Articles on Christian Doctrines
There is a calendar revealed in the Bible, which is largely ignored by Christians in favour
of a pagan calendar imposed centuries ago by military force from Rome. Why are Christians still using this Roman calendar? Most don't
even know a Biblical calendar exists, but one problem is that there are different versions all claiming to accurately represent "God's Calendar".
Many of the minority of the Christians who want to follow the religious festivals embedded in the Bible calendar use the version
propagated by Jewish culture, which was published by Rabbi Hillel around the time theologians in Rome were creating the doctrine of
the Trinity, three centuries after the resurrection of Christ. The Rabbis now admit the Hillel calendar does not comply with the
specifications in the Bible, and use the additional complex rules of Rabbi Hillel to justify their behaviour. If they did not follow the rules
of Rabbi Hillel, they would have to abandon some of the traditions of the elders. OK, so the Jews have a good reason for using the Hillel
calendar, but what about the Christians who don't follow the traditions of the elders? Why are they using it?
One of the excuses used by Christians who follow the non-Biblical Hillel calendar is founded on the claim that the Bible does
not indicate when the Biblical calendar year starts but the Rabbis must know the correct times so they should be copied.
This claim of no indication in the Bible is not true, and this article explains the overlooked key to the problem of
determining the starting month for the Biblical year.
This file is a PDF version of the article as at 28 June 1997. Some of the references may
have gone off the Internet, and some links have changed. The references to http://acsl.home.ml.org of course no longer apply.
The PDF file is currently at http://www.oocities.org/selwynrussell/SR/keycal.pdf. The target paper size is A4 but use "shrink to fit" on the printing menu
if using other size paper. It is 43 pages long, the PDF is 224K bytes.
This article shows why "sons of God" is misleading when applied to angels in the Old Testament.
Readers will be surprised by the wide range of meaning of the hebrew word "ben", which is often well rendered as "thing made by" but
English does not read well with a literal translation of a phrase such as "ben Elohim" as "thing made by God".
Translators know the problem but should they use a simple poetic word like "son" or use a lengthy explanation? Unfortunately some
people have been misled by the simple translation "son" and have established foundational doctrines of their churches on it.
Sad but true.
will assist you to become better acquainted with the Old Testament. It has suggested daily readings which can be completed in under a half hour, enabling you to read the whole of the Old Testament painlessly year after year.
uses data from the US Navy to produce calendar fragments for the weeks around the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread in the years 28 CE to 35 CE.
is an analysis of the week day of Nisan 14 in the span of years when the Crucifixion might have occurred, using data from the US Navy to reach the conclusion of its title.
examines several verses in John chapter seven. What future is there for those who have died and never had an opportunity for salvation?
provides an explanation of the necessity for those who follow the traditions of the Jewish elders to adjust their calendar months, or "postpone" months by one or two days or even a whole month or so, to avoid conflicts with religious duties.
shows how the start of Jewish months are determined. No new moons are needed at any time. No calculations. No observations.
What is the true meaning of the word "fellows" in Psalm 45? Some claim that the ``fellows'' of Psalm 45:7 show that Christ was / is an angel. This article examines the verse and all verses relating to "fellow", "companion", "fellowship", and synonyms, and finds that the Bible itself overwhelmingly explains through dozens of verses that the "fellows" of Psalm 45:7 are Christ's fellow Christians and not angels.
One splinter group from the Worldwide Church of God teaches the traditional Christendom doctrine that in the after life Christians are some form of angelic beings, totally at odds with the view espoused by other descendants of that church. Its interpretation of 1 Timothy 6:16 is that only the Father is immortal and is therefore unique, and consequently the risen Christ is not immortal and hence is a lesser being, not a true son. Yet if that doctrine is true, that Christ is not immortal, then He must be mortal and hence must one day die. Trinitarians use this same verse to support their view of the Godhead, that there is only one immortal being, comprising the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. What does the Bible say about immortality and the after life? What about the promises in the Bible of immortality to Christians? To obtain the Biblical answer, this article examines dozens of scriptures and delves into the Greek to discover what it really meant to Timothy. The Bible itself explains 1 Timothy 6:16, without resort to pagan doctrines, jewish mysticism, or human philosophy.
Who or what was the "us" in this verse? This article analyzes non-controversial scriptures which show that "Elohim" in Genesis 1 is a single being.
There are widely differing views in the Christian world on the use of alcohol. This article considers the many scriptures that relate to alcoholic drinks. What do they tell a Christian?
A widely held belief in the many Christian groups is that they will become some form of angel in a future heavenly life. Yet Paul wrote "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?", implying that there was to be a future time when resurrected Christians would be above and over angels. One attempt to reconcile this with the view that those doing the judging would be angels themselves and not greater than angels, postulates that the saints would be judging only the fallen angels. This article examines all the scriptures on this topic to show what the Bible itself tells us.
This verse in the Book of Revelation is claimed to support a doctrine that Christians will become angels. At first sight, this might be the impression given, but there are other verses which must also be considered lest we fall into the trap of drawing a private interpretation which is in conflict with other verses we have inadvertently ignored. This article considers all of the verses in the Book of Revelation where the phrase "loud voice" is used, to identify the crier in 12:10.
Copyright Selwyn Russell 2008.
Latest update: 27 September 2008 (22 Sep, 21 June 2008)
URL of this page: http://www.oocities.org/selwynrussell/SR/index.html