Barnabas and Saul Sent Off
A bunch of prophets and teachers were in the church at Antioch when the holy spirit told them to send off Barnabas and Saul.
Barnabas and Saul on Cyprus
Paul and Barnabas went to Cyprus and came across a false prophet who was a magician. He tried to turn them away from the faith. Paul then used the holy spirit (or the holy spirit worked through him, or something) to temporarily blind the guy. He then believed them.
I can't decide how I feel about this story. I obviously don't like the idea that he has been blinded for not believing, but is it really a terrible thing? I guess it depends on how temporary it is. If he is blinded for 5 minutes it doesn't really bother me at all. If he is blinded for 5 years it is a terrible thing. The story doesn't mention this detail.
Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia
Paul and some other disciples went to the synagogue in Antioch and were asked to give the people words of encouragement. The told the story of the Jews leaving Egypt and the story of Jesus. Most people liked it and asked for the story to be told again the following week. Some Jews were jealous and didn't like it but in the end they were kicked out of town.
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Note: I am out of town for about a week. There will not be a disruption is posts as I have front-loaded enough content to fill the void while I am gone, however, I will most likely not be responding to any comments until I get back. If any comments do come from me this week please excuse typos as it means I am posting from my phone.
Your point about the blinding is rather interesting. It didn't really occur to me how long he was blinded. That would really make a difference.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that always puzzles me is the differences in the bible about whether Joseph was the father. (verse 23). I could understand using the term "father" in the context of taking care of a child. The difference between, say the father of an adopted child, vs the biological father. The bible seems to try to have both. He is the "seed" of David, but Maury style "Joeseph is not the father."
In verse 39 he says that everyone who believes will be saved from their sins. But I think he forgot about blasphemy rule. (Mark 3:29)
In verse 48, "and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" sounds to me like God chooses who will believe and who won't. He's hardened hearts before, which I've pointed out. I guess this comes to the question of free will. The SAB has a good list of verses on the topic.
you are right about verse 23. I hadn't thought about it when I read through, but it is interested how it seems to want Joseph to be the father and not be the father, depending on what is convenient at the time.
ReplyDeleteThe blasphemy rule as well, seems to be forgotten here.
For verse 48, I was going to say I disagree with you. I was going to say it is not really clear to me that they were chosen first and believed second. But I looked at different translations, and it seems that the majority really to imply that direction.