The Bible contains 66 books written by about 40 different authors over a period of around 1,600 years.
What’s so remarkable about that?
The authors came from a variety of different professions and backgrounds and spoke languages ranging from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek yet none of them contradicted each other over an array of issues and topics.
Even though the last book was written around 90 AD, so many Greek manuscripts and fragments of the New Testament are still available that we can be assured that accuracy has been preserved. Moreover, in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery produced fragments of every Old Testament book except Esther and they all attest that what we have today is virtually unchanged from the original. Despite many attempts throughout history to destroy the Bible, it has survived intact.
No other book on faith – or anything else for that matter – can match these achievements.
You can read much more on The Nature of the Bible HERE and it is the first lesson of an Ariel Ministries Discipleship Course.
Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum of Ariel Ministries has put together a fantastic and free teaching resource for people interested in knowing more about the Bible and God’s ultimate plans for this world. There is a wealth of solid information in written printable format backed up by hours of audio lessons with a quiz after each subject is completed. It takes some time to complete but you can go at your own pace and it is well worth the effort.
You can learn more about the Discipleship Course HERE.
And you can commence it HERE.
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Who Are the Elect?
My introduction to Calvinism, the teaching of the "Elect" and predestination was at Barry Setterfield’s Genesis Science Research website (which I highly recommend) where I found some articles written by Barry's wife, Helen.
Helen Setterfield has graciously given me permission to post her article in full, but because it is quite lengthy, I'll post part of it and provide a link to Helen's website for those who wish to read the rest. In this very insightful article, Helen explores the meaning of the term elect, who it refers to and how and why God chooses people:
Who Are the Elect? by Helen Setterfield
As a challenge to my conviction that Calvinism is not accurate, I was asked to please give my opinion of the term ‘elect’ as used in the New Testament. My response was that my opinion didn’t matter a whit, but what the Bible says is what matters, and so I promised to do a study on this word.
I learned a lot, and that is an understatement. I do want to thank my husband, Barry, for his help in helping me look up so many verses and checking many in other translations for me. So here is, as requested, what ‘elect’ appears to mean in the New Testament.
The Greek words being dealt with here include ‘eklegomai’, ‘eklektos’, and ‘ekloge’.
Matthew 24:15-31”So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time.
“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
“Immediately after the distress of those days
‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
“At that time the sing of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
The first two uses of ‘elect’ in the above passage are in direct reference to Daniel’s prophecy regarding the abomination that causes desolation and the time known as Jacob’s trouble. This is the Tribulation. Revelation tells us that during that time there are 144,000 of the tribes of Israel who are identified as “the servants of our God.” These are chosen by God to be hidden from the wrath. Thus they have the name ‘elect.’ But they are chosen because they are His servants, and that is stated plainly. This use of ‘elect’ clearly does not pertain to any of us here on this forum today.
The third use of ‘elect’ in the above is interesting, for they are being gathered not from on earth, but from ‘the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.’ The implication is that they are already dead as we would consider them here on earth and are being gathered for this final scenario which Jesus is prophesying. There is internal evidence in the Bible that these may be the ‘armies of heaven’ who follow Christ when He comes down for battle against the beast in Rev. 19. Their clothes are ‘fine linen, white and clean.’ These are identified as the robes of the saints in verse 8, just preceding that coming. These are most certainly the elect, whether one sees that word from a Calvinist or non-calvinist perspective.
There is one other option for these elect, as the term is used once, as seen below, for some of the angels. Read the rest of the article
Other articles by Helen covering this topic:
My Response To Calvinism
Esau I Have Hated
Helen Setterfield has graciously given me permission to post her article in full, but because it is quite lengthy, I'll post part of it and provide a link to Helen's website for those who wish to read the rest. In this very insightful article, Helen explores the meaning of the term elect, who it refers to and how and why God chooses people:
Who Are the Elect? by Helen Setterfield
As a challenge to my conviction that Calvinism is not accurate, I was asked to please give my opinion of the term ‘elect’ as used in the New Testament. My response was that my opinion didn’t matter a whit, but what the Bible says is what matters, and so I promised to do a study on this word.
I learned a lot, and that is an understatement. I do want to thank my husband, Barry, for his help in helping me look up so many verses and checking many in other translations for me. So here is, as requested, what ‘elect’ appears to mean in the New Testament.
The Greek words being dealt with here include ‘eklegomai’, ‘eklektos’, and ‘ekloge’.
Matthew 24:15-31”So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time.
“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
“Immediately after the distress of those days
‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
“At that time the sing of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
The first two uses of ‘elect’ in the above passage are in direct reference to Daniel’s prophecy regarding the abomination that causes desolation and the time known as Jacob’s trouble. This is the Tribulation. Revelation tells us that during that time there are 144,000 of the tribes of Israel who are identified as “the servants of our God.” These are chosen by God to be hidden from the wrath. Thus they have the name ‘elect.’ But they are chosen because they are His servants, and that is stated plainly. This use of ‘elect’ clearly does not pertain to any of us here on this forum today.
The third use of ‘elect’ in the above is interesting, for they are being gathered not from on earth, but from ‘the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.’ The implication is that they are already dead as we would consider them here on earth and are being gathered for this final scenario which Jesus is prophesying. There is internal evidence in the Bible that these may be the ‘armies of heaven’ who follow Christ when He comes down for battle against the beast in Rev. 19. Their clothes are ‘fine linen, white and clean.’ These are identified as the robes of the saints in verse 8, just preceding that coming. These are most certainly the elect, whether one sees that word from a Calvinist or non-calvinist perspective.
There is one other option for these elect, as the term is used once, as seen below, for some of the angels. Read the rest of the article
Other articles by Helen covering this topic:
My Response To Calvinism
Esau I Have Hated
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