Studies on the Fringe of Christianity
The patriarch of the three Abrahamic religions is the prophet Abraham, from which Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all claim a shared ancestry. This story about him begins in Mesopotamia at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1900 BC), when Abram (Abraham’s name before God changed it) was called by God to become the …
Do you believe in ghosts? According to the Huffington Post, nearly half of Americans do. A HuffPost poll “shows that 45 percent of Americans believe in ghosts, or that the spirits of dead people can come back in certain places and situations.”1 In the U.K., 52 percent of respondents indicated that they believed in ghosts, …
What is your first thought, when I say Christmas? Go ahead, be honest with yourself, I’ll never know. Is it Christmas trees, shiny decorations, or children unwrapping their presents? Or, is it the holly-jolly music or the holiday pastries and candies? Is it Christmas parties or Santa Claus? Most everyone thinks about those things and …
Fall has arrived, as I write this, and the once-bright green leaves on trees are beginning to change into a variety of brilliant colors. Before long, the city streets and rural highways will be lined with many shades of splendid yellows, oranges, reds, and browns. For me, Fall always seems to come and go at …
If one man said to another man, “put your hand under my thigh,” that request probably would not seem very strange in today’s openly sinful homosexual culture, but for one of God’s chosen people to do so would be rather weird. However that is exactly what happened in ancient Bible times, so there must be …
I want to talk about God and Jesus and their relationship, but I don’t want to argue about it, for arguments have been going on for a couple thousand years. I do, however, wish to present some evidence to give you something different to think about, because while most large modern denominations claim God is …
Someone asked me if a Christian should use homeopathy. She was concerned, because a friend told her it was an anti-Christian practice. The question kind of surprised me, since I had never even considered it before and, to be honest, didn’t know much about homeopathy. Off the top of my head, I replied that I …
Speaking in an unknown language, as many do in today’s Pentecostal, Charismatic, Catholic, and a few other Christian religions, is generally considered a New Testament phenomenon. This ability was received as one of the miraculous spiritual gifts given to the apostles after the death of Christ and is known as “speaking in tongues.” Although it …
Living in the northwest corner of the continental United States near the Canadian border, I am now blessed with living in a very mild climate. Even the rain is light and mild; sometimes a whole year will pass without experiencing a single thunder storm. But, I was born in New Orleans and lived my first …
Most Christian pastors, teachers, and parents believe that masturbation is a sin, because it gratifies the desires of the flesh, which means we are not walking in the spirit and living by faith. This study will involve ideas and language that many people find offensive, so if that is the case with you, please read …