The Prophetic Presbyterian & His Narrow Way

And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring  profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.  ( Leviticus 21:9 , ESV) If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them ( Leviticus 20:13 , ESV) Village Skeptics will sometimes use these & similar texts as evidence that God is misogynistic homophobe.    Others use the text of Leviticus 20:13 to justify the persecution & execution  of homosexuals.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In the case of Leviticus 21:9, yes this sounds misogynistic & brutal.    “See how this destroys women?” says the Village Skeptic.    The people in the original audience & both their immediate forebears,    & many generations that followed, lived in a polytheistic world in which women were used as cultic prostitutes.    Men (Leviticus 2...

From Got Questions.org : Like the whole book of Psalms, the psalms of lament follow a pattern that begins with suffering and ends with glory. Usually, these songs start on a negative, complaining note, but they end on a positive, faith-filled note. Suzerain Covenant Outline Shema Historical Prologue  General Stipulations  Specific Stipulations  Covenant Renewal Document Clause  Witnesses Victory Statement  A Witch’s/Witchcraft Contractual Malediction reverses the outline of a suzerain covenant & is intended by the user to parody a suzerain covenant.  Victory Statement  Imprecation(s) delighting in the fall/suffering/destruction of their enemies. This sometimes gets quite specific. Witnesses  Names one or more of their enemies & even themselves (especially for those witches / sorcerers for whom wearing their personal &/or communal    suffering is a badge of (unhonor, dishonor, &tc.  Document Clause  The witc...

According to Stephen Gil , the ESV omits Matthew 17:21.   In addition, he assert that the ESV compilers are aware that the KJV uses “Jona”to refer to Simon’s father & that their choice to use “John” instead of “Jona” results in a contradiction with itself use elsewhere in the Gospels, & they are just fine with that. By way of reply… The ESV does **NOT** remove Matt. 17:21.    I’m sitting here with it open to that text, & there’s a footnote that includes the text of 17:21 & the reason it isn’t in the main published ESV text.   Exactly which members of the ESV compilers say that they are copacetic with the Bible contradicting itself?  That sound like little more than KJVOnlyist propaganda.   Is that what the NIV, NASB Committee & others’ say?    From a Continuationist perspective, “John” & “Jona”refer to the same individual & one name (Jona) emphasizes the referent’s character & connection to “Dove/Peace,” & the o...

From time to time, Messianic Jews & Gentiles on the internet have been known to grow rather strident with respect to particular issues.  For example, there are those who argue that Paul was in the habit of teaching people to observe the Jewish liturgical calendar.    Is that true?  Paul visited Colassae in the 50’s AD.    At that time of Paul’s journey to Rome in either 52(ish) or 57(ish) AD, food sacrificed to idols & the Judaizer controversy was still an issue alongside the work of Greco-Roman pagans/philosophers.   Acts 21 records Paul’s report to James reads, “we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. (Acts 21:25, ESV) Paul was most certainly NOT teaching the Gentiles to observe & administer Jewish liturgical meal, festivals, & other activities.    He was reminding them of t...

Solomon Blesses the People 6  Then Solomon said, “The  Lord  has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.   2  But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”   3  Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.   4  And he said, “Blessed be the  Lord , the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,   5  ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; 6  but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’   7  Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the  Lord , the God of Israel. ...

From time to time, members of the chattering class will accuse Christians of hypocrisy by taking in money for themselves first then others.   That’s because there are people in the pews who believe churches are to help the needy among their own members first & then themselves. The Bible itself teaches the exact opposite.   How so?  God’s moral law is both individual & corporate in application.  But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:34–40, ESV)  9 For the commandments, “You s...

There those in the TN legislature who believe that the nuclear family consists of one (heterosexual) husband & one (heterosexual) wife, and any biological, adopted, or fostered children & is God's design for familial structure and has been the bedrock of society since the creation of the world. That’s quite the assertion.   What does the Bible say?  From Genesis:  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27   So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28  And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that mo...