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Who was the Father of Joseph? Jacob or Heli?

Jul 5

Posted by Mark in Bible questions | No Comments

Who was the Father of Joseph? In Luke 3:23, it is Heli, while in Matthew 1:16, it is Jacob. It appears that there is a contradiction here. Here are the two verses in question:

When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, Luke 3:23

Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. Matthew 1:16

How can a man have two earthly Fathers?

I believe that there are two possible answers to this question

Option 1

There is an old testament law that states if a man dies childless, his widow shall be married to the deceased husband’s brother. The firstborn of that union will bear the name of the dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out:

When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. Deutoronomy 25:5-6

Is it possible that this is the case with Joseph? Why not? If this is the case, Jacob was Joseph’s natural Father, and Heli was Joseph’s Father by law.

Option 2

Note that in Luke 3:23 it says “Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, AS WAS SUPPOSED, the son of Joseph, the son of Heli”

While it was assumed (from every outward appearance) that Jesus was the fleshly son of Joseph, he was in fact the descendant of Heli (due to being born of a virgin, Lk. 1:30-35). Thus, Heli was the father of Mary, Jesus’s mother. Jacob was the father of Joseph

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God created the plants and trees before He created the Sun?

Jun 7

Posted by Mark in Bible questions | 2 Comments

This seeming bible contradiction was sent by email:

How can Vegetation survive without sunlight?

The Bible says in Genesis, Ch. No.1, Verse No. 11 to 13 The vegetation, the herbs the shrubs, the trees – they were created on the 3rd day

And, Genesis, Ch. No. 1, Verses. 14 to 19, the sun was created on the 4th day.

How can the vegetation come into existence without sunlight, and how can they survive without sunlight?

Here are the verses in question (New American Standard):

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. Genesis 1:11-13

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19

Yes, it is clear that God made the vegetation before the sun and stars. It is also clear that God actually created light before both of these on day 1 of creation:

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Genesis 1:3-5

Before God created the sun and stars, He had already created light. You may ask, how can there be light before a light source? The bible doesn’t mention a source for this light. However, in Revelation, we are told about the new heaven and new earth, and the new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from God. This city will not need the sun or moon to shine on it:

And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. Revelation 21:23

God Himself is the light for the New Jerusalem… how blessed are those who will be there! Will you be there? The very last line of the bible says that only those whose name is written in the lamb’s book of life shall be there:

and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21:27

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Did rainbows only happen after Noah’s flood?

Jun 6

Posted by Mark in Bible questions | 1 Comment

This question came up during an email debate with a muslim. He was trying to show me that the bible has errors. This is one of the errors that he proposed (His words are in red):

What does the Bible say regarding Hydrology? Bible says in Genesis, Ch. No.9, Verse No.13 to 17, that After God, at the time of Noah submerged the world by flood, and after the flood subsided, He said I put up a rainbow in the sky as a promise to the humankind never to submerge the world again, by water.

To the unscientific person it may be quite good Oh rainbow is a sign of Almighty God, never to submerge the world by flood again. But today we know very well, that rainbow is due to the refraction of sunlight, with rain or mist. Surely there must have been thousands of rainbows before the time of Noah.

To say rainbow was not there before Noahs time you have to assume that the law of refraction did not exist – which is unscientific.

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No, you do not have to assume that the law of refraction did not exist before the flood. The world before the flood was very different from the world today. Basically, the bible hints that there was no such thing as rain before the flood, and therefore, no rainbow in the clouds. There is a detailed answer here

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Does the bible say that the earth is flat?

Jun 3

Posted by Mark in Bible questions | 1 Comment

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth Isaiah 40:22

The Hebrew transliteration is khug which means “a circle, sphere”

This verse was written by the prophet Isaiah some 2700 years ago. At that time, the earth was thought to be flat. So it begs the question, who told Isaiah that the earth was a sphere?

Opponents of the bible commonly use other verses to claim that the bible teaches a flat earth:

He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:12

The hebrew transliteration is kanaph which basically means extremity. ‘Four corners of the earth’ is simply a ‘figure of speech’.

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