• I'm at lesson segment 72, "John's Baptism". And I have reached my limit -- my BS meter is pegged. IB spouts out swill like, "it’s important to ask why John’s baptism was so popular. Because actually it was more popular than Jesus, and John was more well-known than Jesus even later in Acts." And this: "Christianity took over this baptism, though with some reticence and with some changes. In John’s Gospel, you got the hint that Jesus was not entirely behind the idea of baptism." Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.1 1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Jn 4:1–3). (2016). Crossway Bibles. Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” 1 1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Jn 3:25–30). (2016). Crossway Bibles. As Christianity was in its infancy, there were, of course, areas where John was better known as he came to “make straight the paths for Jesus”. But John clearly understood and proclaimed that he was the lesser and Jesus was the Greater -- John’s work was all about Jesus and His Good News. It is a total travesty the way IB perverts this. IB mentions it but finds a way to diminish Jesus' final instructions to His disciple in what has come to be known as The Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Mt 28:18–20). (2016). Crossway Bibles. This pile of steaming rubbish is just one of many heretical forays of IB. I'm done with his garbage!
    1. My rating is about 3.5 stars, based on two key factors: The UBS Handbooks are helpful but have their own bent on translation. Psalm titles will clearly indicate "of David" and one of the first comments in the Handbook for that Psalm will indicate skepticism that the Psalm was associated with or written by David. What is more mystifying is Logos' choice to publish handbooks for apocryphal books like Tobit and Sirach and not publish handbooks for canonical books. From reading other reviews, I can see handbooks for 6 canonical books were missing from the Logos collection in 2014. In 2022, 3 are still missing from the Logos collection: Ezekiel, Hosea, and Joel. This amounts to two handbooks missing as Hosea and Joel are contained in one handbook. But really Logos, no UBS Handbook for Ezekiel?
      1. Just adding my comment and rating to see if it will help gain traction. My original bid was placed 1/7/13. I am upping my original bid and I suggest others do the same. That might possibly get this published.
        1. I'm upping my bid too!
      2. Green teaches "Immortality of the Soul is NOT Biblical". Enter this phrase into YouTube and listen to his discussion. I can only imagine how he twists1 Pet 3:18f around his heresy.
        1.  — Edited

          , patent humanism! Glad I read this before purchasing. Fuller Theological Cemetery is actually patient zero in the contagion infiltrating the Church known as psychology. Dave Hunt writes an amazing book called "Psychology and the Church" in which he distills the research of Dr. Martin Bobgan -- a PhD clinical psychologist who, after being born again realized his entire profession was satanic. Bobgan provides his ebooks for free on his website but the long and short of it is that EVERY single father of psychology was either militantly anti-Christian and/or a practicing occultist. I now read Micah 3:11 differently. Psychology made its way into western Christianity via Norman Vincent Peale (a 33rd degree freemason) who discipled Robert Schuller who then went on to disciple Rick Warren and from him we get the purpose driven lie. The biggest exporters of psychology from America to the rest of the world actually Christian missionaries! It's the gospel without the Gospel. Properly preached the Gospel will violently kill you at the hands of friends and family who think they are doing God a favor. This is why America doesn't see real Church growth anymore. Fuller Theological Cemetery doesn't teach evangelism. They teach marketing gimmicks borrowed from corporate business models. Consequently, the Church in America only experiences transfer growth, people leaving one freakshow Church for another. No one is getting saved or fed due to the famine of Amos 8:11. Stay vigilant beloved... night is coming!
        2. It appears the Lamentations book this month is written by a universalist. Good job FL!
        3. thanks for sharing your comments. Not looking for commentaries of such kind
        1. actually, he claimed to be evangelical universalist, which is quite different from universalist. there are plenty of articles online talk about this. find for yourself.
        2. What does that have to do with exegeting Lamentations?
        3. His "Evangelical Universalist" is exigetically strong. To wave is off as a "false gospel," one would need to be in stark disagreement with some large and clear threads in the new testament. Did you read his book?
      3. This book has a great premise and brings to bear some very astute observations of other cultures. But the authors are guilty of precisely what they warn against. And they are wrong about some very critical Biblical principles. - “…it seems very clear to us what the sin of the Sodomites was: sodomy. (We even named a sin after them!) To Indonesian Christians, the sin of the Sodomites is equally clear: inhospitality. They appeal to this verse for support:… (Ezek 16:49) (MSWE:RCBBUB pp. 34–35). - They cite Ezek 16:49: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” (ESV) - And fail to cite the very next phrase: “They were haughty and did an abomination before me.” (ESV) - Rom 1:18ff helps us to see that sodomy is the result of suppressing the Truth about God and a whole host of other sins. - Had the authors made the point that many in the USA fail to see the progression of sins leading to God giving people over to the unnatural and abominable sin of sodomy while the Indonesians similarly fail but at a different logical point in this progression due to the differing cultural mores, this would have been a proper way to demonstrate proper hermeneutics vs. faulty hermeneutics resulting from cultural mores entering into the equation. - One more of several examples is: “In Genesis 27:46, for example, Rebekah exclaims her frustration with Esau’s wives, not because he had more than one, but because of their ethnicity: “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women,” she says to Isaac. ‘If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.’ Rebekah’s comment is heavily laden with ethnic prejudice.” (MSWE:RCBBUB p. 57). - “We have been pointing out the prejudices of biblical characters, but please bear in mind that we are not endorsing prejudice. The Christian message is clear: ethnic prejudice is morally reprehensible.” (MSWE:RCBBUB p. 68). - In Numbers 25, an Israelite exhibited what these authors seem to advocate and God, by means of a plague, killed 24,000 Israelites until Phinehas took a spear and ran the Israelite and his Midianite wife through, killing them both. - These incidents (Gen 27:46 & Num 25) when viewed in light each other as well as 2 Cor 6:14 & I Kings 11:4-10 as well as many other passages, make it obvious that Gen 27:46 is not about plain racial or ethnic prejudice. Rather it is about holiness. Everything Rebekah had tried to instill in Esau was lost because of his impetuous nature that had already caused Esau to trade his birthright for a bowl of stew. Jacob went and worked 14 years for wives who would support him in true faith that Rebekah was apparently diligent to instill in him. - Other obvious mores the authors promote include the 3rd rail of churchianity, feminism. There is so much more to be said about his one but I do not want to give any more ammo to have my review rejected.