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Tag: Psalms

Inerrant TRUTH: Our reasoned Biblical Faith
WHY would you study the HOLY BIBLE?

For inerrant truth!

Do we believe by faith? YES, but not a fantastical faith or unrealistic religious calling to that which cannot be known.

In most circumstances and communications, truth matters to me and also to you. Certainly God speaks only truth and the Bible is where ‘it is written’ by God, through men and confirmed by the Holy Spirit of God.

Truth matters to God as it ought to mankind of His creation.

A Perfect Lord God does not make mistakes, nor does He lie to a man (as men frequently deceive one another).

In review:
- GOD IS HOLY and
- THE BIBLE IS HOLY
- ONLY Scripture has God’s authority of Truth.
We have just studied several of His doctrines as students seeking knowlege and truth.

[Oops! I frequently make an error in knowledge. Did YOU catch it?]

Do we also make errors in TRUTH?

ONLY SCRIPTURE: The Highest Authority of GOD!

ONLY SCRIPTURE speaks to man with the Highest Authority of TRUTH.

THE HOLY BIBLE SPEAKS

Why would you study the BIBLE?

Share your question about scripture with other Christians at talkofJESUS.com

GOD speaks to man through the HOLY Spirit in what is written in Holy Scripture. Since man now seeks knowledge of good and evil, our first question of reasoned faith becomes where to look. Our logical pursuit of good also leads man to weigh God-given and God-evident truth.

Besides our own observations of evidence and fact, where will one learn truth without error?

Where do we find this unshakable faith in what GOD has said?

In the Holy Bible, which contains Inerrant truth of what God has said.

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
John 17:17 KJV – prayer of Christ Jesus

The Highest Authority of the Lord God will confirm unequivocal inerrant truth ONLY in the HOLY BIBLE, if we will READ and Study the very Word of God.

KNOWING GOD

In his book, ‘Knowing God,’ J.I. Packer, after beginning, “..the Bible is his word,” in five theological points writes”

Godliness means responding to God’s revelation in trust and obedience, faith and worship, prayer and praise, submission and service. Life must be seen and lived in the light of God’s word. This, and nothing else, is true religion.
Knowing God p.20 – five basic truths #5

What is truth?

Most Christians will recognize the question of Pontius Pilate to Christ Jesus to which the Prefect of Judea from Rome expected no answer.

Like Pilate, we sometimes ask about truth rhetorically, expecting no answer or having no measure of relative truth.

Where can we find reliable Truth (with a capital ‘T’)?

The BIBLE is your source.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Gospel of John 1:14 NASB20 – Do you seek the Truth in the flesh?

Objective, Subjective & relative truth

Packer makes the important point that God’s truth does not change. [p.78]

Again, quoting Packer in KNOWING GOD:

Truth in the Bible is a quality of persons primarily, of propositions only secondarily. It means stability, reliability, firmness, trustworthiness, the quality of a person who is entirely self-consistent, sincere, realistic, undeceived.
KNOWING GOD, p.113

I like this definition of Truth. Don’t you?

Look back that this list of qualities of such a person. Then note what Packer says next:

God is such a person: truth, in this sense, is his nature, and he has not got it in him to be anything else.
J. I. Packer

To fully understand objective Truth (with a capital ‘T’) you must meet the Person of a personal God.

When God tells Moses to tell the people his Name, “I AM that I AM,” the LORD states objective truth.

Subjective truth on the other hand depends on the separate minds of mankind.

Therefore philosophers (theists and atheists alike) refer to subjective truth as the nature of a thing, essential attributes that which makes it what it is, or its inherent essential qualities.

All that to say, I think, therefore I am this or I am that. And that makes me what I am.

Perhaps God is required (the conclusion of theists) or perhaps not (even definitely not, say the atheists who deny the evidence, lack faith and cannot prove either theory).

In any case, the case of philosophers is subjective truth, conjecture, as it were.

