Two baptisms in the acts of the apostles

There has long been a discussion, in both exegetical and theological circles, about the relationship between water baptism and Spirit baptism. Certainly, there is reference to both baptisms in Luke-Acts (e.g., Luke 3,16; Acts 8,36-38); unfortunately, Luke does not give us enough data about them so that we can understand them in such a way as to answer all questions. On the other hand, it seems that the two baptisms can be distinguished well enough to give us good understanding of the relation between them and the difference that separates them. It is worth perusing Acts to see just what these two baptisms are, and to make sure we do not confuse the one with the other. We begin with the very early statement of Acts, wherein Jesus calls the Pentecost outpouring of the Spirit a 'baptism in the Holy Spirit' (Acts 1,5).peer-reviewe

Was Jesus Right to Eat with Sinners and Tax Collectors?

All Jewish religious teachers wanted sinners to repent; how one achieves this was disputed, as was Jesus\u27 choosing to associate with sinners in their houses and at their meals. Four times Luke describes Jesus as fraternizing with sinners, which violated Jewish pious practice. The first three times (chaps. 5, 7 and 15) Jesus underlines his motive for this conduct and its value; the fourth time (chap. 19), and rather late in the Gospel, Luke shows that indeed Jesus\u27 method proved true, i.e. the wisdom of his conduct was shown justified by repentant children of God

A Bayesian time series model for reconstructing hydroclimate from multiple proxies

We propose a Bayesian model which produces probabilistic reconstructions of hydroclimatic variability in Queensland Australia. The model provides a standardized approach to hydroclimate reconstruction using multiple palaeoclimate proxy records derived from natural archives such as speleothems, ice cores and tree rings. The method combines time-series modeling with inverse prediction to quantify the relationships between a given hydroclimate index and relevant proxies over an instrumental period and subsequently reconstruct the hydroclimate back through time. We present case studies for Brisbane and Fitzroy catchments focusing on two hydroclimate indices, the Rainfall Index (RFI) and the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). The probabilistic nature of the reconstructions allows us to estimate the probability that a hydroclimate index in any reconstruction year was lower (higher) than the minimum (maximum) value observed over the instrumental period. In Brisbane, the RFI is unlikely (probabilities 50% probability) to have exhibited behavior beyond the minimum/maximum of what has been observed, during the instrumental period. For SPEI, the probability of observing such extremes prior to the beginning of the instrumental period in 1889 doesn't exceed 30% in any reconstruction year in Brisbane, but exceeds 50% in multiple years in Fitzroy