Retired & Thinking

Disabling spirit Among the discussion in various commentaries is whether the " disabling spirit " of the woman was a spiritual (demonic) cause of a natural illness/disease. the word 'disabling' άσθεινί́́́́̓́̀ς is used of illness or sickness. In the LXX (Greek Old Testament) it is used as 'stumbling block' in Jeremiah 6:21   Therefore thus says the  Lord : ‘Behold, I will lay before this people       stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together,      neighbor and friend shall perish.’” Arguing in favor of a natural occurring illness includes Dr. James Edwards who makes the case for a generic illness based on how various skin rashes and problems would have been lumped into the category of Hansen's Disease (Leprosy). However, in Luke 6:18, this physician clearly distinguishes between who were healed of diseases and those troubled with unclean spirits (6:18; 7:21; Acts 5:16; 8:6-8; 19:12). Likew...

It's been almost a year since I posted anything to this blog. It isn't because there was nothing to report nor because I was too busy. It was simply an oversight and laziness on my part. So, I'm going to try it again. I do not promise a post every day or even every week but I will post at least a couple of times a month about theological news and items that capture my interest. One thing I hope to do is to use another blog of mine to share material that I was unable to use in the sermon but which is worth reading. I hope to index those links by passages for those who wish to use the sources. Peace, Alan DISCLAIMER Although I am pastor at Kenton Church the blog posts are my own and do not represent the will or mind of Kenton's membership or Session and certainly they are not the opinions of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church or the Presbytery on which Kenton is a part...