Abstract

Table of Contents

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI
 

Volume 6: The Doorway Papers Series

TIME AND ETERNITY
AND OTHER BIBLICAL STUDIES

Abstract:
     The six Papers in this Volume do not form a connected series but they do have this in common: they all assume Scripture to be the touchstone of truth.  It is demonstrated that Scripture is able to stimulate one's thinking enormously, especially when the mind is informed by the data of current research. It is also demonstrated how consistent Scripture is, both with itself and with the assured findings of research. Furthermore, it is shown how one Spirithas clearly directed an supervised and inspired the writing of Scripture throughout.

           The Theory of Relativity has forever changed our concept of Time.  everyone 'knows' that time, viewed objectively, began "in the beginning" and flows by with a past, a present, and a future until it ends "when time is no more". Time began, said Augustine, with creation. Time has no meaning or existence, said Einstein, apart from the physical universe.
           So one asks, How much "time" was taken for creation?  Did God work "slowly" or did He create it all in a moment of time? Would He create something and give it an appearance of age it didn't have? Is eternity an extension of time? Can time and eternity even be compared? And what will heaven be like without time?
          Everyone 'knows' that time, viewed subjectively, is relative: it slows almost to a halt in suffering but speeds by in joy. This has a bearing on what happened on the Cross during those three hours of darkness.

THREE TREES: AND ISRAEL'S HISTORY

  The writing of the Bible occupied some 4000 years and was written by at least forty authors. Yet is is one book with a single philosophy of history, a single value system in judging man's behaviour, a single answer to man's need, a single picture of what God is like.
     What is even more surprising is that these authors, by some strange tacit agreement, undertook to use certain symbols with certain meanings that were not self-evident and could only be understood by those with spiritual discernment � a powerful witness to the existence of a single guiding Mind from Genesis to Revelation.
     In this Paper we are concerned with three of these symbols: the vine, the fig tree, and the olive tree. They represent Israel's history from three perspectives: the national, the religious, and the spiritual.

BETWEEN THE LINES:
AN ANALYSIS OF GENESIS 1:1, 2

     This is admittedly a difficult and dry Paper, dealing with questions of grammr and syntax and volcabular. It is an effort to determine the meaning of the original Hebrew of the opening verses of Genesis.
      A case can be made out for a hiatus of time (of unknown duration) between verses 1 and 2. verse 1, then, is taken as applying to the original creation. Verse 2 is seen as a picture of an earth ruined just prior to man's appearance. Verse 3 to the end of the chapter is viewed as a record of its re-ordering, its re-creation, and finally of the introduction of the human species.
    The interpretation is not new, for it was held by Jewish rabbis and Church Fathers. The Paper is an examination, not of the geological evidence, but of the linguistic evidence.

   This Paper is a grand survey of the omnipotence of God in the Universe, in the world, in the history of Israel, in personal history, and finally of His sovereignty and human responsibility.
     A survey of biblical statements show to what extent evil acts form a part of God's deliberate purpose and to what exten (and in what way) such evil acts become sinful ones. It is a study of the vital distinction between evil (which God and man do) abd sin (which man alone commits). Evil is by no means the same as unrighteousness, and good is by no means the same as righteousness.
     This study also considers the vital distinction between fruits and works, between justification (of actions) and forgiveness (of motives), between the wishes and the intentions of God, and the basis of God's judgment of human behaviour.

     Traditionally, it has been believed that Adam spoke Hebrew � or at least something akin to it. Whether of not this can be known for sure, it is certain that all men did indeed converse in one language � until the time that the Tower of Babel was being built. It was here that events, stated cryptically in Genesis 11:9, took place which have profoundly affected subsequent history: "The Lord did there confound [confuse] the language of all the earth and from there did scatter them abroad upon the face of the earth."
      So is there evidence of a sudden break-up of a universal language? What was the nature of this 'confusion'? What did happen at the Tower of Babel? Was the whole human race involved? These questions are the basis of this Paper.

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Original Unity of Languages

Chapter 2. The Original Speech of Mankind

Chapter 3. The Confusion of Language: Ancient and Modern

   Cain, of course, did marry his sister � for Eve became the mother of all living. This Paper is a brief but instructive look at how beautifully consistent Scripture is, both with itself and with the lastest assured findings of research into the genetics of in-breeding.

1977 published by Zondervan Publishing Co.
1997 published online
2001 2nd Online Edition – corrected, edited and re-formatted