Christian Thoughts

Although the Hebrews had been enslaved by Pharoah for many decades, by no means were they impoverished when Moses eventually led them out of Egypt after the  punitive   series of ten plagues unleashed by God against the deified monarch and the pagan inhabitants.  What items of value did they leave with when evacuating en masse from the land of their bondage?  First of all, there was the divinely-facilitated plunder where the Hebrews “asked from the Egyptians for articles of silver, articles of gold and clothing” (Exodus 12:35) which were readily granted because the bereaved natives  were only too eager “to send them [ viz  Hebrews] out of the land in haste ” (Exodus 12:33) given the wide-scale tragedy where earlier  at midnight, as forewarned by Moses,  their first-born had been stricken by what  Exodus 12:23 cryptically calls the destroyer (or, more colloquially, angel of death).   Secondly, Exodus 12:37 records that there were “about six hundred thousand men on foot (besides childre

The human race has been told that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  This is not a sweeping pronouncement uttered without due consideration of every single individual since the creation of Adam and Eve: “the Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek God” (Psalm 14:2) but the lamentable findings of His scrutiny are that “they have all turned aside [and] have together become corrupt” (Psalm 14:2) as well as “they have done abominable works [and] there is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).  Even Christians who have already been baptised after accepting the Saviour are in no position to “say that we have no sin [for otherwise] we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8).   Arising from this irrefutable conclusion about the sinful state of mankind is the speciously relevant question idly discussed in Christian forums on whether the Son of Man, “coming in the likeness of men an

  The following biblical verses concerning submission to authority have often given pause to Christians ― especially those accustomed to modern-day democracies with national elections periodically held for deciding whether to retain or replace the people’s choice of government : •       “ Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities; ... whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God  …”     (Romans 13:1-2) •       “ Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the  Lord ’s  sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors  …”    (I Peter 2:13-14) •       “ Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities  …”    (Titus 3:1) •       “My son, fear the Lord and the king …”   (Proverbs 24:21) but this brief dictate from the Old Testament’s wisdom literature is not as substantive as the preceding verses which the apostles wrote prior to the mass persecution of Christians during Emperor Nero’s reign.   The directive penned by Paul is c