Yesterday Father Orthoduck pointed out that both Matthew 5 and Leviticus 19 are holiness codes. Father Orthoduck should have said that the Matthew 5 passage continues over into Matthew 6. Remember that the chapter divisions are not found in the original manuscripts, but were added centuries later. Father Orthoduck asked you to look at the […]
Leviticus, the New Testament, and New Testament social concern
Father Orthoduck was sent the following e-mail four days ago, and finally has time to begin a reply: I wanted to get your take on possible applications of Lev 19:9-10 to state welfare systems today. A friend and I have a friendly disagreement over whether the passage has application today, and whether it implies that […]
Sorcerers, adulterers, and bad employer
Yesterday we looked at a “devotional” e-mail that was full of bad Scriptural interpretations and junk science, but in the process I quoted from the Book of the Prophet Malachi. However, I did not quote the next verse that followed the verses I quoted earlier. Yesterday I quoted these verses: “I will send my messenger, […]
Signs of the end redux
OK, be honest. How many of you were really really into reading books such as Hal Lindsey’s “The Late Great Planet Earth” and the 20 years later “Left Behind” series. Yes, Father Orthoduck has read both series of books. We engaged in what ended up getting nicknamed as “newspaper exegesis.” What did that term mean? […]
What negative things did the New Testament tell us about the Church?
In yesterday’s post, I pointed out that there are some very negative things that are said about the future Church in some parts of the New Testament. There are also some very positive things said about the Church. In fact, we tend to concentrate so much on the positive things that we forget or minimize […]
Fasting, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Jewish Nev’im
I am often surprised at the number of interesting tales that exist with regards to our fasting rules. For instance, there are tales such as the reason for why only olive oil is on the forbidden list during our fasts. Some, of course, will argue that the rule must be extended to all oils because only […]
Hmm, gosh this sounds just like Father Orthoduck at times. We have this tendency to misuse Scripture to our benefit whenever we can. “Proof-texting” is not simply a favorite tactic of those who are trying to convince you of their viewpoint. Sadly, it is a tactic that all of us use whenever we sin, in […]
So, maybe the Apostle John did come from a rich family!
Actually there is some good evidence in Scripture, besides the one Scripture that I quoted in the other post that James and John bar Zebedee came from a rich family. In fact, it has been pointed out to me that there are some very good Scriptures that point to Zebedee’s family having some money and […]
Our pious ideas about the Apostles
One of the bloggers on yesterday’s post said: At the same time, I am reminded of the statement of Jesus to the effect that he was homeless, that he had no place to lay his head. Perhaps there is “voluntary poverty” involved? The statement to which he is referring is: And Jesus said to him, […]
Poor and illiterate apostles and New Testament people?
After yesterday’s post, another blogger commented: What was their own standing in their own community? We can’t know, I think. But from the texts alone, it seems evident that they had their own business and one of them, at least, owned a boat. Several of them had houses (one passage in the Gospel says something […]
