March 2007
This issue of Abundant Life is also available in Adobe PDF
The Badly Abused Woman of John 8
by Mark Roberts, editor
She is unnamed but not unknown. She is the famous woman of John 8, who was caught in the very act of adultery and dragged before Jesus by the Pharisees and scribes (John 8:1-11). Watching this scene our curiosity seeks the details Scripture does not record. Was she embarrassed and ashamed or defiant and angry? Did the Pharisees give her time to dress properly or is she trying to cling to a bed sheet to preserve modesty and the last shred of decency she might have left? There is much we don’t know here, but John leaves no doubt: she is being abused. John 8:6 says “this they said to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him.” It wasn’t about truth, or what was right. They were using her to try and find some chink in Jesus’ armor.
Misconceptions about Baptism
by Shane Carrington
Few religious subjects are more misunderstood than baptism. Yet this is a very important subject. Some form of the word is found 83 times in the New King James Version of the New Testament. God has much to say about it! If God only addresses a subject once, we should consider it important, but with so many verses on baptism, we also need to focus clearly on this subject.