Important Questions We Need to Answer about Our Scriptures

While the “canon of scripture” means “the list of books accepted as Holy Scripture”, the other sense of “canon” – rule or standard – has rubbed off on this one, so that the “canon of scripture” is understood to be the list of books which are acknowledged to be, in a unique sense, the rule of belief and practice.

Questions that we should be able to answer about our “Scriptures”:

(1) How did certain documents -- and these only -- come to receive this recognition?

(2) Who, if any one, decided that these -- and no others -- should be admitted to the list of the Holy Scriptures?

(3) What were the criteria which influence this (#2) decision?

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Why did they lay their coats at Saul's feet?

The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...

Lots of Elohims, Idols, and King Solomon! This Why We Use Models & Guidelines!

If we had been there at the time of Ezekiel, as we walked around Jerusalem, we would have seen people giving food to idols and worshipping them on the mountain tops around Jerusalem. There were idols in the Temple also. Who put the idols in Jerusalem? Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/f44166b57dd2/lots-of-elohims-idols-and-king-solomon-this-why-we-use-models-guidelines

The First Truth Claim of the Wisdom of Genesis

From a Persian’s point of view, to be an Israelite meant one worshipped the Israelite god and followed Israelite religious customs. This meant that it was in the best interest of the Persian state for the formal worship of the god in the kingdom in Judah to continue undisturbed and in accordance with the proper rules of the Torah. However, I seriously doubt the Persian king new anything about how different the Temple in Jerusalem was from other temples. Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/29bc20997d77/the-first-truth-claim-of-the-wisdom-of-genesis

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