Romans 1:27 – Received?

June 16th, 2010

Paul said that they “received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion”.  Given the past tense and the “in themselves” wording, it appears they suffered some kind of health consequence for their behavior.
Do you have any insight?

I probably wouldn’t go there for a couple of reasons.

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John the Baptist = Jesus’ cousin?

January 26th, 2010

Is it true that John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin?

Short Answer:  Yes.

Longer Answer:  Yes it is true, though it could be in a somewhat looser sense than we often mean.  The Greek word that described the relationship of Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Elizabeth, John’s mother, indicated that they are relatives, but doesn’t get too much more specific.  Exactly what degree of cousin or how far back their ancestral connection goes, it is hard to say.

Matthew 4 – Why was John arrested?

January 19th, 2010

In chapter 4 it speaks of John being arrested, why was he?

Matthew 14 gives us a little bit of the backstory.  It seems John knew how to make a ruler angry.  Herod had married his brother’s wife, which wasn’t right for him to do,  John had called him out on it.

Matthew 14:3-5

“Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.”

Matthew 5-6: How Literal?

January 14th, 2010

ok, I have several questions…blame my inquizzitive mind. Matt 5 lists Gods laws, are these laws to be taken literal? When it states do not make vows does that means promises like “I promise to God I will….?” Divorce, it states if a a man marries a divorced woman they are damned….in today’s age that would mean a whole lot lot of people would be damned. What if they are christians & asked God into their hearts are they still damned?Matt 6 says you shouldn’t pray in public but, should be done in private. What about praying in church or events like meet me at the flag or praying before your meal in a restraunt. Are we sinning? Lastly, it says to not worry about money or everyday life.Does this mean don’t worry if you have alot of bills due & your check is smaller then expected.

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Matthew 7:13-14: The Goodness of God and the Narrow Gate

January 14th, 2010

assumptions:
God is good.
God is all knowing.
God knew,before creation, that the vast majority of humans (per the above scripture), having free will, would choose not to follow His Son. The logical follow up question: Why would a loving God create a system that dooms, to an eternity in Hell, the majority of all the people he ever created?

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Welcome to the NT Challenge Answer Page

December 30th, 2009

This is where we will post answers to the questions we receive about the New Testament reading. Check back here to see the answers to your submitted questions.