Truth really can be stranger than fiction.
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La verdad puede ser más extraña que la ficción.
First Page - ¡Ya está en marcha! Todas las historias son verídicas, o están basadas en hechos reales. Lectura ilimitada por $4.99 / mes. No hay que descargar nada. Lea en su teléfono, tableta u ordenador.
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Estudio bíblico que nos hace abrir los ojos en menos de cinco minutos! Acceda a todos los episodios aquí.
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Was There A Curse On Helen's Romantic Life?
The Third Man by Angela Sheffield is based on a true story. Read chapter one now!
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¿Qué tiene que ver conmigo? por Teófila Gottfried
Lo que leemos en la Biblia tiene que ver con todos los seres humanos, sean cristianos o judíos, ateos o agnósticos, budistas, musulmanes o adherentes a alguna de las filosofías o nuevas religiones que surgen en el mundo. ¿Por qué? Ver mayor información sobre este interesante libro.
Scripture of The Day - St. John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Escritura del día - San Juan 14,6
Jesús le dijo: Yo soy el camino, y la verdad, y la vida; nadie viene al Padre, sino por mí.
Bibelstelle des Tages - Johannes 14,6
Jesus spricht zu ihm: Ich bin der Weg und die Wahrheit und das Leben; niemand kommt zum Vater, denn durch mich!
Adam, Eve The Talking Serpent, And The Garden Of Eden Actually Existed
It is totally understandable that many people doubt whether Adam, Eve, a talking serpent, and the garden of Eden actually ever existed. The Genesis story does sound fantastic even to some people who believe the Bible is God's Word. Could the story be some type of parable or fable to illustrate a divine truth? No, because all the parables of the Bible are clearly identified as parables. All the proverbs of the Bible are clearly identified as proverbs. All the psalms and songs are clearly identified as psalms and songs. Prayers are clearly identified as prayers. Dreams, also called night visions in Scripture, are clearly identified as dreams and night visions. Even when someone was in a trance, Scripture clearly identifies the state of being in a trance.
The story of Adam, Eve, the talking serpent, and the garden of Eden are not identified in any part of Scripture as a parable, a proverb, a fable, a dream, a trance, a vision or anything less than a true story. What is more is that the apostle Paul, in his letters to the churches, clearly reveals his belief in the account of Adam, Eve, the talking serpent, and the garden of Eden as a true story. Therefore, we have no biblical basis for doubting the real existence of Adam, Eve, the talking serpent, and the garden of Eden.
Okay. But The Story of Adam, Eve, And The Talking Serpent in Eden Sounds Like Fantasy...Or Does It?
One reason the story of Adam, Eve, the talking serpent and the garden of Eden sounds too fantastic to be true is because we don't see or hear of anyone talking to serpents or any other animals. And what is with such strange trees? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil opens your eyes, and then kills you. The other tree, which is the tree of life, is a fountain of youth. Two very strange trees in a strange garden. But why do we call it strange? Because we fail to realize that the events surrounding Adam, Eve, the talking serpent, "magical" trees, and the garden of Eden did NOT just occur long ago. They did NOT take place in our world at all. We repeat. They did NOT occur in our world. And we err when we judge the happenings of another world by the standards of our own world.
The scripture of 2 Peter 3:6-7 says: "Whereby the world that THEN WAS, being overflowed with water, PERISHED. But the heavens and the earth, which are NOW..."
The passage we've just read clearly tells us the world of Adam and Eve, the talking serpent, and the garden was NOT the same world in which we now live. We read that that old world perished. "Perished" means ceased to exist. Gone. Why would we judge a world in which we never lived by the conditions of this world? What's more is not only was the pre-flood world very different, the garden of Eden was even different from the rest of that pre-flood world.
Some might say the word "world" in the Scripture is referring to the people who perished, not to the physical world. No, because Scripture says the heavens of that old world perished. The heavens are not people. If a martian society existed, and Martians attempted to judge what happens--or does not happen--on Earth by considering what happens--or does not happen on Mars, they'd arrive at erroneous conclusions.
When we say the story of Adam, Eve, the talking serpent, and the garden of Eden is fantasy, we are judging another world's events by this world's events. What was commonplace in Eden would be fantasy in the present world. And what is commonplace here would have been a horror story in Adam's and Eve's pre-flood, sinless garden world.
So, Adam And Eve Actually Talked With Animals?
Yes! We read, "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he SAID unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" (Genesis 3:1)
If we keep reading, we see Eve answers the serpent. Obviously, in that perished world, which was paradise, it was not at all strange to talk to animals. Now, it does not matter whether the serpent spoke audibly or not. The woman and the serpent are having a real conversation. It was commonplace to freely talk with animals. How do know that? We know that by what Scripture reveals. We read that God said to Adam and Eve, "...Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:28)
But what does Adam and Eve having dominion over the animals have to do with talking with them? Answer: You MUST be able to freely communicate with any form of life over which you have dominion. Otherwise you cannot communicate your instructions to them. Scripture reveals that Adam and Eve ruled over ALL the animals of that old world. How do we think they communicated instructions to them if they could not talk with them? Now then, the Bible reveals that the world of Eden was sin free. There was no violence, no aging, no death, no suffering, no strife. Conclusion: Adam and Eve exercised godly dominion over the animals through peaceful and harmless communication with them. While we can communicate commands to our pets, we do not have conversations with them. What's more is we do not have dominion over animals such as bears, tigers and lions through simple communication. Some form of "violence", such as shooting them with a tranquilizing dart, must be used in our world. Again, let's not judge another world by our world's standards.
