Recent content by Reluctant Theologian

Words from loved ones that bring you down are terrible indeed, I'm very sorry to hear that. Why would they say things like that? Your Christian attitude would try to bring blessing to your family members I presume? Do you live on your own? Where will you be moving to? Just curious ... What...

Curses exist, but deliverance those is also possible ... talk/ask to a Pastor or someone with experience in praying for deliverance for these issues. For your current situation it seems personally you already do the right thing - but to understand how to move forward with your life it may help...

You're right; I do notice the term 'abuse' gets abused a lot. Basically anytime our old self is playing-up we might be prone to letting selfishness reign and hence 'abuse' our loved ones nearby for our own comfort.

The moral framework for marriage/family/sexuality matters is the Torah, both for TNK/OT times and for New Covenant/NT times (see Acts 15 where the Jewish Apostles/elders use this as their framework of reference). In New Covenant/NT times we see that Yeshua highlights that our...

Sounds fascinating; I guess marriage always has a transactional component in it (men without jobs usually are not very popular). But if the transaction component becomes the primary driver of the marriage that would be terrible, as self-centred reasons then will dominate. If a woman only wants...

My favourite translation of the concept of 'Elohim': 'powers that be' ... it is exactly that sense that the Hebrew seems to convey; higher powers, whether that is God, divine beings, or human judges. And thus the term can be used to refer to the one GOD, but the term and the concept are not...

I respect your position which became the dominant one after the Reformation. It's helpful however to realise that it wholly rests on the narrow interpretation of the Greek words for brother/sister to be mean only immediate full brother/sister, excluding the possibility of them being...

Yes, your frustration is legit and understandable. Maybe you don't have the means to live on your own .. for now concentrate on being obedient to God, being a woman of faith .. and maybe in the meantime investigate what would make you a desirable and good wife to a potential husband. Be blessed.

Although God's very personal name is of utmost importance, it is possible to pray even without using that name, Yeshua even gives us an example of that in the Lord's Prayer where the opening line just is: 'Our Father who is in heaven ... ' :praying:

There's a lot of apocryphal (and some of it possibly fictional) literature, but that does not explain why already very early (at least 2nd century CE) people held the belief of Mary's perpetual virginity. Whether people had or developed this belief, it would have been consistent at that time...

You can use 'Elohim' to refer to YHWH, but 'Elohim' is not a name, it's a generic term to refer to God/gods/deities/human judges ... basically it's the semitic equivalent of the English phrase 'the powers that be' .. It's OK to use the word 'Elohim' just in the same way we may use the English...

Isn't 25% of all Koreans named Kim now still? :)

It is actually interesting to study the history and development of the doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity, and then try to understand why and how that happened ... Actually in the Early Church (+/- first 400 years) I personally don't know any Christian author who didn't believe in that...

My book hint for you: Elizabeth Elliot - The Mark of a Man

What you feed will grow, what you starve will die - nearly always true :) We can use that principle for any aspect of life. Be blessed Brother !