“In Genesis 6, we find an account give of the Deluge, and of the reasons for it. It was because the ‘sons of God,’ or bene elohim, saw that human women were fair, married them, and had children by them. Everywhere else this phrase appears in the Bible, it refers to celestial beings (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7, and in the singular, Dan. 3:25). From the references in the first part of Job, we find that Satan is one of their number, or at least accompanies them . . . Jude verifies that these beings did not keep their proper station, and that the nature of their sin was sexual. He states clearly that the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah sinned in the same way as these beings, by going after strange flesh (vv. 6-7).”
A Universal Domain
“So Jesus did not die in order to set an ethical dualism in stone, with God and Satan forever opposed. He spoke of the condemnation of the prince of this world (John 16:7-11); He appeared in order to destroy the devil’s work (1 Jn. 3:8); He died to destroy the devil himself (Heb. 2:14); and He stated that in His death the prince of the world would be driven out (John 12:29-32). As we examine the biblical cosmology, we should keep in mind that we are studying, because of the resurrection, the domain of Christ. Nothing is outside that domain.”
Forgotten Heavens, p. 3
Or Even Two Turtles
“We must rethink our assumptions about the universe around us. But if we submit to the biblical cosmology, it will not be found necessary to submit to a caricature of it—we are not living in a universe built like a 3-decker London bus, riding on the back of a turtle.”
Forgotten Heavens, p. 1
No Piglet Tails Here
[Speaking of behemoth] “The NIV provides us with an informative footnote which explains that this may possibly be the hippopotamus or elephant—with a tail like a cedar. Apparently the scholars who worked on the NIV were too busy with their studies as children, and never made it to the zoo, or the circus”
Forgotten Heavens, p. ix
Not Empty at All
“The Creator of all is not an impersonal force, and the creation reflects that. The biblical view of the cosmos is not the one of modernity—infinite depths of lifeless space punctuated by dead rock, or chaotic fire.”
Forgotten Heavens, p. viii
And So Has to be Much More Careful With That Exegesis
“On some issues, the theological liberal is better able to state what the teaching of the Bible is. This is because he is able to say, for example, the apostle Paul thought this way, and wasn’t it quaint? The evangelical, on the other hand, is required to believe whatever Paul taught in the Scriptures; the conservative is stuck with the results of his exegesis”
Forgotten Heavens, p. vii
And Credible Everywhere
“It is in Him that we live and move and have our being. God is the Lover, Jesus is the Beloved, and the Love between them is the Spirit. It is in the Triune Love that we live and move and have our being. This means that love is relevant everywhere.”
Extending Your Reach
“If you do not know how to be patient in the face of repeated provocations, your children are not going to know either. When you discipline your children correctly, you are loving your grandchildren.”
An Eye on the Future
“But your task is not to teach the child how to be a child—the child already knows how to be a child. You are not teaching your children to be children. You are teaching your children to grow into adults.”
The Real Lesson
“Imagine a basic showdown scenario: suppose a toddler is standing at the coffee table right across from you and repeatedly wants to mess with the vase. Suppose further that the toddler has just gotten mobile and you have not childproofed the house yet, and they keep wanting to touch the vase. Too often, parents think that the lesson is entitled ‘How not to mess with vases,’ when the actual lesson is called “How not to get exasperated with other people.’