Dr Paul Allen

  Exodus 29:10 begins a lengthy set of instructions regarding the ceremonies that had to be performed to “consecrate” (Ex 29:1; lit. “make holy”) Aaron and his sons as priests. Modern readers may wonder at the elaborate and often bloody details of the rituals described here.  Ancient readers would have puzzled much less over the details, partly because of previous experiences with such rites but also because they understood the nature of what was taking place. To serve as a priest, a person had to be prepared for contact with that which was holy—​the sacred realm, the world of the divine.  Ancient Israelite society operated on the understanding that there were three distinct categories or states in which persons (and objects) could find themselves: the state of uncleanness, the state of cleanness and the state of holiness.  Yahweh inhabited the last, and animals unfit to eat inhabited the first. Persons could move between being clean and unclean, depending on what th...

A. The Two Types of Diseases     1)      Functional disease A functional disease is one in which there is a change in the function of an organ or tissue yet without structural or substantive damage being done. Examples would be high blood pressure , lower back pain, and most headaches. Whereas there are symptoms involved, such would not appear under X-ray because there is no demonstrable tissue damage.     2)       Organic disease An organic disease is one in which there is a demonstrable change in a bodily organ or tissue. Examples would be broken bones, paralysis due to a severed spinal cord, congenital malformations , coronary artery disease, etc. Evidence for an organic disease often shows up on an X-ray.  Someone has illustrated the difference between these two types of disease in this way: If a computer showed that two plus two equals five, the problem is probably functional. Someone most likely programmed it in...

Единородный сын. "The only begotten Son of God" (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God , who loved me, and gave himself for me.” ( Galatians 2:20 ) The second verse of “ When I Survey the Wondrous Cross ” continues by rightly identifying the focus of a believer’s affections. This song does not direct our affection to objects (like the cross or the blood ) and so imply improper worship, but it clearly specifies the deity and work of Christ as paramount to us. We worship Him for who He is and what He has done and is doing on our behalf. His death makes all the difference to us. Forbid it, Lord , that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God ! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. We know that “being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death...