Month: September 2017
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The Barren Fig Tree I
Don: The story of the barren fig tree is told in Matthew and Mark: In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit…
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The God of Many Faces II
Don: When cleansing the temple of moneylenders and the like, Jesus said that a house of prayer should be for everyone. This idea has not hitherto been associated with the idea that God does not want everyone to see Him in a uniform way. If He had, the argument goes, He would surely have shown…
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The God of Many Faces
Don: God is the God of all mankind, and His body is the temple—the portal to God. How does this affect communal prayer in a humanity that manifestly holds multiple—perhaps thousands—of different views of God? Men and women throughout history have believed in the existence of a supernatural force or entity. It follows that they…
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Different God, Shared Worship?
Don: The incident in which Jesus overturned tables in the temple was intended to be a teaching point: And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” (Mark 11:17) His…