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State of the Dead
“He Is Not God of the Dead, but of the Living.” How Should we Understand Jesus’ Saying?
Jesus’ saying, extending from Mark 12:24 to 12:27, relates to the resurrection of the dead. For our study, only verses 26–27 are relevant: “And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abrah...
The Last Enemy
Although some obituaries claim that God has taken a loved one into a better world, others do not reflect any hope. Nevertheless, all of them remind us that one day it will be our turn. A kind of obituary is found in 1Cor 15:3-8. It contains four statements: (1) Christ has died; (2) Christ was bur...
Is There a "World of the Dead"?
Some Christians have used this passage and similar ones to postulate that the dead continue to exist in a weak, conscious state. Your question gives me the opportunity to examine the topic a little more carefully. In answering I will say something about the Hebrew term translated “shades,” commen...
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View allTithing as a Christian Practice
Is tithing normative for Christians? For some, a cursory look at the passages on tithing shows that in biblical times the tithe functioned primarily to sustain the Levites and priests as their reward for the service of the sanctuary and, therefore, because Jesus’ death brought an end to the sacri...
The Character of God through the Lens of Creation
The Genesis creation account not only explains the origins of the world and humanity; it also offers profound insight into the character of the Creator. At the outset, we should note that the placement of Genesis 1 at the opening of Scripture is profoundly significant. As J. Richard Middleton obs...
Why Didn't Adam and Eve Die Immediately?
Because Adam and Eve did not die on the exact day that they ate of the forbidden fruit, it is sometimes claimed that since one day is with the Lord as a thousand years (2 Pet 3:8) and Adam lived less than a thousand years (Gen 5:5), Adam, therefore, did die within that one-thousand-year “day.” An...