(Take that, Darwin.). We pray that he would find liberation in Jesus Christ and see his life and family restored, but my friends, any one of us, any one of us, can be in the same thralldom today. Im not saying I totally believed the stories, but I cannot believe that a single other place could not be found to send the legion. After this long, careful study, it should be crystal clear that the heartless Bishop of Hippo was mistaken, as were our two good pastors. The distinction between the two is clear (now). But when Jesus explained that the commandment was the old one from Leviticus, Love one another, they signed with relief, seeing how he was just underscoring the command that God already gave (Leviticus 19:18). But Christians miss the joke and think he was being serious. Again, Gods anointed one faces down an army, one man against thousands. Don't be surprised if none of them want the spotl One goose, two geese. Ptolemy says Gerasa was a city in Coele-Syria, thirty-five travel m. from Pella. These pastors have, Look at the prophets; they also prove Scripture doesnt change. Gerasa was a city situated near the Jabbok River about eighteen m. E of the Jordan, about twenty m. SE of Pella, and twenty m. N of Philadelphia. God designated the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, as His chosen people. Unsurprisingly in such a place, Jesus finds a man possessed by unclean spirits. Top Ten Reasons Why There Were Pigs in Gerasenes (Lk 8 ) 10 ) It was the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, the area of the Decapolis. Here is a prophesy that Christians love to quote: You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110.4) because it connects to Messiah Jesus. During the time of Christ, the ten cities of Decapolis and the surrounding region were inhabited mostly by Gentiles, not Jews, and the area had a strong Greek influence. This has been a long blog thanks for sticking with it but because Im going to ruffle feathers, Ive gone the extra mile to explain myself clearly and to plug any holes in my argument. Jesus made him whole. Mark 5 is truly very simple: being a righteous Jew, the Law commands Jesus to abhor pigs as food. Also, Demetrius only needed to speak a few choice words against the Jew (compare with Act 19:34), to get the crowd all worked up the silversmith didnt have any real evidence that Pauls preaching was going to slow sales. Such alternative readings include arguments that the swine were meant to represent the Roman army or "unclean and unfaithful" people; that pigs were considered "unclean", so destroying them might be consistent with care for other animals; and that Jesus did not actually "send" the devils into the pigs. Besides Johns cute play on words dont add or God will add consider what plagues he might be talking about and what book he might be talking about. He was Jewish and tragically lost. Most scholars today would agree with Origen that near Gergesa was the precise site for the healing of Legion. It was a small village about midway along the E shore of the Sea of Galilee. Gods Everlasting Word is not something evolving or morphing into a strange new unusual thing, like some rose turning into a radish, or a carrot into a carnation. Therefore, I repeat again that I believe the pastors are dishonest for not admitting this fact. GERASA, GERASENES (, ). Well this is a taste of the profound arguments that you will find in that book. And you can ask yourself a lot of questions Why did Jesus do that? See more comments below.). They do not bother mentioning Scriptures emphasis on being holy before God. Three witnesses! In either case, the theological point is not helped by a fictitious story. We "are of more value than many sparrows" (Matt. Mark as quoted by Spalde, Annika; Strindlund, Pelle (2012). biblegateway.com Instead, his conscious act of casting the demons into the swine resulted in the entire herds destruction. Since these events were supposedly witnessed by hundreds (and even thousands of people), it would have been very easy for 1st century critics to debunk it as non-historical. And what about trees or rocks? In Luke 4 and 5, great multitudes are following Jesus Christ when He does His miracles. That sure does smell good! *sigh*). He wrote under his own name, and also as John Oxenham for his poetry, hymn-writing, and novels. The good pastor basically believes that in Jesuss mind, one mans peace, preservation and freedom from unclean spirits is worth the sacrifice of a couple thousand pigs. JESUS DIDNT SEND THE DEMONS INTO THE DEEP; Accessed 4 Mar. No, I've checked my facts, anticipated the arguments, remembered my own arguments from he past, and now Im ready to present my conclusions for Christians to consider. being the holy Messiah of Israel, Jesus wants the swine out of The Land as much as he wants unclean spirits out of The People, and. When Jesus healed the possessed man, He allowed Legion to possess the nearby herd of swine. Would you not agree that theres a certain permanent feeling about a law like that? Thou lovest men, we love swine. were the gerasenes Luckily, they didnt find Paul anywhere, but they did haul a number of Pauls colleagues down to city