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THE RESURRECTION

No Christian teachings are more vigorously attacked than the deity of Christ, the message of the gospel of salvation, and the fact of Christ’s resurrection. The apostle Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 15, that if Christ is not raised, our faith is in vain and we are still in our sins. Without the resurrection, we remain hopeless for eternity, because we remain under the curse of death forever.

“If he said frequently, with great definiteness and detail that after he went to Jerusalem he’s be put to death and on the third day rise from the grave, and this prediction happened, then everything else he said must also be true.” Smith, Wilbur. Therefore Stand: Christian Apologetics, 1965.

If Jesus Christ rose from the grave, then every word He spoke would be authenticated an...

Are the documents we possess the same as the original documents? How do we know?

Were the original documents truly written at or around the time they cover rather than written many centuries after the facts?

The Bible consists of the original Hebrew Scriptures, which are called The Old Testament in the Bible, plus the New Testament.

Old Testament

The Hebrew Scriptures are called the Tanakh, or the Mikra, meaning “what is read”.  It was originally written in Hebrew, with sections of Daniel & Ezra written in Aramaic. Tanakh consists of three sections:

Torah – the first 5 books of the Bible, which we call Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

Prophets (Nevi’im) – 2 sub-sections:

Former Prophets:               Joshua       Judg...

Called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Members are called Mormons.

Founded by Joseph Smith Jr. early 1800’s in Palmyra, NY.

1820   Joseph claimed to have first vision – the story changed several times as to whom he saw and what was said:

Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph

God the Father and Jesus appeared to Joseph

One “personage” appeared to Joseph

Two “personages” appeared to Joseph, neither of whom were the Son of God. These were accompanied by ‘many angels.

The “official” version: God the Father and God the Son appeared to JS, telling him to join no church because all were false, and that God would bring the truth church through Joseph Smith.

1823   Second claimed vision: angel Moroni told him there was a sacred history of the ancient Hebrews, engraved...

SUMMARY OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESS HISTORY:

“International Bible Students” – started by Charles Taze Russell, 1872, ~ age 20 in Pennsylvania

He was attracted to the Adventist movement, which developed from the Millerite movement. Russell studied Pyramidology, disavowed eternal hell-fire, the trinity, the deity of Christ, and the personality of the Holy Spirit.

He [ublished a magazine that he ultimately named the Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom; founded Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society., now headquartered in Brooklyn, NY. The publishing house produces about over 100,000 booklets per year. (The Watchtower, Awake!)

Russell published many articles, ultimately naming the compilation Studies in the Scriptures.

Predicted Christ’s “invisible” return in 1874

Russell and his succes...

Psalm 45 Christ as God, the Eternal King

1-2        … I speak of the things .… concerning the king .… You are fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured into your lips, therefore God (Elohyim) has blessed you forever.

3          Gird your sword upon your thigh, o mighty (gibbowr) with your glory and your majesty.

4          In your majesty ride … and your right hand shall teach you terrible things…

5          Your arrows are sharp in the hear of the king’s enemies…

6          Your throne, o God,  is forever and ever, the sceptre of your kingdom is a right sceptre.

7          You love righteousness and hate wickedness, therefore God^*, your God^*, has anointed you with oil of gladness above your fellows….

11         ...

Isaiah 50 – YHWH

1     Thus says YHWH, ‘Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcing, whom I sent away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2    For what reason, (when) I came, was there no man; I called, and no one answered? Is My hand truly short from redemption, or is no power in Me to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I shall drain a sea, I make rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and die for thirst.

3    I clothe the heavens with blackness, and sackcloth I place (as) their covering.

4    My most sovereign YHWH gives Me the tongue of the learned, to know to speak a timely word to the faint...

Orthodoxy.

 What is orthodoxy, but a decision made by some group of men concerning what is to be considered acceptable doctrine.

 Every religious sub-group has a different collection of what is considered to be “orthodox”, and everything else is considered to be heretical.

 Christians are not bound to orthodoxy; we are bound to Christ, and to believe His Holy Scripture, regardless of what anyone else says is true, correct, or ‘acceptable’. In every Christian denomination or sub-group, and every Christian cult, there are tenets that are Biblically consistent and those that contradict God’s Word...

Mt 3:2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mt 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Mt 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mt 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mt 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Mt...

Repentance in the New Testament

3338   μεταμέλλομαι metamellomai             from 3326 and the middle voice of 3199; v       AV-repent 5, repent (one’s) self 1; 6

1) it is a care to one afterwards

1a) it repents one, to repent one’s self

3326 μετά meta             a primary preposition (often used adverbially); prep        AV-with 345, after 88, among 5, hereafter + 5023 4, afterward + 5023 4, against 4, not depart

1) (with genitive)

1a) amidst, among

1b) with

2) (with accusative)

2a) into the middle of, among

2b) after, behind

3) (as a prefix)

3a) association, fellowship, participation with

3b) exchange, transfer, transmutation

3c) after

3199 μέλω melo  a root word; v;       AV-care 9, take care 1; 10

      1) to ...

or “What Must I Do To Be Saved?”

Nothing is of greater importance than to know the true God and to know what is required for us to be on good terms with the true God. The only way to know God and to know what God has said concerning our condition and relationship with God, is to study from the Bible what God has revealed concerning our sin and His salvation.

With every discussion of what we must believe, the answer to what constitutes the message of the gospel of salvation must begin with what the Bible says about The Gospel, so we will look first at those passages in which the Bible writers used the specific word “gospel”...