His Burden is Light

As we study the Bible we find some interesting correlations between the circumstances of the birth of Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection. In fact, they appear to be parallel. Let's take a look: Jesus was born to a young woman who had not yet known a man (Luke 1:34). Jesus' body was laid in a new tomb (Matt 27:60). The betrothed husband of Mary was named Joseph (Luke 2:5). The owner of the new tomb was named Joseph (Matt 27:57-60). Joseph, Mary's husband, was a just man (Matt 1:19). Joseph, the owner of the new tomb, was an honourable counsellor (Mark 15:43). And it is the Bible itself that directs us to expect this parallelism between birth and death. Consider Job 1:21a, "And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither" I believe this is one of the many things in the Bible that are hidden in plain sight. If we read it carefully, we will find this commonly known verse to be in fact astonishing! What ...

I have been thinking lately a lot about so-called "Artificial Intelligence" and androids and in order to really understand them and the deception that will accompany them, it is imperative that we understand Biblical anthropology, that is, the make-up of a human being according to the One who made us. The Bible teaches that we are body, soul, and spirit.  The scripture tells us that the word of God "pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit" (Heb 4:12). This teaches me that by means of study of the word of God we can distinguish between what is a soul and what is a spirit.  Furthermore, there is mind and heart as components of the human person. So this is not simple. Before we can say what is different between an android and a human being, we must have a good understanding of what is a human being! So at first I wanted to try and tackle the question of mind, asking, "What is a mind?" both in itself and in relation to these other component...

As Christmas approaches, I thought it would be fitting to consider an issue I've heard raised in a few places over the years. The most famous example might be when the Hasidic-clad diamond thieves are discussing the Virgin Mary at the start of the movie, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", written and directed by Guy Ritchie who was married to Madonna at the time. I believe without a doubt that this was expressive of her view of Isaiah 7:14 as interpreted by the Kabbalah, which she was/is following. In any case, the issue, briefly summarized, is this. In Isaiah 7:14, the scripture says, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." The Hebrew word here translated "virgin" is 'almah, which arguably means girl or young woman of marriageable age. So some have claimed that 'virgin' is not necessarily part of the essential meaning of the word and so it ...