This episode discusses why hellfire in the New Testament is associated with “the devil and his angels" (Matt 25:41). Where does that idea come from? There are in fact earlier books that are the basis for this language—inside and outside the Old Testament. Transcript...
predestination
Naked Bible 89: The Book of Life
There are over a dozen references in the Old and New Testaments to “books” in heaven. The idea of such books extends back to Sumer and Mesopotamian (“tablets of destinies”). In this episode, we trace the lineage of the idea through ancient Near Eastern examples, the...
The Limits of Divine Omniscience
That’s the focus and/or question in this article (entitled: The Limits of Omniscience). I thought it was an interesting thing to have you all read on the heels of the election and predestination discussion. The last paragraph nicely highlights the issue, but...
Election and the Subset Remnant: Thoughts on Predestination
Finally got this video made. The audio isn't great, so turn up your speakers. I hope this helps you see how I'm thinking about predestination with respect to election and the subset of the saved remnant, per earlier posts on those topics. Editor's note: fixed video...
Election, Salvation, Unbelief, and Eternal Security
Here we go. You’ll note by the end that I really don’t care for (or feel the need) to frame these issues they way they are typically framed. Election and Salvation The major point of my previous post on election was that it was not to be understood as...
Back to Election
Well, I’m finally over oral surgery, the holidays, and the beating I received this past weekend in the Naked Bible fantasy football league. (And that hurt more than the surgery). Time to get back to election. As indicated in my previous posts on this, I think...
The Election of Israel and Its Meaning
I want to take this topic in shorter, manageable posts. My goal is to take you through my thought process in shorter increments than usual. This topic seems to require it. We’ll start in the Old Testament. Anyone can tell from a lexicon or the list of verses I...
Choosing Election
Okay, it’s a bad pun (are there really any good puns?). I’ve decided that it’s time for the Naked Bible to weigh in on election. I’ve hinted at this a couple of times, but I figure it’s a good way to have 2010 go out with a bang and start...
God’s Sovereignty and Nature’s Freedom
I liked this article since parts of it resonate with my own view of sovereignty and free will (the latter does not rule out the former) blogged long ago here at the Naked Bible. Genuine freedom is part of humanity because it is a communicable attribute we receive as...
The Ends, Not Necessarily the Means (Sovereignty and Free Will Addendum)
I’ve been thinking about the last couple of exchanges on the predestination / free will topic. It’s occurred to me that there’s an element of my position that I haven’t specifically included in posts that would be helpful. It’s something...
Predestination and Free Will: A Summary of The Naked Bible Position
Well, I never figured that we’d be getting into this topic so early, but we did. I’m not going to post any more comments to the post that started all this; time to move on. However, I thought it would be advisable to post a summary of my thoughts on the...