hall. Looking back over the entirety of Gods Word, we do indeed notice many plagues rained down on the wicked in other books. What's going on here? Theres got to be a a good one about. So lets not laugh these verses off. Does he really believe Mark 5 is Biblical material just for laughs? So I don't know how seventeen interpretations of this particular story got circulated. Why do I say that book? We have it all down on paper exactly how gentle Gentiles can get when they get annoyed by a Jew. Logically we understand that no person on Earth could say something in strong terms over and over, and then just one day say, Oops, can I retract that? So could or would God Almighty flip flop? Now the big-mouth irking this Greek artisan was our good friend, the Apostle Paul. (Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26) In Gerasenes in place of Gadarenes. "Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged [Jesus], saying, 'Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.' We use cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Those outside of the nation of Israel were considered gentiles. New International Version (NIV), Encyclopedia of The Bible Gerasa, Gerasenes. These authors were Biblical (Peter, James, Paul, Hebrews, etc) and to a lesser extent, non-biblical (Josephus, Pliny, etc). Suddenly, Mark 5 is clear. Acting as Israels Messiah, Jesus was carrying out actions that were predicted by the prophets, like when Zechariah said that no merchants in the house of the LORD (Zechariah 14:21).. We gotta git us some!, 1 ) [your turn. Money Maker Software is compatible with AmiBroker, MetaStock, Ninja Trader & MetaTrader 4. Them there pigs were trying to hog Jesus limelight! viii. One can only imagine the insanity the demoniac suffered at the hands of these evil forces. The last now appears. If the Eternal One, blessed be He, had said just once that pork was unclean and forbidden, that should be enough. Delivered to your inbox! Flower blossoms wither. 8:513) and the Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was possessed (Mark 7:2430), the Jews received the bulk of His attention, and He spent most of His time in the predominantly Jewish regions of Galilee and Judea. It's this man who doesn't even remember his name who's possessed by a host of demons. Who owned the pigs? were the gerasenes He has authored, co-authored, edited, or contributed to numerous books. He says that the demon expulsions are just unenlightened men of the first century trying to explain illnesses being healed. No Jewish farmer would keep swine, and no Jewish region would tolerate the presence of pigs, let alone two thousand of them (Mark 5:13). Somewhere I read that that region actually raised pigs and worshipped them or considered them as idols so study about the region and style of worship for that region. OS Supported: Windows 98SE, Windows Millenium, Windows XP (any edition), Windows Vista, Windows 7 & Windows 8 (32 & 64 Bit). (Please dont hide behind that sensational dispensational chart. Doesnt Pastor MacArthur know his Bible? But as for God, what reason did He give Mr. Merciless for not destroying Nineveh? Another command applies to women who have given birth to a child (Leviticus 12:6), so that would be easy for Jesus to obey, not to mention the monthly ritual baptisms Jewish women do for certain reasons!!! Let's pray. Many of you have seen, maybe fewer of you have read, a book by the famous British philosopher and skeptic, Bertrand Russell. Therefore, hiding behind a few vague statements like the pat answer verses listed here is not sound. When this passage begins, we have a man who is possessed by demons who had gone about naked, who had lived in the tombs, who was out of his mind, and who did not even know his name. At the end of the gospel, however, Jesus tactic changes. We come to understand that the God of the Universe is willing to wait and to stall our own behaviour so as to give mother cows and mother sheep more time together with their babies. The pastors attempts to laugh off the haunting question about the meek and lowly Son of Man killing all the pigs is pathetic. Is there actually a real reason why the Gospel accounts shouldnt be taken as factual history? Learn a new word every day. Seven Biblical facts await you that prove Jesus was obliged to love all creatures, except that a higher command forced him to partially judge the Jews who owned the two thousand poor pigs. WebApparently Gerasa was rebuilt by the Romans before the revolt began, prob. He specifically banned pig in. Gerasa is identified from various sources as a city in Arabia, Decapolis, Gilead, or Perea. (Later, in Genesis 8:20, Noah sacrificed some of the clean animals to God as thank you offerings because their ship had come in! Do you remember? get to know the Bible better! In other words, the Roman Catholic Church took four Greek words torn out of mid-sentence and declared them to mean, the end (read, death) of the law [of Moses], although numerous verses declare the fixed, eternal character of Gods Perfect Law. (we dont invent stories to let people know Jesus has power over the Tooth Fairy, do we?).
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