Theories of Relativity

But it gets worse. From the varying opinions of men and acceptance of all possibilities (whether possible or not, whether true or not), we get:

Relative truth (Capital ‘R’ + very small ‘t’).

a parable of the madman who is searching for God

— Of course you think ‘God is dead,’ because you buried your BIBLE.
The theory.. truth.. morality, have no universal validity – source
philosophical doctrine (teaching) of the relativity of knowledge
theory, especially in ethics.. conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute..
That is to say, the theory of relativism, by accepting ALL truths (small ‘t’), teaches a philosophy of tolerance, void of moral values and insistent that only their truth is absolute.

All gods and all religions are valid except any which proclaim absolute Truth {capital ‘T’) and One God with true authority of man. Relativists, as universalists, do NOT believe in the One True God of the Bible. In practice, though some may claim ‘god,’ their worship (if any) is idolatry. These false philosophers and teachers are, in fact, atheists.

God is NOT dead; only Truth, murdered by atheists.
Truth (capital ‘T’) may not exist

(they claim).

Refuting the absolute Truth of God denies facts in evidence.
Truth (capital ‘T’ absolute truth) is unprovable in the separate and sinfully separated minds of mankind.
(although relativists deny sin, morality & truth –
{see their denial by definition above})
What do you believe about Biblical Truth?

God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of mankind
To see if there is anyone who understands,
Who seeks after God.
Psalm 53:2 [Foolishness and Wickedness of People.
(also Psalm 14:1–7 )] {v.1 is about the fool}

A man (or woman) can understand truth.

And we can understand [שָׂכַל] [to be prudent, be circumspect or wisely understand, prosper] in truth by seeking the Lord God by faith in Holy Scripture.

Once again, Packer, in KNOWING GOD, states:

True Christians are those who acknowledge and live under the word of God.
J.I. Packer in Knowing God, p116

Quoting Daniel, Packer adds: They submit without reserve to the word of God written in “the Book of Truth”..

“However, I will tell you what is recorded in the writing of truth.
Daniel 10:21a NASB20 [additional translations]

IF you seek truth in the Bible, you would do well to seek after God in the Scriptures included in this verse.
- In the Scripture כְּתָב from כָּתַב
- of truth אֱמֶת [firmness, faithfulness, truth] Contracted from אָמַן (H539)
But IF you do NOT seek Biblical Truth or the TRUTH written by God in Scripture, you will need to note the enemy of Truth mentioned in the second part of Daniel’s writing in 10:21b (also linked above).

Christians do believe proven facts; however science frequently claims THEORY as FACT.

Science is NOT the highest authority of Truth. God IS.
Roger@talkofJESUS.com

Therefore we do NOT believe certain THEORIES of scientists and philosophers which claim TRUTH, but are NOT FACT. These include:

First – false ‘facts’ we do NOT believe
- Evolution is theory built on the premise and philosophy that the created is god.
  - The Bible refers to such beliefs as idolatry, of which the most prevalent in man is idolatry of self.
- Naturalism is theory, not scientific fact.
  - Carbon dating conjectures calendars with complex limited variables, but beta testing of the late 20th century and calibration curves for calendar examples fail to prove origin of most things (let alone the world).
- Environmentalism is a movement and ideology..
  - which includes speculative theories of climate change.
- Physical cosmology, by definition is dependent on ‘the scientific theory‘
  - (without reference to what happened BEFORE the big bang!
  - or reasoning: Who (or what) caused it?)
- This list of FALSE so called ‘facts’ is NOT exhaustive.
Truth is illusive in the unproven theories of science which man mirrors as “fact.”
Roger@talkofJESUS.com
“Woe to him who strives with his Maker! .. Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
Isaiah 45:9a,c NKJV

Seek TRUTH in Scripture

Start with Scripture studied and taught with precision and clarity
AND grow in your faith by its inerrant TRUTH.
“If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Gospel of John 8:31b-32 NASB20 – The words of Jesus to those Jews [who knew scripture well &] who had believed Him

If you continue..

