John20:31 demystified.

John 20:31 - John sums up his Gospel
The conclusion of John was not the blockbuster news that Jesus was God. It wasn't that Jesus was equal to God in any sense.

John 20:30: "Jesus did many other miraculous signs which are not recorded in this book. 31: But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. - New International Version Study Bible (NIVSB), Zondervan, 1985.

And the footnote for John 20:31 in the NIVSB says: “…. This whole Gospel is written to show the truth of Jesus’ Messiahship and to present him as the Son of God”.

But ‘Messiah’ and ‘son of God’ were never understood to mean God Himself!

In the language of the OT ... rulers and judges, as deputies of the heavenly King, could “be given the honorific title ‘god’ ... or be called ‘son of God’.” - footnote for Ps. 82:1, NIVSB.

Today’s Dictionary of the Bible (trinitarian), p. 591, Bethany House, 1982: “In Job 1:6; 38:7 this name [‘sons of God’] is applied to the angels.”

An Encyclopedia of Religion, Ferm, 1945 ed., p. 726, “Son of God: Hebrew religion was strictly monotheistic, and the term ‘Son of God’, as found in the OT, must not be understood in any literal sense. It has its origin in the Semitic idiom which expresses any intimate relation as one of sonship. As royal ministers are sons of the king, so the angels are sons of God, and this name is likewise given to judges and sovereigns, ruling in God’s name.” 

So we see that John’s whole Gospel was to show who was the Messiah! If he had believed in the trinity (or ‘Jesus is God’), he would certainly have made a great, unmistakably clear declaration of it!! But he did not!

This is of great importance since none of the earlier Gospels made any clear statement showing Jesus to be God! If any such thing were believed by the Apostles and Bible writers, it would have to be found here in John’s conclusion!

Posted by Elijah Daniels

Moving towards the light.

Why Have Jehovah’s Witnesses Changed Some of Their Beliefs?

We have always used the Bible as the sole authority for our beliefs, so we have adjusted our beliefs as our understanding of the Scriptures has been clarified. *

Such changes are in harmony with the Bible principle stated at Proverbs 4:18: “The path of the righteous is like the bright morning light that grows brighter and brighter until full daylight.” Just as the rising sun reveals details of a landscape gradually, God grants an understanding of divine truth progressively, in his due time. (1 Peter 1:10-12) As the Bible foretold, he has accelerated this process during “the time of the end.”—Daniel 12:4.

These adjustments in our understanding should neither surprise nor disturb us. Ancient worshippers of God also had mistaken ideas and expectations and needed to adjust their viewpoint.

Moses offered himself as a deliverer for the nation of Israel 40 years ahead of God’s timetable.—Acts 7:23-25, 30, 35.
The apostles failed to understand the prophecy that foretold the Messiah’s death and resurrection.—Isaiah 53:8-12; Matthew 16:21-23.
Some early Christians had wrong ideas about the timing of “the day of Jehovah.”—2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2.

God later corrected their misunderstandings, and we pray that he will continue doing the same for us.—James 1:5.

The quest to deprivilege our home planet rolls on.

Rob Sheldon on the new Earth-like planet

Posted by News under Exoplanets

I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Years ago, people didn’t put this type of planet in the “Goldilocks zone”. That’s because of tidal locking.

Very briefly, the tidal force is the difference between gravity on one side of the planet and gravity on the other.

Think of a gravity well as shaped like a funnel. If the planet is really close to the star’s gravity well, then the slope of the funnel is steep, and one side of the planet is lower in the funnel than the other side. This means that there’s a “stretching” force on the planet corresponding to this gravity gradient, which we call “the tidal force”. You and I don’t experience it much, because the difference between 93million miles (distance to sun) and 93 million miles + 5′, is in the parts per trillion. But for this planet that is orbiting a dull red star closer than Mercury is to our Sun, so close that a year is 11 days, this difference starts to get substantial.

So what happens? The planet stretches. Then one side is even closer than before and that side wants to always face the sun. Then like the Moon, it adjusts its rotation so that this side faces the sun 24/7, it is “tidally locked”.

If one side of the planet always faces the sun, it gets hot, while the backside never faces the sun and gets cold. The hot side boils water, the cold side freezes it. All the water migrates over to the freezer, and gets locked in ice. There’s little chance of ever finding liquid water on such a planet. If there is a region where water is liquid, the “Goldilocks zone”, then it occupies a narrow strip where the sun is only half-way above the horizon. But for most of my lifetime, it was expected that even liquid water will eventually evaporate, so that the Goldilocks zone dries out. Then there is no liquid water left on such a planet.

So why are we even considering such a planet “Earth-like”?

Mostly desperation. A few papers suggest that if there is an atmosphere, then convection can bring warm air over to the glaciers on the backside and share the heat. Of course, Mercury and the Moon don’t have much of an atmosphere, mostly because tidally-locking tends to remove it. But hope springs eternal. Especially if it brings cash.


Jut for now, avoid the land rush boom. 😉