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Worrying Tendency toward Fixation on Miracles

In this day and age where instant gratification is actively promoted across commercial sectors because of consumerism, certain Christian communities have effectively come to expect miracles on all occasions — to the extent of even seeking divine aid for not-so-desperate matters like  chasing alternate jobs with better terms (despite being disfavourably regarded by current colleagues ),  hoping own children ace school examinations (despite acknowledging their disinterest in academic studies) or  obviating need for tooth-decay treatment (despite protracted inattention to proper dental hygiene ).   Given this feverish mindset to look heavenward for help in almost every mundane situation, it may be worthwhile to glance back and check out what certain biblical characters went through.   The following representative list of illustrative examples ought to be helpful for a broad appreciation of what different OT characters had experienced during trying times beset ...
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Mulling over Issue of Salvation for Sinners Unreached by Gospel

  As declared by the Son of Man, “ I am the way … [and] no one comes to the Father except through Me ” (John 14:6).   Additionally, believers have been specifically taught that “a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ ” (Galatians 2:16).   Given that these oft-quoted verses appear in the New Testament, the query that springs to mind is whether both of them are retroactively applicable to all who lived prior to the Messiah’s earthly ministry as well as those uninformed about God’s offer of salvation relayed since then by evangelists commissioned to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature [and] he who believes and is baptised will be saved but he who does not believe will be condemned ” (Mark 16:15-16).   Available in another New Testament book is the divine assurance that “God our Saviour … desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:3-4).   This Pauline ...
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Surveying Experiences of Biblical Characters in Senior-Age Bracket

Given the inexorable march of time, all living beings must eventually grow old (barring, of course, untimely deaths).   The steady stream of advancements in health science has nowadays enabled the post-retirement period of many a working adult to be stretched into several decades.   Believers concerned about these prolonged golden years being frittered away ought then to check out what did biblical characters in the senior-age bracket do.   It is natural to presume that the so-called poster boy  for our discussion here  see ms to be Moses whom God called to service only when he was nearing the post-golden age of 80 years; lest any reckons that Moses had earlier been idling away for 40 years in Midian tending to flocks, the Bible points out that “it came into his heart when he was 40 years old to visit his brethren” (Acts 7:23) ostensibly to help alleviate the lot of fellow Hebrews labouring under enforced slavery.   Even at 120 years of age, “his eyes...
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Deflecting Concern of God's Children over Generational Curses

To buttress their stance on generational curses, Christians of certain persuasions have  inter alia sought support from the NIV translation of Exodus 20:5 (which, being placed among the 10 Commandments, raises the eye-brows of many a reader): “… punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third  and fourth  generation …” (hereafter referred to as version 1).   Believers who find version 1 difficult to explicate should fall back on traditional Bible translations (such as KJV, RSV and ASV) and read instead the corresponding text for this otherwise-perplexing verse (which is replicated in Deuteronomy 5:9 amidst Moses’ recollections): “… visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third  and fourth  generation …” (hereafter referred to as version 2).   In view of the imperative to distinguish between these two versions, the first action item for the present discussion agenda is to mull over the following observat...
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