March 5, 2015 Bible Study — God of the Living, Not of the Dead

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 10:26

    This proverb does not tell us anything we do not already know. Let us strive not to be the cause of annoyance which the writer describes.

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Psalm 48:1-14

    I am not sure that I have anything to say about this psalm. I will recommend that you take some time to read this psalm and meditate on the word picture it paints about God and His glory.

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Mark 12:18-37

    Two different groups of religious leaders had attempted to get Jesus to say something they could use against Him. So, a third group asked Him a question which they were sure presented an unanswerable paradox. They created a hypothetical situation where a woman married seven different brothers, each one after she had been widowed by the previous, but had no children. They then asked who she would be married to in the resurrection. They were convinced that this was proof that there could be no resurrection of the dead.
    Jesus answered them by pointing out that they made two mistakes. The first was that they did not know Scripture. The second was that they did not underestimated the power of God. Jesus dismisses their paradox by pointing out that when God raises us from the dead we will not be married, nor be given in marriage. I take that to mean that when we are raised from the dead we will not be sexual beings. However, Jesus’ main point is that when God identifies Himself to Moses He uses the present tense in referring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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Numbers 4-5:31

    I struggle with the part of the passage where it discusses the method of testing a woman whose husband believes that she has been unfaithful. On the one hand the “rational” part of me looks at this and thinks that it is purely random as to whether or not a woman is found “guilty”. On the other hand, my faith says that God is perfectly capable of intervening so that only women who are guilty suffer the negative effects. Ultimately, I am convinced that this method of judging could be successful in a society where everyone thoroughly believed in the power and justice of God. And by succeed, I mean distinguish between the innocent and the guilty. However, it has no chance of working where a significant portion of society does not believe in God.