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The Nature and Purpose of the Scripture
Scripture is a Royal document. the Bible is created in the context of covenant The Ten Words are the first authoritative/covenantal text mentioned in the Bible – (ʿasereth haddebhārîm) (Exod 20:1–17): Exod. 34:28; Deut. 9:9, 11, 15; added instruction is specified as “covenantal” (34:27–28) and some is termed the “Book of the Covenant” (24:2-7; cf. 20:22–23:33 Exodus 34:28 በዚያም አርባ ቀንና አርባ ሌሊት ከእግዚአብሔር ጋር ነበረ፤ እንጀራም አልበላም፥ ውኃም አልጠጣም። በጽላቶቹም አሥሩን የቃል ኪዳን ቃሎች ጻፈ። Deuteronomy 9:9 የድንጋዩን ጽላቶች፥ እግዚአብሔር ከእናንተ ጋር የተማማለባቸውን የቃል ኪዳን ጽላቶች፥ እቀበል ዘንድ ወደ ተራራ በወጣሁ ጊዜ፥ በተራራው አርባ ቀንና አርባ ሌሊት ተቀምጬ ነበር፤ እንጀራ አልበላሁም፥ ውኃም አልጠጣሁም። Deuteronomy 9:11 ከአርባ ቀንና ከአርባ ሌሊትም…
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Evaluating variant readings for John 6:69
Text [su_note note_color=”#d8d8d7″] Greek Text (UBS/NA) | ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ Σίμων Πέτρος, Κύριε, πρὸς τίνα ἀπελευσόμεθα; ῥήματα ζωῆς αἰωνίου ἔχεις, καὶ ἡμεῖς πεπιστεύκαμεν καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν ὅτι σὺ εἶ ┌ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ┐. KJV/NKJV | ”Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ASV | “And we have believed and know that thou art the Holy One of God” NIV | “We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” AMHB | ”እኛስ አንተ ክርስቶስ የሕያው የእግዚአብሔር ልጅ እንደ ሆንህ አምነናል አውቀናልም ብሎ መለሰለት” AMH-NIV | “አንተ አንድያ የእግዚአብሔር ቅዱስ እንደሆንህ አምነናል፤ አውቀናልም” [/su_note] Variants Table 1.1 Variants Manuscripts ὁ…
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አማራጭ ንባቦችና ትንታኔያቸው (“ክርስቶስ የሕያው የእ/ር ልጅ” ወይስ “አንተ አንድያ የእግዚአብሔር ቅዱስ”)
ይህ ጥናታዊ ጹሑፍ በዮሐንስ ወንጌል ምዕራፍ 6:69 ላይ ከተለያዩ ቅጂዎች የተወሰዱትን አማራጭ ንባቦችን ይተነትናል። የመጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ጥሩ አንባቢዎች ከሆናችሁ ሁለት ነገሮችን በተደጋጋሚ አስተውላችኋል። በመጀመሪያ በመጽሐፍ ቅዱሳችሁ ግርጌ ላይ በተደጋጋሚ፦ “አንዳንድ ቅጂዎች__ይላሉ“; “አንዳንድ የጥንት ቅጂዎች __እና __የላቸውም” የሚሉ ታገኛላችሁ። በሁለተኛ ደረጃ ደግሞ ሌላ አይነት ትርጉሞችን ስታመሳክሩ፤ በቀደመው ትርጉም ላይ በግርጌ የነበረው አሁን ጥቅስ ሆኖ፤ ጥቅሱ ደግሞ አሁን ግርጌ ሆኖ ታስተውላላችሁ። ይህንን በተመለከተ ለመነሻ ያህል ዮሐንስ 6:69ን ከአዲሱ መደበኛ ትርጉምና ከ1962ቱ ትርጉም ጋር እናወዳድር። • ”እኛስ አንተ ክርስቶስ የሕያው የእግዚአብሔር ልጅ እንደ ሆንህ አምነናል አውቀናልም ብሎ መለሰለት” (የ1962 ትርጉም) • “አንተ አንድያ የእግዚአብሔር ቅዱስ እንደሆንህ አምነናል፤ አውቀናልም” (አዲሱ-መደበኛ ትርጉም) • ”Also we have come to believe and know that You are the…
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PREACHING AND PREACHERS: Quotes
I am sharing with you few quotes from a chapter written by one of the great preacher of the 20th century Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his seminal book on “Preaching and Preachers” PREACHING AND PREACHERS [su_quote]Am I called to be a preacher or not? How do you know?’ I suggest that there are certain tests. A call generally starts in the form of a consciousness within one’s own spirit, an awareness of a kind of pressure being brought to bear upon one’s spirit, some disturbance in the realm of the spirit, then that your mind is being directed to the whole question of preaching… This is something that happens to you;…
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Confessing Jesus as the Son of God: In Christian and Muslim Context
This is my summary and brief response to a workshop I attended in 2013, taught by Dr. Donald A. Carson on the subject of the Sonship of Christ in Christian and Muslim context. Dr. Carson mentions three objectives. (1) It is important to try to find how one moves from exegesis to doctrinal confessions. Some systematic theologies assume the bible and emphasize on historical and philosophical categories and don’t necessarily tie every point of doctrine back to the bible. They are one step removed from rigorous exegesis. On the other hand, the other branch of theology focuses on a historical-grammatical exegesis. Students graduating from seminaries don’t know how to put…