Did The Serpents Of The Former World Disappear?
This present, post-flood world has plenty of serpents. But, they are all in their cursed state. Limbless.
It is interesting that the Bible reveals that the serpent of old in Genesis is also a dragon (Revelation 20:2). And what is a dragon? A dragon is a large serpent with four appendages, and is sometimes depicted with horns and wings. But did dragons really exist? Yes. They existed.
Genesis plainly reveals that the serpent was cursed as punishment for deceiving Eve into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Bible says the serpent was cursed above "all cattle and above every beast of the field." We read, "Upon thy belly shalt thou go." (Genesis 3:14). If the curse of the serpent was the removing of his limbs, that means that animal had legs. And all depictions of dragons show the animal with legs. Adam and Eve are the only two people who knew what a dragon truly looked like, because they saw him BEFORE he was cursed. And as Adam and Eve are the parents of every nation on earth, it is no wonder that every nation believed in the real existence of dragons...and depicted an animal their eyes never saw. From where did they get such an idea? Surely Adam and Eve talked to their children about their life before they were forced to leave the garden. They would have told their children about their dealings with God. This is why all the nations of the earth know about an animal they have never seen...at least not in his original state. In our world, we only have "dragons" in their cursed state: Large serpents without limbs.
It is very interesting to note that scientists know that serpents used to have limbs. Of course many of them attribute the disappearance of limbs to evolution. Not only have fossils of serpents with limbs been found, "modern" serpents such as the boa and the python have "placeholders" for appendages that begin to grow in the embryonic stage, but that are unable to develop into limbs. Dragons are sometimes depicted with horns. Well, there is no shortage of serpents that are horned.
But why are dragons sometimes depicted with wings and the ability to breathe fire? Did the dragons of the old world have wings? Did they breathe fire? No one can say whether old world dragons breathed fire or not. As for wings, we believe biblical scripture discourages such a belief. Remember, the curse on the dragon was that he would crawl on his belly all his life. Even a limbless animal with wings would, more than likely, be able to fly. But the cursed serpent of Genesis must move upon his belly. That would not be the case if he had wings. But there is a logic behind depicting dragons with wings: The Bible reveals that Satan, the old world serpent, the devil and the dragon are all one and the same being (Revelation 12:9, 20:2). Remember that Satan was created as an angel...a covering cherub (Ezekiel 28:13-16). Remember also that the Bible reveals that angels have wings. So, it should not strike us as strange that some dragons are depicted with wings. Even depictions of fire-breathing dragons should not strike us as strange. Why? In the book of Job, Satan, who is also the serpent of old and the dragon, is given permission to attack Job. In the early part of the attack, he burns up Job's sheep and servants. The messenger of the bad news reports, "The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants..." (Job 1:16). That fire was not the fire of God. The book of Job reveals it was Satan's attack. So, a fiery power is clearly attached to the dragon. And this is not the only biblical passage in which we see the use of satanic fire. Conclusion: Depictions of a fire-breathing, winged serpent with limbs should not strike us as fantastic. The original serpent had limbs. And Satan, the dragon, was created with wings, and some type of power over fire. Therefore such depictions intertwine the physical appearance of old world serpents, also known as dragons, with some aspects of the spiritual being Satan was originally created.
Limbless serpents are not a product of evolution. They are the product of a curse from God. Evolutionists have made so many erroneous declarations, they should be laughed to scorn. According to evolution theory, the crossopterygian fish became extinct 80 million years ago. However, one was caught from the Indian Ocean, near Madagascar in 1938. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the folly of evolution theory, which, by the way, has changed the age of Earth so many times, who can still keep track?
The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil And The Tree Of Life
No, the Bible does not say the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was, or looked like, an apple. We also are not told what the fruit of the tree of life was, or what it looked like. All we are told is that they were fruit trees in the midst of the garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9).
In a nutshell, the presence of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil allowed for free-will choice to obey, or disobey, God. Access to the tree of life, or more accurately, eternal life, was the reward for obedience. In essence, the forbidden tree was a poisonous tree, because it first killed spiritually. And that spiritual death brought about physical death in a world where eternal life had been the norm.
This present world is so very different from the perished world, and even more different from the world of the garden of Eden. Nevertheless, this present world has what might be called "shadows" or reminders of what actually existed in a world we never knew.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a poisonous tree whose fruit killed. This present earth has many poisonous trees whose fruit kill. And while there is no tree of life, the present world offers plants proven to offer longevity. Eternal life is longevity that never runs out. The act of eating the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden affected Adam's and Eve's mind and spirit. This present world has no shortage of plants with the power to affect the mind to the point of hallucinations. They are nothing short of mind-altering, natural plants, some of which can "open" our eyes to see things and creatures that are not there. So, there are plants in this present world that have the power to cause people to see things in a distorted light, just as the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had. When we consider these "shadows" and reminders in this present world, the true events that took place in paradise should cease to sound so incredible.
Based on true events, The Third Man by Angela Sheffield, brings the Bible up close and personal as the characters face real issues of life: Betrayal, deceit, romance, bitterness, anger against God, hopelessness, will power, perplexity, triumph, unforgiveness, mental illness, and the "Alcohol made me do it" excuse. Read chapter one FREE now.
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