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 …
What is evil? A philosophy professor and proficient author at Saint Mary’s University in Canada, wrote that the concept of evil was the most morally despicable sorts of actions, characters, and events that induce suffering and pain.1 And where do these evil things originate? They are the inappropriate acts produced or influenced by Satan and …
This article is about me, but don’t worry, for there is a Bible study here too. It is just that the idea for its subject matter came about because of thoughts concerning my current place in this world and my future. I will add that I dedicate this article to my wife Mary, who has …
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 …
I received two letters, within the last couple of months, that raised issues concerning a woman’s place in church matters. The most recent missive asked a question about our ministry and a statement made on our website. The black bar across the top portion of all our web pages and posts contains an information section …
After Moses’ death, God chose Joshua to lead his people into the Promised Land of Canaan, and Jericho was the first city conquered by Israel after crossing the Jordan River. It is just north of the Dead Sea and five miles west of the river. Being a natural desert oasis, it is sometimes called the …
Over the years, I’ve often been asked to describe God and Jesus; not who they are, but what they are. We humans are technically highly-formed creatures of the animal kingdom on earth, but how would we describe our creators, for they didn’t originate from our tiny and insignificant planet, in this vast universe that seems …
The anniversary word ‘jubilee’ has become newsworthy again, since the recent death (8 September 2022) of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. I was only eight years old when she became Queen of the Commonwealth realms, in 1952. She had reached her 50th anniversary of accession to leadership in 2002, a milestone which was …