Studies on the Fringe of Christianity
The other day my wife, Mary, told me she spoke with someone that was having a personal problem. I don’t know what that problem was, but the burden must have been heavy for Mary suggested that the lady ask God for help in solving it. The person replied, “I can’t pray for myself, because that …
Part of the Apostles’ Creed of the Roman Catholic Church, in its latest translation of texts, states that Jesus “ . . . was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead. . . .” For about fifteen hundred years the Apostles’ Creed stated …
Throughout two thousand years of Christian history, and several hundred years longer in Jewish history, the idea of an apocalypse has been studied. This predicted cataclysm is a series of earth-wide events, preceding God’s destruction of the evil ruling powers impacting humanity. Although previously implied and even promised, these events are symbolically described in detail …
Much debate is heard within discussion groups and friendly conversations over coffee about the idea that if you are “once saved, you are always saved.” In other words, if someone becomes a Christian, you receive forgiveness of sins (saved/salvation), which is a free gift that restores your relationship with God, and you can never lose …
Someone would be hard-pressed to imagine something more troubling or macabre than the taboo of eating human flesh. Now, in the animal kingdom, cannibalism is fairly common and found in more than fifteen hundred species, but this activity is rare in humans, just maybe not as rare as you might expect. Once, during a study …
Unless you know what to look for, medicinal and recreational drug use in the Bible isn’t always evident, because they didn’t speak about drugs as we do today. They used plants and minerals for treatment and healing of ailments and pain, or to produce certain mental effects such as mood relaxers and hallucinogens. Since many …
A study of Luke 20:27-40 A widowed acquaintance asked me recently, “If I get remarried, who will I be with after the resurrection?” She meant, was she to join her first husband, or the newer husband in the ‘afterlife’. Unlike Jesus, I could not come up with a fast, simple, and concise answer, but began …
The Bible tells us of two opposing groups of spiritual emotions, desires, and acts. There is a good or nice group which we should strive to emulate and the other, a bad or evil one of which we should choose to reject. On the good side are the ‘fruits of the spirit’: “love, joy, peace, …
Ritual circumcision was already practiced by some heathen people before the time of Abraham. Even though the original significance is no longer remembered, the rite was known to be used by some cultures as a sanitary operation, a tribal mark, or a sacrificial portion of flesh to gods after human sacrifices began to decline. Another …
Most Christians believe in something called a human soul that survives death. The questions of when and how a person obtains that soul, whatever it is, have been discussed and debated throughout Christian history. It is no different today, especially for those who are trying to determine abortion law. Although atheists don’t believe in God, …