Author Archives: mike@mikelilley.com

History of the English Bible Timeline

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1,400 BC: The first written Word of God: The Ten Commandments delivered to Moses.

500 BC: Completion of All Original Hebrew Manuscripts which make up The 39 Books of the Old Testament.

200 BC: Completion of the Septuagint Greek Manuscripts which contain The 39 Old Testament Books AND 14 Apocrypha Books.   Septuagent (LXX) – Greek translation of the Hebrew.  72 Jewish scholars translated in 72 days in Alexandria.   Reminiscent of the 72 elders with Moses in the presence of the lord (Exodus 24:9-11.  The very first translation of the Hebrew Bible was made into Greek, probably as early as the third century BC. This, the so-called Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, is traditionally dated to the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt (285-246 BC).

1st Century: Completion of All Original Greek Manuscripts which make up The 27 Books of the New Testament.

185-254: Origen Hexapla (Sixfold) – This book is one of the earliest examples of textual criticism and scholarly apologetics, as well as a true interlinear Bible. The Hexapla is formatted in six columns: one column of Hebrew text in parallel with five columns of various Greek translations. Origen’s purpose in compiling this was to counter Gnostic and Jewish attacks on early Christianity. This work also provided Christians with a comprehensive guide to the Old Testament. The original is estimated to have been more than 6,500 pages long and took more than 28 years to complete.  Lost between 4th and 7th centuries.  Only fragments exist today. 

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“Target Acquired” Series 001: Pastor Robert Morris, Dallas / Fort Worth

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The latest internet and television huckster and charlatan Robert Morgan recently used Matthew 23:23 to strongarm his followers to “tithe”.

Robert Morris has made millions by preaching lies and deceiving people into thinking they have to tithe and give money to his church. He is a false teacher and a phony. In this video false teacher Robert Morris tricks his gullible audience into thinking that Jesus commanded Christians to tithe. He ignores the context of Jesus words and his audience just has no idea because they don’t read their bibles. If the church he was preaching to read their bibles for themselves they would be able to see that Jesus was speaking to the scribes and Pharisees and the scribes and Pharisees were Jews living in the promised land under the Old Covenant. Even a child could see this but no one in Robert Morris’s church seems to realize this. Why? Because they are spiritually lazy and won’t study the Bible for themselves. Instead they rely on false teachers like Robert Morris.

Romans 4:20 – Failure of Faith

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There are six New Testament expressions that trace the decline of faith in an individual.

BEFORE a person is saved, he may have:
1) “vain faith” or belief in the wrong doctrine (1Cor 15:14-17)
2) “dead faith” or belief in orthodox doctrine without personal belief in Christ (James 2:19-20)

AFTER a person is saved, he can experience the following varieties of faith:
1) a kind of unbelief – experienced by the believers who fail to accept the whole work of Christ (Mark 16:11-14)
2) “little faith” – a mixture of faith and unbelief (Mark 7:26)
3) “weak faith” – referring to belief expressed as mere legalism (Rom 14:1)
4) “strong faith” – faith that is rooted in the promises of God (v. 20)

Illustration: As Christians mature, they should grow in faith. This was the experience of Abraham. Early in his pilgrimage with God, he could not trust God to protect him in Egypt. This was “weak faith” (Gen 12:10-20). He was later able to trust God, in sacrificing his son Issac. This was “strongfaith” (Heb 11:17-19)

Application: The Chrisitan life is a continual growing adventure in faith. (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:20, cf Rom 8:16)

How to measure typeface fonts in a Bible (or any volumn)

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Choose a column that contains the same spacing for each line from top to bottom
Measure baseline (bottom of font) from the top line to baseline to last line in millimeters

Divide mm height by number of lines
158mm / 59 lines = 2.678mm

Convert mm to inches
2.678mm / 25.4mm = 0.1054 inches

Convert inches to points
0.1054 inches x 72 = 7.5888 point font

[Reference: 72 points per inch and 25.4 mm per inch]

Schuyler RSV Quentel with Apocrypha

182 / 45 lines = 4.04mm
4.04mm / 25.4 = 0.15923
0.15923 x 72 = 11.8 point font
(Includes the leading or space between the characters)
Published font by Schuyler: 10pt Milo

The smallest font that I am able to comfortably read for extended periods of time is 8.2pt on 8.5pt Lexicon as published by Cambridge in the ESV Diadem edition. However I prefer the example from above as published by Schuyler in the RSV edition.

Here are some examples of Bibles I currently own

Cambridge NRSV w/apoc = 9.3pt
Cambridge ESV Diadem = 8.4pt
Cambridge Topaz = 10.5pt
Schuyler ESV Stridon = 11.1pt
Schuyler RSV Quentel w/ apoc = 11.4pt
Crossway ESV Study Bible = 9.9pt

The Cost of Being a Christian – Lordship Salvation

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Luke 14:26 ESV
 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and        children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

 An idiom of preference (Mt 6:24; 10:37; Rom 9:13; Mal 1:2-3; Gen 29:30-31; Dt 21:15-17).  One must prefer God of love Him more than all else to be saved (Mt 22:37).  God first is the motto of the Bible. [Dake]

The “hate” here is a comparative thing (Mt 10:37; Gen 29:31).  In the OT it went so far as to killing one’s own kinfolk (Ex 32:26-28, Dt 13:6-9, 33:9).  Muhammed copied this and applied it to his own religion, because he believed that disobedience to him was disobedience to God (Allah).  (Sura 4:69, 80; 72:23).  In the NT, it means that a Christian is going to have to put Jesus Christ’s will ahead of the will of his father, mother, spouse, children, and himself.  [Ruckman]

If anyone comes to me. Cf. 9:23–24. Those who would be Christ’s disciples must (1) love their family less than they love Christ (14:26); (2) bear the cross and follow Christ (v. 27); and (3) relinquish everything (v. 33). These are complementary ways of describing complete commitment. The first condition for discipleship is to hate one’s father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and life (cf. 18:29; see 6:20–22). “Hating” is a Semitic expression for loving less (cf. Gen. 29:30–31; Deut. 21:15–17; Matt. 10:37). [ESVSB]

14:26 hate. This means to love less (cf. Gen. 29:31, 33; Deut. 21:15–17, where “unloved” translates a word meaning “hated”). Discipleship means loving the Master so much that all other loves are hatred by comparison. [ESV Reformation Bible]

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