On Creationism

The Jewish expectation for the messiah was a man who would be the new king of the resurrected kingdom of Israel. The messiah was the king of the Jews, adopted by God as his son. This was true of all the kings from David onwards, and the expected messiah was no different. He, of course, had to therefore be a direct male line descendant of David, as the gospels of Matthew and Luke are at pains to establish. This is what was expected of Jesus. Matthew 2:6 "‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Matthew 27:42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. Luke 1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never en...

Conventional wisdom is that Jesus said we should pay taxes. Here is the relevant verse: Mark 12:17 And Jesus said to them, “Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at Him. Taken out of context it surely looks like Jesus is telling his fellow Jews to pay taxes to their Roman oppressors. But when we look at the context, it is quite different. Jesus is showing his distain both for money and for all things Roman. The verse is not Jesus telling people to pay taxes, the verse is Jesus sticking two fingers up at Roman authority. Jesus divides the world in to things that matter - "to God the things that are God’s" - and things that do not matter, the profane - "Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s". Look at the question is the greater context of verses 13 to 27. The first half is the Pharisees asking a question that they hope will ensnare him, in the second half the Sadducees do the same. In both ...