Studies on the Fringe of Christianity
Crucifixion became an important method of capital punishment in the Roman Republic from the 6th century BC and continuing for several hundred years after Christ’s death. This execution style was finally abolished in the Roman Empire, during the 4th century AD, by Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome.1 When first originated by …
You can read about Lot and his family, along with the destruction of the kingdoms of Sodom and Gomorrah (c. 2000 BC) in Genesis, chapter 19. Our website already has a deep study of this disastrous event (see References & Notes for a link),1 but this present discourse analyses only the rape of Lot by …
The name of Salome, one of the midwives attending Jesus’ birth, has been found written within a cave in Israel. The four thousand square feet (372 sq. meters) cave was constructed around two-thousand years ago and is one of the most impressive ever discovered. First discovered in the 1980s, it has recently been connected with …
The story of the Magi (also called the Three Wise Men or Three Kings) can be found in The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, chapter 2, verses 1–12. These important travelers were searching for Jesus, and they carried gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to present to him. The Magi are part of traditional nativity …
The title of this article is a ‘play on words’ because of its redundancy; it is my way of having a little fun. Let me explain. I recently read an article by a woman who reflected upon a story from her early years of marriage. She wrote, “When my husband and I were first married …
The Epistle of Jude is not a very popular subject in Bible studies. It is often neglected in biblical analysis for a few reasons. First, it is rather short in length having only twenty-five verses, and therefore it is easily overlooked. Second, many feel it is about intolerance, rather than being inclusive and so, not …
Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy is believed by some scholars to be the last letter written before his death in Rome.1 Paul encouraged Timothy by saying “hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13, NRSV).2 Our study …
Everyone has a guardian angel, right? You know, an invisible heavenly spirit being from God that shadows us throughout this human existence and runs interference during the rough times in our lives. If true, I imagine some of them must have a boring existence, while others (like mine) have a very rough time, trying to …
We hear Christian preachers talk about the Last Days a lot. Generally, many modern Christian denominations teach that the ‘last days’ are a short period of time prior to the end of the world. At that time, Jesus makes his promised return to rapture the righteous into heaven as angels where they join previous believers …
If you have ever attended a church Sunday school (or synagogue Hebrew school) as a child, you probably already know the story of David and Goliath. This tale is the chronicle of a young Hebrew shepherd boy, who killed a Philistine giant on the battlefield, some three thousand years ago. This Bible story is told …