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Come to Me, and I will Give You Rest
Jesus with an open arm declared: [su_quote]Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30)[/su_quote] To those who are weary of being separated from the life of God and have not yet made the decision to respond to His call and follow Christ, his arms are still wide open to embrace you, forgive your sins and give you His rest. Will you respond in faith and…
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How Should We Read Commentaries?
[su_note note_color=”#d8d8d7″](This was an answer I gave to a question posted to me about 3 years ago as to why there are different kinds of commentaries and how one should use them)[/su_note] How Should We Read Commentaries? Or more importantly, should we read them? I will dedicate the later part of this post to types of commentaries and their different siblings. However first let me address the need and the danger thereof reading commentaries. A NASCAR driver knows how to maneuver his car very well. A lab technician masters his basics. A musician has her ears trained at recognizing musical notes. A musician once told me, “the curse of being…
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Yahweh quenches our thirst
The first invitations, here in Isaiah 55:1 “everyone who thirsts come to the waters” focus on the spiritual condition of those who would come, namely those who are “thirsty”. That means those who think they are satisfied and have everything they need, by definition are those who reject this invitation. Those who are truly thirsty are those who know that they are so! As long as our hearts are satisfied with everything else in the world, that which is not bread (Isa. 55:2) we will not be thirsty for the Lord. We are indeed full. The beautiful life of the Christian is characterized by unquenching hunger and thirst for God’s…
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Nuancing the Glory of Christmas
Few years ago, I remember sharing, during our musical rehearsal for Christmas, something that I have noticed missing in our Christmas vocabularies. What is common between angels, manger, stable, a donkey, a baby wrapped in a cloth, ox, shepherds, the Maggi? You guessed it, the nativity scene. The harmony between Christmas and the nativity scene goes without saying. The bible of course do indeed presents a nativity scene of some sort, even though some of the details are attributed to creative license and church traditions (such as Francis of Assisi in the 1200’s) than Scripture. Yet the basic thrust of the biblical story is there. The baby Jesus was indeed…
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The Goal of Biblical Interpretation: The need to Interpret the Bible
“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20-21) In this series we have started to discuss as to the need to interpret the bible. The word Interpretation comes from the Greek bible- (hermeneuō), which is translated as 'to interpret', or 'to explain'. To put it simply, hermeneutics deals with interpreting and explaining texts. This is the word that was used of Jesus when he explained the text to the two men on the road to…
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Watch Live Sunday November 15, 2015 starting at 4pm
