Actually we know they did, at last the Sanhedrin did (which was instituted by Moses by the way, so well before Asaph). Psalm 89:6 is not necessarily talking about the same thing, even if it uses the same term, though it might be. Anyway "in heaven" and "the sons of the mighty" there are not necessarily the same either, so the comparison doesn't obtain on any level. None of this proves anything about the congregation of the mighty in Psalm 82 being in the unseen realm.
Does it change the meaning of psalm 82 one way or another if it's lesser gods or earthly judges? Can a lay person ever know what it means from a plain reading?
That's where I would stand too. I've read a bit by Heiser. He is thought-provoking and seems to be a competent scholar. I know little else about him, but he doesn't seem to come across as a substitute for local pastors and the local church.
Not sure what you mean by this, or why judging the nations is even relevant at all to the subjects of Psalm 82. In fact Jesus says that they were those "to whom the word of God came", so not the nations (Gentiles), to who, at that point, the word of God had not come.
Yes. Verse 2 says so.
Jacob, I don't have time to enter the larger debate, and I'm not entirely unsympathetic to Heiser's view, but I just wanted to question the final statement. Look at Ezekiel 28:1-10: the King of Tyre is told that he will die like a man (v. 10); it's not anticlimactic because of his claims to divine status. So too any leader who claimed (semi)divine status could be addressed in this way.
There's a local church that recently hired a new pastor and one of the elders commented to me a few months after they hired him that it was amazing how much of a difference a pastor who seeks to study God's Word thoroughly makes (apparently their last pastor was known for being less than studious and for "being moved by the Spirit" and changing his sermons last minute). Unfortunately, there are many in ministry that don't study well and think that their bare-minimum is worth both their congregation's time as well as God's blessing. And unfortunately, there are plenty of congregations that allow pastors like that to remain in their pulpits for far too long.
It sounds like Hebrews where we are told to not forsake the gathering of the church.
Have to confess I had to ask Google... I never knew of him by any name other than his ridiculous stage name.
A few years ago I went through the phase of "can't we all just agree on the essentials and have freedom in doctrinal differences, while really just focusing on living out Christianity?" I quickly found that this was not satisfying at all. For the true Christian, understanding God and His Word are ingrained in our DNA and can't be separated from daily life. The hunger to know God with the mind is always there.
That question of “why can’t we all just get along” is prevalent in almost every region that I’ve pastored in. The area that I’m currently in has such an ecumenical push amongst most of the churches that the majority of people in the community don’t understand the differences between denominations whatsoever (they essentially think the churches are all different flavors of the same thing).
A DVD series that has had a big impact on me is "Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Logic on Fire".