I have shared opposing views of inherent truth today. In fact, IF I have not provoked some reasoned thought about the Truth of the Bible I have missed the mark.
- Do YOU really believe THAT about the Bible?
- Does Scripture convey inerrant truth?
Please COMMENT & SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS.

NEXT: We will ask you some pointed doctrinal questions about the inerrancy of Scripture from a panel of distinguished theologians of the late 20th century. Until then, may the Lord bring the clarity of reasoned faith to your heart as you respond to this Saturday Doctrinal Post on talkofJESUS.COM
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To be continued... 
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August 7, 2021
The LORD God speaks – Doctrine of the Bible – 3
GOD SPEAKS! And who heard Him? What did the LORD God say to a man? Where can we see what the LORD said when God speaks?

“And you said: ‘Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.
Deuteronomy 5:24 NKJV– the man Moses to the leaders of Israel

What is the ONLY BOOK where one made in the image of God can discern the TRUE words of WHAT GOD HAS SAID?

The HOLY Bible

IF you missed Part 1 on Bible Doctrine, you may want to take a look now at some of the history of the Bible, scholarly research AND IMPORTANT Definitions.

A pre-requisite Part 1

The BIBLE is HOLY

Introduction to this post

Did God really say..? – DOCTRINE of the BIBLE – 2

What choice would YOU have made in Eden?

The Bible unveils the word and purposes of God.
- Some refuse to believe Scripture
- While others will never consider its truth.
It is written…
blueletterbible.org references

THE LORD GOD SPEAKS!

The Word of God, The Word of Man & The Work of the Holy Spirit

The entire Scripture of God is divided into two parts: commandments and promises.
Martin Luther

1. The Word of God

God is HOLY. The LORD God speaks, but to whom? The Word of God speaks to all creation and is revealed to man, in His own image the LORD created us.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27

The LORD God created us to:
- Love Him as God loves the world of His creation.
  - John 3:16
.. “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness..”
Genesis 1:26

Love Him with all your heart.

AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’
Mark 12:30 – answer of the Messiah Jesus to “What commandment is the foremost of all?”

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 10:12

Do what the LORD commands

J.I Packer points out in KNOWING GOD, four categories of God’s direct utterances to mankind (Adam & Eve):
1. command,
2. testimony,
3. prohibition with sanction appended,
4. and promise both favorable and unfavorable (blessing or curse).
The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
Out of the ground the LORD God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food..
Genesis 2:8-9a
- .. the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden,
- and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
but do what He would do; that is, to do good.

NOW where will we find the truth of good and evil?

Have we considered these truths from the Bible?

You are good and You do good;
Teach me Your statutes
Psalm 119:68

OR from the hissing of those who oppose the Lord?

Keeping in mind those categories just mentioned from ‘KNOWING GOD,’ may I again remind us and suggest the ONLY answer:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV

2. The Word of a Man of God

Moses recorded the LAW as SPOKEN by the LORD.

YOU may have imagined that the LORD spoke to you in Paradise or walked with you in your daily life. Before SIN, we knew what was good because God spoke to us face to face.

So how does a man know what God said now that man has been separated from the Holy Presence of the LORD?

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה אֶֽהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶֽהְיֶה וַיֹּאמֶר כֹּה תֹאמַר לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶֽהְיֶה שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶֽם׃

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”;
and He said, “This is what you shall say
to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Exodus 3:14 – I AM – YHWH, rendered LORD, which is derived from the verb HAYAH, to be;
H834 matches the Hebrew אֲשֶׁר (‘ăšer), who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.:

Yᵊhōvâ (I AM THAT I AM) Y H W H the existing ONE whose NAME IS too Holy to be spoken – יְהֹוָה

Do you believe the Law of Moses?