Sunday November 15, 2015 starting at 4pm [su_quote]“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20-21)[/su_quote] [su_note note_color=”#efeeee”]If you would like to participate in this session, please send your questions or comments at the comment box below. We would like to know what stood out for you. I will answer your questions or comments after the breaks. [/su_note] How to study and Interpret the Bible: Session One [su_note note_color=”#efeeee”]UPDATE: We will post tomorrow 11/17 the first…
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For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind but now I see. You probably have seen the movie Amazing Grace. There we see John Newton confessing “I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior” This was a man who knew God’s forgiveness. When He says “a wretch like me”, he really meant it li..te..ral. He was a drunkard, slumber and a slave trader. Every time I read of his biography, it reminds me of the prodigal son and the great savior who knows how to seek and find sinners. Newton though was raised…
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GOD IS OUR PROBLEM AND GOD IS OUR SALVATION
Humanities’ big problem in the first instance is not Economic, it is not Social, it is not Political, and it definitely is neither the Republican party nor the Democrats. Even though, all of these areas are real issues that need resolutions. We need to work hard to fight poverty, social injustices and political turmoils. No doubt. However, these are secondary issues of humanity. The first thing we must ask ourselves is “have we addressed our God problem?” Of course we can chew our gummy gum and walk at the same time. Absolutely! That is to say, we can still address both without abandoning the other. I am right there with…
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009-010: በፊቱ ቅዱሳንና ነውር አልባ እንሆን ዘንድ – ኤፌ. 1:4 (የኤፌሶን ምዕራፍ አንድ ጥናት)
ክፍል ሁለት፦ [የምንባርከው] የመጀመሪያ ምክኒያት ስለመረጠንና ልጆቹ እንሆን ዘንድ አስቀድሞ ስለወሰነን ነው (ኤፌሶን 1:4-6) 1.1 ቅዱሳን እንድሆን ዘንድ መርጦናልና (1፡4) [sz-ytvideo url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONkZUWC39lg” theme=”dark” cover=”local” responsive=”y” autoplay=”n” loop=”n” fullscreen=”y” disablekeyboard=”n” disableiframe=”n” disablerelated=”n” delayed=”n” schemaorg=”n” /] እግዚአብሔርን የምንባርክበት የመጀመሪያ ምክንያት፡- አለም ከመፈጠሩ አስቀድሞ በእርሱ መርጦናልና[καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου] ከቁጥ.4-14 ድረስ ለምን እ/ር እንደሚባረክ ምክኒያቱን ይሰጣል። ምርጫ ከብሉይ ጀምሮ የተገለጠ የእ/ር አሰራር ነው:: ግለሰቦችን፡- አብርሃም (Neh. 9:7); አሮን Ps. 105:26; ዳዊት 1 Kings 11:34; Ps. 78:70 የኤሊ አባት 1 Sam 2:28 ያዕቆብ/እሥራኤል Isa 41:8; 44:1-2; Deut. 7:7; 10:15; 14:2 (ርስቱ ይሆን ዘንድ) ክርስቶስ የተመረጠ ልጅ ነው (Luke 9:35): ከላይ ላሉት ሰዎች መዳንን ይወርሱ ዘንድ የመረጣቸው ሲሆኑ ክርስቶስ ግን መዳንን…
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009-010: የመጥራቱ ተሥፋ ምን እንደሆን ታውቁ ዘንድ (የኤፌሶን ምዕራፍ አንድ ጥናት)
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Nicene-Constantinople Creed (A.D. 325-381): Part 1
Introduction [su_dropcap]It [/su_dropcap]was the year 325 AD. 318 bishops, from around the Roman Empire, begun to arrive on horseback at Nicaea- a small town in modern iznik, 2 hours from Istanbul, Turkey. Their travel expenses were covered by the Emperor Constantine. This was the first official council met since the persecution ended. Most of the Bishops present at the council had a visible mark on their bodies- the mark of suffering for Christ. It was a result of years of abuse and torture because they believe in the Name of Christ. Now the Lord of history, their Lord whom they confess, turned the tables around. These bishops were now received…
