Ask Pastor Jake: What about the extrabiblical books, like the Gospel of Thomas and 1 Enoch?
Question: What should we make of books from biblical times that did not make it into our Bibles, like the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Judas, or 1 Enoch? It is true that certain “books” were left out of the Bible. But they were left out because they did not belong. Many people today try to say that a large conspiracy swept through the early church to keep out certain book for political reasons – fearing that their teachings would threaten the stability of newly established state-church government under Constantine. Bologna. I can remember watching Sesame Street a...
Read MoreAsk Pastor Jake: Why did Jesus curse the fig tree?
Question: Why did Jesus curse the fig tree in Mark 11:13 and following when the Bible says, “It was not the season for figs”? Good one. Okay, first let’s read the text in context from Mark 11: And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for...
Read MoreAsk Pastor Jake: What’s the big deal with corporate prayer?
Question: Why is it necessary for multitudes of people to pray for the same thing? For instance, if someone is sick, why ask for prayer warriors, prayer chains, prayer lists, etc. Isn’t one prayer, prayed with faith, sufficient? Is God more likely to respond to clamoring hoards of people? Or does he say, “Darn, if only 13 more people had prayed for her I would have cured her?” This is a great question, certainly one that most Christians wonder about at some point or another. Prayer in general is a rather mysterious subject, provoking all sorts of curiosities and...
Read MoreAsk Pastor Jake: New Testament Quotations of the Old Testament
Someone took me up on the “Ask Pastor Jake” blog idea! Question: Why is it that in New Testament passages, when they quote Old Testament passages, the quote isn’t always exactly the same? Great question! I can remember being confused by this myself. The answer is two-fold. First, the common written language of the people in the time Jesus lived and the Bible was written was Greek. This is why the New Testament was written in Greek. So the version of the Old Testament most frequently used by Jews and the first Christians during the time of the early church was the...
Read MoreRSS
