Studying The Bible Or Brief Criticisms On Some Of The Principal Scripture Texts

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870 edition. Excerpt: ...It would be hard to authenticate a single instance of the existence of a translation of the Gospels into the vulgar tongue of any country into which Christianity was established, at any time within the first four centuries. The clergy, or those engaged and interested in the business of dealing out spiritual edification, whose testimony we have alone on the subject, mutually criminate and re-criminate each other according as they grasp or lose their hold on the ascendency (and so are held to be orthodox or heretical) with corrupting the Scriptures." Four hundred years are a long time, and in that day when books were few and only in manuscript, how much of forgery and interpolation might have been resorted to and passed unnoticed and undetected, and even if now and then one were found out, how easy to smuggle it up and keep it away from the public, lest it might injure the church, or if approved of, to let it" remain as the real " Simon Pure," that it may "help the cause along! " Even as worse things are now hidden and smuggled up in her corrupt and deceiving heart. " A grain of mustard seed, which is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree."--Matt. xiii. 32. Jesus must have been very ignorant and. unobservant of the seeds and habits of plants to have thought mustard the smallest of seeds, when there are seeds so minute as not to be perceptible to the naked eye, and there are many herbs whose stature and size exceed that of the mustard tree. ' " Shall cast them into the furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."--Matt. xiii. 50. Would an earthly parent cast his children into a furnace of fire, let them...

A compelling history of atheism in American public life A much-maligned minority throughout American history, atheists have been cast as a threat to the nation's moral fabric, barred from holding public office, and branded as irreligious misfits in a nation chosen by God. Yet, village atheists—as these godless freethinkers came to be known by the close of the nineteenth century—were also hailed for their gutsy dissent from stultifying pieties and for posing a necessary secularist challenge to majoritarian entanglements of church and state. Village Atheists explores the complex cultural terrain that unbelievers have long had to navigate in their fight to secure equal rights and liberties in American public life. Leigh Eric Schmidt rebuilds the history of American secularism from the ground up, giving flesh and blood to these outspoken infidels, including itinerant lecturer Samuel Porter Putnam; rough-edged cartoonist Watson Heston; convicted blasphemer Charles B. Reynolds; and atheist sex reformer Elmina D. Slenker. He describes their everyday confrontations with devout neighbors and evangelical ministers, their strained efforts at civility alongside their urge to ridicule and offend their Christian compatriots. Schmidt examines the multilayered world of social exclusion, legal jeopardy, yet also civic acceptance in which American atheists and secularists lived. He shows how it was only in the middle decades of the twentieth century that nonbelievers attained a measure of legal vindication, yet even then they often found themselves marginalized on the edges of a God-trusting, Bible-believing nation. Village Atheists reveals how the secularist vision for the United States proved to be anything but triumphant and age-defining for a country where faith and citizenship were—and still are—routinely interwoven.

The first in a new Bible study series from Verse By Verse Ministry International (vbvmi.org). This 12-week VBVMI Group Study on End Times features thought-provoking teaching of core biblical concepts in prophecy. The workbook prepares both individual students and small groups for a deeper study of eschatology by examining key ideas and highlights from the book of Revelation, Daniel and other scripture. Students will gain a foundational understanding of God's plan for Israel, the Church and the end of the age. The VBVMI Group Study series is designed to suit the needs of students new to a study of end times while still offering a challenge to experienced Bible students. Each lesson in this study includes a video available to stream for free over the internet. The videos feature the teaching of Stephen Armstrong, acclaimed for his unique and gifted approach to explaining the Bible. The 12 videos are available for viewing or download for free at: http://www.vbvmiendtimesstudy.org. A printable PDF copy of the workbook may also be downloaded for free.