book of Revelation, according to some Christians, teaches a literal thousand-year reign of Christ on earth after his second coming (see Rev. 20). This will then be followed by the creation of a new heaven and new earth. This view is known today as premillenialism. But there are other Christians, [...]
Bill Pratt | October 11, 2010
Post Author: Bill Pratt A common misunderstanding of the Book of Genesis is how chapters 1 and 2 are related. Specifically, chapter 1 claims that land animals were created before Adam (see Gen. 1:24-26), but chapter 2 seems to claim that Adam was created before land animals (see Gen. 2:19). Is it possible that these [...]
Bill Pratt | November 9, 2009
Post Author: Bill Pratt According to Martin Lloyd-Jones, the answer is “yes.” Below is a quote from Lloyd-Jones where he is commenting on Matt. 6:30, from the Sermon on the Mount. He argues that Jesus’ words indicate that he expected his listeners to be actively using their minds to make logical deductions from the evidence [...]
Bill Pratt | October 17, 2009
Post Author: Bill Pratt I’ve touched on this topic before, but it continues to interest me, so I thought I would cover some new ground on this important section of the New Testament. Context, when reading any passage of the Bible, is crucial to understanding it. When we look at the context of Romans 9-11, [...]
Bill Pratt | September 12, 2009
Post Author: Bill Pratt To be honest, we just don’t know. Let’s take a brief look at the evidence we have. First, we will summarize the evidence external to the actual words of Hebrews. According to D. Edmond Hiebert, there were three early church traditions about authorship. The tradition from Alexandria, Egypt held that the [...]
Bill Pratt | May 25, 2009
Many Christians are shocked when they read Romans 9:13: “Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” Since when does the God of love hate people? This verse, coupled with the rest of Romans 9, has led many to believe that God does not love all people, at least with regard [...]
Bill Pratt | May 5, 2009
Christians believe that God is omniscient, which means that God knows everything—past, present, and future. In addition, he knows the actual and the possible; only the impossible (the contradictory) is unknown to God, as the logically contradictory is unknowable to anyone. But there are passages in the Bible that seem to indicate that God is [...]
Bill Pratt | April 30, 2009
I was recently reading a newspaper article my wife showed me, and it reminded me of a Metallica song called “Holier Than Thou.” In that song, the singer repeats a refrain, “Judge not lest ye be judged yourself.” That phrase, I’ve come to realize, is an anthem that our culture cries at every opportunity. The [...]
Bill Pratt | December 16, 2008
The book of Ecclesiastes is one of the most misunderstood books in the Hebrew Bible. The author of the book, called Qohelet, who many believe is King Solomon, appears to contradict many of the teachings of the other books of the Bible. Ecclesiastes is placed, in the Christian Old Testament, in the wisdom literature section, [...]
