“We're on safe ground to presume that self-interest and hubris are at the core of the rebellion.” Quote by Michael S. Heiser
“Rebellion against God results in being cast out of his service. God doesn't run the affairs of the spiritual world or our world with rebels on his payroll. They are cast to the Underworld (in the case of the Eden rebel), or a special place in the Underworld (e.g., the offenders of Genesis 6:1-4, who are, to quote Peter and Jude, "kept in chains of gloomy darkness" or "sent to Tartarus"). There are more divine rebels than that in the Bible, but hopefully that scratches the surface enough.” WorldEnoughRunningSpiritualDarknessSpecialDivineAffairHopefullyRebellionRebelGenesisGloomyPayroll Author:Michael S. Heiser
“Ruling the way God wants you to rule means fostering the ordered relationships he desires, not because he is a killjoy, but because that order maximizes human happiness and love for God. Part of that is worshipping only the true God and no other.” MeanDesireGod Love Author:Michael S. Heiser
“The powers of darkness are still part of the spiritual world - they don't become something else when they rebel against God. Disembodied believers are, by definition, also part of the spiritual world. So are God and Christ.” WorldSpiritualChristDarknessBelieverRebel Author:Michael S. Heiser
“How much of what the biblical writers believed about the supernatural world do I believe? They weren't us. We are products of the Enlightenment; they were not. So let's stop denying that reality. Rather than sitting in judgment on them from our Enlightenment perches, we ought to have them sit in judgment on us when it comes to informing us about the supernatural world. After all, what they wrote was ultimately overseen by God.” WorldBelieveRealityI BelieveJudgmentEnlightenmentBiblicalNatural World Author:Michael S. Heiser
“We like to pretend the core ideas of the faith are more palatable or workable within our modern rationalistic approach to Scripture than the stuff we want to call "too weird" because of our own intellectual sensibilities. The truth is they are not. So we come up with interpretations to eliminate the weirdness of the biblical worldview that makes us uncomfortable. Problem solved!” ProblemModernTruth IsIntellectualScriptureUncomfortableBiblicalSensibilityWorldviewWeirdness Author:Michael S. Heiser
“When biblical material touches on the natural world, we can legitimately use the tools of science. Sometimes that shows us - no shock here - that biblical writers didn't know as much as we now know about the natural world - but God knew that when he picked them, so that alone tells us that "doing science" that would satisfy a 21st century - and beyond - audience wasn't what God was interested in with respect to the enterprise of producing Scripture for posterity.” WorldSometimesNaturalAudienceScriptureEnterpriseBiblical21st CenturyPosterityNatural World Author:Michael S. Heiser
“The truth is that we don't know much about the spiritual world except for what Scripture tells us, so it's unwise to think we can speak with clarity about what a divine being can or cannot do. The tools of analyzing the natural world are of no use for analyzing the supernatural world. For the latter we need rules of logic, and the supernatural beliefs of the biblical writers are quite defensible in that arena.” ThinkingWorldSpiritualBeliefSpeakNaturalDivineTruth IsLogicScriptureClarityBiblicalNatural WorldUnwise Author:Michael S. Heiser
“Why are you uncomfortable with the supernaturalist worldview of the biblical writers? Evangelicals don't want to just say, "Well, the inspired writers were wrong about some of their beliefs about the spiritual world and its inhabitants." That really doesn't work in a confessional situation! So instead we come up with excuses and interpretations that allow us to remake the biblical writers in our own post-Enlightenment image. I understand that impulse, but it's not honest.” WorldSpiritualBeliefSituationHonestInspiredExcuseImpulseUncomfortableBiblicalWorldview Author:Michael S. Heiser
“God doesn't save us to perpetuate a particular Christian sub-culture. He saves us to advance a supernatural kingdom that is not of this world.” WorldChristian Author:Michael S. Heiser
“If I were one of the gods who just wound up supervising humans, I'd want to influence the decision-makers to live according to the morals that Israel would eventually get in the Torah, and to teach those same principles to their people. I'd also want to make sure they worship no other god but the Most High.” PeopleMoralTeachInfluenceWorshipWoundsTorah Author:Michael S. Heiser