by Dr. Herold Weiss, author of Meditations on the Letters of Paul Martin Luther’s argument against the selling of indulgences to shorten one’s stay in purgatory before reaching heaven was a courageous and necessary attack on a grievous abuse of ecclesiastical authority. The ninety five theses he nailed to the door of the church at the university…
by Edward Vick We begin this section with a caveat. We are speaking in what follows of individual writings speaking about other writings. The term ‘writings’ (or ‘Scriptures’) in the New Testament is the Greek word graphai, a plural form, from which we get such words as graph, graphic and all the other words…
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is part of our series on controversial questions. A NO post will normally follow a YES post. Join in by posting your comments.] by Edward W. H. Vick In the sixteenth century there was a major conflict within Christianity. It was over the Bible. Before then it was only available in…
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is part of our series on controversial questions. A NO post will normally follow a YES post. Join in by posting your comments.] by Steve Kindle For those of us in the West, once the Roman Catholic Church lost its hegemonic hold on the content of the faith, it’s become “every…
by Steve Kindle “By identifying the new learning with heresy, you make orthodoxy synonymous with ignorance.” ~Erasmus What follows in this post is my personal reflection on Dr. Vick’s post which ran yesterday. Although I hope he finds this compatible with his own view, he may not. He is only responsible for prodding me to…
by Herold Weiss More than any other biblical book According to John is concerned with the necessity to distinguish what is true from what is false, what is genuine from what is spurious. Throughout the gospel one finds declarations concerning “the true light,” “the true bread,” “the true food,” “the true Israelite,” “the true shepherd,”…
by Herold Weiss It is not uncommon for a person who has not read the Bible to ask a Bible reader for advice as to where to start. Most books are read starting at the beginning. Reading the Bible this way, however, may prove quite a challenge. If one does that it may not…
by Edward W. H. Vick The question is: What does it mean to believe? The following sentences express some themes of the thirteen chapters of the book. Ask yourself these questions: What do I believe? Is it the same as what I say I believe, or think I believe? Is my belief reasonable? Is it…
by Edward W. H. Vick The question is: How to explain that the Bible has authority? That the Bible is unique is not the question. But why is it unique? Ask different people and you will get different answers, for different people read the Bible for different reasons, approaching it in different ways according…
by Edward W. H. Vick Here is the question for you: What do you make of the following sentences taken with the qualification, ‘But we cannot tell you when’? The end of the world is nigh. Jesus is coming again soon? God is about to judge the world and bring in his kingdom. ************************* I…
