Month: August 2017
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To Turn the Tables, or To Turn the Other Cheek?
Don: The possible explanations for the apparently out-of-character actions of Jesus in disrupting the money changers in the temple are either that his humanity overcame his divinity, or that his divinity overcame his humanity. In both cases, he was expressing righteous indignation and distress at the merchants’ activities in his Father’s house. God the Father…
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Stumbling Blocks to Worship
Don: Among the synoptic gospels, there are slight differences in the story in which Jesus rebuked money changers for plying their trade in the temple. For instance, John puts it near the end of Jesus’s ministry while the others put it near the beginning. To me, this and other minor discrepancies are unimportant; what is…
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Doctrinal Distinction and the Kingdom of Heaven
Don: We are discussing whether doctrine helps bring us closer to God. In the Gospels—which contain the teaching, the doctrine, of Jesus—doctrine centers around the two great Commandments to love God and to love one another. For Protestant Christians, doctrine grew out of the Reformation, when Martin Luther developed a view of salvation different from…
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In Defense of Doctrine
Don: Doctrine is derived primarily from Scripture. Jesus hinted at a potential danger with doctrine: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;…” (John 5:39) Mankind so easily embraces doctrine as being the key to eternal life, but true doctrine is the teaching…