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Non-Thinking, Part 1: Do Not Be Afraid

People often hold to ideas that they have grown accustomed to or are invested in. It can be comforting to seek to reinforce ideas we have become attached to and it is because of such things that we can end up deceiving ourselves or allowing others to deceive us. To be able to think freely we must be willing to slaughter our sacred cows instead of clinging to what is familiar or "safe". This does not mean to openly dissent of differing ideas or to go off and form a new religion, but to make your choice about which system to follow without relying upon what is familiar, but on what is truthful and factually reliant upon the Scriptures.  When discussing whether the Trinity, hellfire, the immortality of the soul, or any other significant doctrine is true or not, the most important question is “Why does it matter?” It matters on account of a fundamental difference in the salvation message. Could a map of fire exits help anyone escape if all the exits shown on the map are in th...
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Hellfire and the Underworld

Fear of punishment in an afterlife has haunted the dreams of mankind for millennia. Many ideas about this punishment have been put forth by various religions. But it might surprise you to know that the fear of the dark underworld where souls undergo judicial punishment by fire did not begin with Abrahamic religions, but from other religions and national groups. The fact that the earth's core is molten is indeed associated with the destruction in the lake of fire with  Deuteronomy 32:22 , but that is merely an illustration of its destructiveness. (See DOES DEUTERONOMY 32:22 BURNING ALIVE IN HELLFIRE? below.) However, unlike the Trinity, or inherent immortality of the soul, it is understandable how hellfire could be read into the Scriptures given all the references to souls being tossed into the fire and certain entities being "tormented". In fact,  Luke 16:19-31  and  Revelation 14:9-11  understandably seem to provide a very clear representation...
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The Mosaic Law, Part 2: A Brief History of God's Laws

Law from God has played an integral part throughout human history. Rebellion against Jehovah God's laws began with the very first rulebreaker, an angel whom we now call Satan, ( Re 12:9   [ pa | in ] ) whose jealousy led him to pretend to be a serpent and lie against God to bring mankind death through sin. ( Ge 3:1-5   [ pa | in ] ;  Joh 8:44   [ pa | in ] ) It was by loving his wife more than God ( Ge 2:22-25   [ pa | in ] ;  Ro 1:21   [ pa | in ] ) that the first man, Adam, rebelled, breaking the one simple rule ( Ge 2:16-17   [ pa | in ] ;  3:6   [ pa | in ] ) and thereby lost the gift of everlasting life for all his descendants by passing sin to them, and lost paradise for us all. ( Ge 3:23, 24   [ pa | in ] ) Afterward, his son Cain violated the natural law of human existence not to murder. He had even been warned not to let his petty jealousy consume him, and then he murdered his brother anyway and was therefore driven from ...
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