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
John 5:46-47 NASB20 – a question of the Messiah Jesus

Authority of the Word after the Law

Besides Eden witnessed in the first book of Moses, I could also reintroduce you to the LORD in an awesome place above the heavens and earth in a place such as that revealed to the Apostle John by the risen and victorious Christ Jesus!

Witness from the Prophets like Elijah, Ezekiel and Daniel where the God brings created beings such as us, beneath the glorious Throne of the Almighty Lord God! And the LORD confirms His Word to men of flesh, Prophets who served Him faithfully on the earth.

Now Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and He let none of his words fail. .. And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, because the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
1 Samuel 3:19,21

David and others record personal conversations, leadings of the Lord and prayers and songs worshiping God.

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2 Chronicles 3:1

On occasions before and after David and after the resurrection of Jesus, man has received the Words of God and recorded them in Scripture.

Do you believe these men to whom God speaks?

3. Breathed out by the Holy Spirit

And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep..

וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵי תְהוֹם וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּֽיִם׃
Bereishit (Genesis) 1:2 Masoretic text
- The earth was a formless, desolate emptiness, complete darkness, a deep void lifeless and separate from God.
- And the SPRIRT OF GOD — the Other and ONLY LIFE separated from lifelessness and nothingness — Created!
  - the Spirit רוּחַ
  - of ‘ĕlōhîm אֱלֹהִים
  - moved רָחַף
God is HOLY! (Other.. Separate from HIS creation, even man.)

SO HOW does the Lord God communicate with MAN?

The Holy Spirit

THE LORD GOD IS OTHER!

(God is not a man. Unlike man He was not created — GOD IS that HE IS.
- Not like man and beast, not like plant or planet, not like the heavens which were void or the earth which was not yet.
“God is not a man, that He would lie,
Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good
Numbers 23:19

God Speaks. A Man hears.

Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.”
Genesis 6:3 – Moses records God’s words – בְּרֵאשִׁית

And since the days of Moses, the Holy Spirit of God commands certain men to record God’s HOLY WORD as SCRIPTURE.

(Write it down and tell other men what GOD HAS SAID.)

Spirit-filled men

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took away some of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. Yet they did not do it again
Numbers 11:25 – the LORD gives the Holy Spirit to 70 elders of the Hebrews

Scripture records when God speaks to a Man given the Holy Spirit

Scripture reveals the words of the LORD which He spoke to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Bible. Joshua, various Judges and scribes, David and various kings, several prophets before Christ and Apostles after our Lord Jesus Christ ALL confirm the spoken and written HOLY Word of God we collectively refer to as The HOLY BIBLE.

“I and the Father are one.”
gospel of John 10:30

Jesus Christ — He Himself Other — testifies by the Holy Spirit to the truth of Scripture with the Authority of God the Father in ways no man could.

Gospel of Luke 3:

21 Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,

and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.”

SUMMARY: GOD SPEAKS

Therefore, the DOCTRINE of the THE HOLY BIBLE teaches that SCRIPTURE IS:
1. The Word of God
2. Written by a Man of God and
3. Breathed out by the Holy Spirit of God
All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness
2 Timothy 3:16

DOCTRINE is teaching (for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness IF we choose its Truth.) Where will you find absolute truth, if not in the Holy Bible?

How much of the BIBLE must we believe?
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We will begin to address this in my next post on DOCTRINE.
To be continued..
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Please COMMENT or ask your question about this Doctrine.

Thank you, dear saint of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Roger
July 17, 2021
Obituary: Soul-searching men & women of Dust
Obituary – a Haunting Melody

This may seem like a new series, but I want to add insight to three original posts from July 2014. And what does an obituary of sweet Georgia Brown have to do with it?

Simple, her life little remembered resounds in a melody which has always haunted my mind with the futility in death.

הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר הַקּוֹהֶלֶת הַכֹּל הָֽבֶל׃
Ecclesiastes 12:8 Masoretic text

Scriptures

Unlike most posts on talkofJESUS.com this first post has no specific scripture. Behind the topic and tune, however, looms a single biblical question:

What is man that You think of him,
And a son of man that You are concerned about him?
Psalm 8:4 NASB20

Solomon addressed it with wisdom in the entire Book of Ecclesiastes.

A Lyrical Question & Haunting Melody

I’ll share some interesting background of the melody I did not know in the year of our Lord 2014, history familiar to my own youth and life stories forgotten by then.
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(You can go ahead & play it in the background if you like.
A You-Tube version of the original will open here and play while you scroll through all the rest.)
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Best-know performance of song by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller – 4m37s

Who is sweet Georgia Brown?

Since I have chosen her obituary as cover for this 3-post series, I owe you some of her interesting background.
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For more: (including a picture from 1968) Source - Wikipedia bio
Think of it as a brief fitting memorial to one of so many entertainers of the 60's now forgotten in the 21st c.
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During her initial performing career as a nightclub singer, she adopted the professional name Georgia Brown with reference to two of her favourite repertoire items: “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Georgia on My Mind.” After an attempt at a recording career, with three overlooked singles released on Decca Records in 1955, Brown moved into musical theatre..

Brown’s career role was that of Nancy in the musical Oliver!, a role she created in the original 1960 London production. When she first came in to audition for the musical’s author and composer, Lionel Bart, he recognized her as a childhood neighbour, and greeted her as “Lily Klot”.
- On 9 February 1964, she appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show with 18-year-old Davy Jones (pre-Monkees) recreating two scenes from the musical then showing on Broadway.
- This happened to be the same evening that the Beatles made their first live U.S. appearance on the show.
In 1974, Brown married producer Gareth Wigan, with whom she had been involved for at least seven years; the couple married in order to expedite the emigration of themselves and their son Jonathan (then aged six) to the U.S. Brown and Wigan separated in 1979, with their divorce becoming final in 1981 after protracted legal wrangling.

Death
Brown died at the age of 58 in London on 5 July 1992.

Although she had become a permanent U.S. resident and lived in Hollywood, she had flown to London to appear on the bill for a tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr. held that week at the Drury Lane Theatre. Before the date of the tribute she became ill, and underwent emergency surgery to remove an intestinal obstruction at Charing Cross Hospital where she died from complications.

What do the lyrics say?

“Is that all there is,” do they cry out?

Or is their proclamation, “I Did It MY WAY?

The lyricist who wrote these and many more influential songs for entertainment of the 20th century is Jerry Leiber..

“Careful little ears what you hear,” reminds the lyric of the old children’s Sunday school song.

Philosophy or Biblical Truth?

Therefore, your food for thought in this series is wisdom (or lack of it). What do the songs and questions really ask?

Philosophy:
- The study of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning.
- n. A system of thought based on or involving such study.
- n. The study of the theoretical underpinnings of a particular field or discipline.
Philosophy begins from a premise, a presupposition that matter matters more than anything, including the Spirit of God.
Roger@talkofJesus.com

The presumed answer of questions like, ‘Is that all there is?’ is YES.

And, ‘I did it my way,’ presumes NO god and that death of the matter of the body is in fact, the end of it all.
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Want to know the philosophy of the music? 
Read the link above to the lyricist of these songs.

Just think of your 'applause' in life as an early song heard at your funeral or a fond memory in your obituary.
Is that all there is? No, it's not, says the Lord God. - RH
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Original talkofJESUS.com post

Is that all there is?

Original post July 1, 2014 – Topic: Does life have meaning?
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For those philosophers among our readers:
Don't miss the Victor Frankl link in this post.
(We'll talk of Jesus AND Jewish philosophies tomorrow
& in a post conclusion from Scripture next Monday, God-willing.)
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Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
- CLICK “…Continue reading ” above,
- THEN Ask a question or comment at the end of this post
- OR email Roger@talkofJesus.com with your reaction, questions & comments.
Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com

(ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)
July 1, 2021