Ruth 1:16, Winston Churchill and the Incarnation

I just finished preaching the book of Ruth with my church.  I looked back at the last few months preaching through Ruth and I thought about how one of the most powerful moment in the book was when Ruth, a widow, profess her loyalty to her mother in law Naomi and how Ruth was going to stay with her mother in law to help this older widow out.  Listen to the words of Ruth 1:16=

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

What particularly stands out to me is the last part of the verse: “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”

While reading a recent history book I found out how this verse was quoted and used in another important historical moment.

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Review: The First Days of Jesus: The Story of the Incarnation

What better time to finish and review this book on Christ’s incarnation than on Christmas day!

Andreas J. Kostenberger and Alexander Stewart. The First Days of Jesus: The Story of the Incarnation.  Wheaton, IL: Crossway, September 30th 2015.  272 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster | Amazon

If you think you heard it all and exhausted all there is to learn concerning the birth of Christ or the incarnation think again.  This book is written by two New Testament professors who offer their insights into passages that cover the infant narrative of Jesus Christ.  Though I felt the book started slowly and I was initially concerned whether there would be new things I can learn nevertheless as the book progressed I found it fulfilled my expectation of learning about the birth of Jesus and the incarnation through fresh eyes.

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Looking for Nonfiction Audiobooks Recommendations for your Winter 2017 Travels?

No doubt some people will be traveling to visit family and relatives as Christmas gets closer and/or people take a vacation or are done with the semester in school.

Here’s some nonfiction audio books recommendations to help with your travel whether you are waiting in the airport, on the bus or driving cross country.

Secret Warriors: The Spies, Scientists and Code Breakers of World War I

Taylor Downing. Secret Warriors: The Spies, Scientists and Code Breakers of World War I.  Ashland, OR: Blackstone Audio Inc, April 15, 2015. 13 hours, 8 minutes and 10 seconds.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

This work is about how the Great War/World War One was a different military conflict than the wars that came before it since it was a war in which the world entered a new age with modern warfare.  I think the author presented his case quite persuasively with his focus being primarily on the British then German and French developments in the Western front.  I enjoyed this work in audio book format and found that the work overall was informative and interesting.  It was also read in such a way that helped the listeners endure over thirteen hours of materials without any problem.

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Audio Message: Resolving “Christmas” Bible Contradictions

This time of year with holidays around the corner we often see the media attack the Bible and Christianity.  Sometimes it isn’t just only the media but also in our personal relationship as well where people say things like the claim that there are Bible contradictions.

I want to share in this post another resource answering Bible contradictions that has to do with Christ’s human birth.

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Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2017

This is our blog’s eighth year in which we post our recommendations of books as Christmas gifts on the subject of Presuppositional apologetics or the Christian worldview.

Below are links to the recommendations from previous years, and if you are new to the whole thing with Presuppositional apologetics and want something introductory I highly recommend the listing from 2014 which we highlighted in bold:

• Christmas wish list in Presuppositional Christian Apologetics (2010)
• Christmas Gift Book Lists on Christian Worldview and Apologetics Discipleship 2011 (2011)
• More Christmas Gift Book Lists on Christian Worldview and Apologetics Discipleship (2012)
• More Christmas wish list in Presuppositional Christian Apologetics (2013) (2013)
• Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2014
• Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2015
• Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2016

This year list’s of recommended books on Presuppositional apologetics is divided into introductory and intermediate level. Each work will have a link to my fuller review and also links to where one can purchase the book.

Here’s this year’s recommendations:

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Kim Jong Un of North Korea bans Christmas

I read this from a link to the New York Post on how the dictator of North Korea has banned Christmas in his country.

Here’s the news story:

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Merry Christmas from Veritas Domain! (2016)

Merry Christmas to you all!

I’m so thankful first and foremost that He came on earth to be born and die for our sins.

Note Matthew 1:21=

She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

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Resolving Six Christmas Bible Contradictions

 

This year I have a new focus on our blog of answering Bible contradictions.  Unfortunately I am a slow writer as every Bible contradictions take a lot of time for me to translate and work through and I wished I could crank out more posts resolving alleged Bible contradictions.  Since this is Christmas Eve I thought I gather in one post what contradictions I dealt with surrounding the account of the Birth of Jesus.  Lord willing I plan to add more posts to the list by next Christmas!

Here’s the listing:

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Review: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas

Nancy Guthrie. Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas.  Wheaton, IL: Crossway, August 1^st, 2008.  142 pp.

