Dr Paul Allen

Genesis 11:7 – “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” The Babylonian intent in their attempt at their sovereign secular kingdom was to have sufficient power to do as they pleased by uniting together and defending themselves from everyone else. God rightly viewed this centralization of power in the hands of proud sinners apart from Him as a dangerous thing and saved them from themselves and saved others from the potential abuses of power by simply scattering them and confusing their languages.  Ironically, this scattering of the people and confusion of the languages were two of the primary things these people were seeking to prevent from happening in the first place. The name Babel, or Babylon, is humorously akin to our English word babble, which is what their communication sounded like once God confused their language. Beautifully, on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 through the power of the Holy Spirit, the gift...

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. [Gen. 3:1] When we move from Genesis 2:25 to Genesis 3:1 we note a change in textual tone. The statement that the serpent was the craftiest of the animals strikes a discordant note in the harmony that had prevailed to this point. In Genesis 3:1 we immediately read that this clever beast challenged God’s commands to Adam and Eve. The serpent personifies Satan throughout the Bible. We often envision the stereotypical little man in a red suit, horns and cloven hooves, carrying a pitchfork. This description is not found anywhere in the Bible, but was born in the minds of some medieval church scholars. These theologians were conscious of spiritual warfare, so they sought techniques to fight Satan and overcome his temptations. Peter tells us that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8), but James promises that if we resist him this lion will flee (James 4:7). Such...

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Prov. 16:18). The higher you climb to exalt yourself, the greater your fall. Babylon sought to climb the mountain of glory by crushing her enemies and shaking her fist at God. But what was her fate? An everlasting kingdom like that promised to David? No, death and destruction. This is what Isaiah said about the destiny of Babylon: “All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you. How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to...

Michelangelo's painting of the sin of Adam and Eve (the Fall of Man) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Illuminated parchment, Spain, circa AD 950-955, depicting the Fall of Man, cause of original sin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) No. If it did change the essence of our created humanity, then it would be improper to call ourselves human anymore. There are vast differences of opinion among denominations and religious groups and theologians as to the extent of damage that original sin inflicted upon the human race . The debates rage over the extent of it. Most denominations, in spite of their differences regarding the degree of fallenness, make some kind of distinction between what we would call the image of God in which we were originally created in the wider sense and the image of God in the narrower sense. We were created in our humanness in the wider sense in that certain traits make us human beings: our ability to think, the fact that we have souls, etc. Even after the Fall we stil...

Illuminated parchment, Spain, circa AD 950-955, depicting the Fall of Man, cause of original sin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) No. If it did change the essence of our created humanity, then it would be improper to call ourselves human anymore. There are vast differences of opinion among denominations and religious groups and theologians as to the extent of damage that original sin inflicted upon the human race . The debates rage over the extent of it. Most denominations, in spite of their differences regarding the degree of fallenness, make some kind of distinction between what we would call the image of God in which we were originally created in the wider sense and the image of God in the narrower sense. We were created in our humanness in the wider sense in that certain traits make us human beings: our ability to think, the fact that we have souls, etc. Even after the Fall we still think, we still choose, we still have passions, we still walk, we still look and act like people—...