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Showing posts from July, 2014

God in Graphology: Considerations in Gematria, Theology of the Alphabet (Hebrew, Chinese), and Philosophy of the Word

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Let us call the method of trying to decode the writing system in order to seek proofs for faith as "Graphological Theology". Sacred Gematria The works of Ivan Panin that discover numeric patterns in the Bible are examples of Textual Gematria. Check the following excerpt from his letter to the New York Sun: The first 17 verses of the New Testament contain the genealogy of the Christ. It consists of two main parts: Verses 1-11 cover the period from Abraham, the father of the chosen people, to the Captivity, when they ceased as an independent people. Verses 12-17 cover the period from the Captivity to the promised Deliverer, the Christ. Let us examine the first part of this genealogy. Its vocabulary has 49 words, or 7 x 7. This number is itself seven (Feature 1) sevens (Feature 2), and the sum of its factors is 2 sevens (Feature 3). Of these 49 words 28, or 4 sevens, begin with a vowel; and 21, or 3 sevens, begin with a consonant (Feature 4). Again: these 49 words of the vocabu

Unity in the Body: Ecumenical Attempts in the 21st Century

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Published in the Contemporary Christian, Bangalore: CFCC, 2011 In one of his sermons, the revivalist preacher Leonard Ravenhill mentions an incident in which an elderly lady was asked by someone which church she went to. She, perhaps reading the issue of denomination in the question, and not certain of the right terminology, answered abruptly, “Oh no, I go to a different abomination!” While the modern era has been able to pull down many of the denominational walls, there are still some lessons that must not be forgotten. We have learnt that many differences are not really essential, which means that unity can become essential. Yet, while we consider newer ways to bridge relationships, we must be cautious not to burn important bridges down. Questions of Authority The first instance of schismatic feelings in the Church is recorded in Acts 6, and it was, not very surprisingly, an issue of food and tables, a catering issue to be precise. The Hellenist Christians were the first protestants