5 out of 5!

First let me say that I have a hard time with devotional books; I prefer heavier theology books since I find most devotionals to be rather shallow.  But I enjoyed this particular collection of devotional readings for the Advent.  So if I enjoyed this book in light of my bias against devotionals, I think that this work might be something worthwhile for others too.

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Bible Contradiction? Who was Jesus’s paternal grandfather?

In light of the Christmas season we are tackling “Christmas” related Bible Contradictions. For today’s post we will look at a question that the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked concerning the two genealogies of Jesus found in Matthew and Luke: “Who was Jesus’s paternal grandfather?”

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

Jacob.

Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. (Matthew 1:16)

Heli.

When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli, (Luke 3:23)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Side Note: The Skeptic Annotated Bible uses the name “Heli” for Luke 3:23 whereas the NASB translate it as “Eli.”  The Skeptic Annotated Bible is going with the King James Version pronunciation and there is no major difficulties here, its just an issue of pronunciation. I will use the name “Heli” because it better captures the sound in my opinion and the term would be used interchangeably when I quote the NASB.

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

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Bible Contradiction? Was Jesus the son of David?

Today’s post took a little longer to post since I ended up chasing rabbit trails with rules of Greek syntax.

In light of the Christmas season we are tackling “Christmas” related Bible Contradictions. For today’s post we will look at a question that the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: “Was Jesus the son of David?”  I noticed the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually posted this difficulty twice in their list with the second question being “Will the Messiah be a descendant of David?”

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

Yes.

From Jesus’ Genealogy:  

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1 cf. Matthew 1:6)

He was the son and seed of David, the furit of his loins his according to the flesh.

And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, (Acts 2:30) 

From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, (Acts 13:23)

concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, (Romans 1:3)

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David. (2 Timothy 2:8)

 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:16)

No.

He is not the son of David. (How could David call him “Lord” if he was his son?)

If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?” (Matthew 22:45)

And Jesus began to say, as He taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David ³⁶ David himself said in the Holy Spirit, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet.”’ ³⁷ David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And the large crowd ^[c]enjoyed listening to Him. (Mark 12:35-37)

(Note: Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

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Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2016

This is our blog’s seventh year in which we post our recommendations of books as Christmas gifts on the subject of Presuppositional apologetics or the Christian worldview.

Here are the recommendations from previous years, and if you are new to the whole thing with Presuppositional apologetics and want something introductory I highly recommend the listing from 2014 which we highlighted in bold:

• Christmas wish list in Presuppositional Christian Apologetics (2010)
• Christmas Gift Book Lists on Christian Worldview and Apologetics Discipleship 2011 (2011)
• More Christmas Gift Book Lists on Christian Worldview and Apologetics Discipleship (2012)
• More Christmas wish list in Presuppositional Christian Apologetics (2013) (2013)
• Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2014
• Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2015

This year list’s of recommended books on Presuppositional apologetics are more for those moving beyond introduction.  I divided this between booklets and book with a brief description for each title, a link to my review and also where one can purchase the book.

Here’s this year’s recommendations:

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How Pastors (and You) Can Save Money Buying Christian books for Christmas Gifts

I realize Christmas is a long ways off but let me explain why I’m posting this now.  As a pastor I buy many Christian books for people as gifts for Christmas.  We spend more during the month of December than any month of the year.  Pastors don’t necessarily have a high salary.  But someone with a pastoral heart would want their congregation to grow spiritually using all available means including introducing good spiritual readings to the lives entrusted to their care.  It’s good to foster personal devotions of a church member outside of Sunday service.  But it doesn’t help that there’s also a lot of bad selections in “Christian books” that’s not theologically solid.  So how does one find good solid Christian books on the cheap for the many people in your lives?  While I have pastors in mind with this post I think this is helpful for all of God’s people as well.  Here’s what I do:

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Merry Christmas to the readers of Veritas Domain! (2015)

Merry Christmas everyone!

¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is^[e]Christ the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a ^[f]manger.“

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Why were the Angels rejoicing?

Why were the Angels rejoicing?

Luke 2:10-13

 

Establish the need:  Some people get really grumpy this time of the year; they feel obligated to get gifts.  They are stressed out wanting to find the right gifts for others.  There is long lines everywhere.  But we must ask why on the first Christmas were the Angels rejoicing?

 

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is [e]Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a [f]manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

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