This is a great post and shows how Jesus meets our needs in unexpected ways. We have a wonderful God. Recently I was thinking about the value of Christmas or Christmas Eve services for children. Christianity has a natural appeal or connection to children that’s lacking in Islam or rabbinical Judaism because God became a child. When children sing Christmas carols, they can personally relate … Continue reading Steve Hays: Christ, Christmas and Children

Here is an informative snippet from Larry Hurtado: In the plentiful cafeteria of religious options available in the first three centuries, early Christianity stands out. This was truly a time of religious diversity and development that included the traditional Roman and Greek pantheons, of course, as well as the deities of the various other peoples and localities encompassed in the Roman Empire. Among the latter … Continue reading Prof Hurtado’s Survey of Early Christians

In 1979 two seminary friends and I self-organized a tour of the seven churches of Rev. 1-3. We sort of had to ‘wing it’ in Turkey since English was hardly used in the western part. An archaeologist working at the ancient site at Sardis told us that: “it gets a bit wilder the further east you go” when we told him about being surrounded by a … Continue reading Laodicea — Menorah and Cross

All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. (Jn. 10.8) Just recently I was reading a learned scholar who struggled with the meaning of Jesus’ statement about the thieves and robbers prior to Jesus. The scholar thought Jesus might have been somehow referring to biblical writers before the time of Christ. This is not the case. If … Continue reading John 10.8: Thieves and Robbers

Here is a list of things to watch out for as we try to determine meanings. Knowing more than one language helps to see the differences folks use in expressing the same idea across cultures.   From Evangel University professor Bill Griffin: Here’s are some tell-tale signs that people who claim to have “special insight about Hebrew secrets” have no idea what they are talking … Continue reading Cautions in Translating the Bible

For me it seems very clear exactly what the sign of circumcision meant for Paul virtually explains it in Phil. 3.3:  “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— “(NIV) Paul goes on to explain what “confidence in the flesh” means in the following verses as either being … Continue reading The Sign of Circumcision Defined: Phil. 3.3