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Before The Pumpkins: Faith In The Flames

...ringes of history. Born around AD 69, he lived at the very hinge between the apostolic age and the developing life of the Church. Tradition tells us that he was a disciple of the Apostle John, friend and fellow bishop with Ignatius of Antioch, and a mentor to another great bishop — Irenaeus of Lyons. Through Polycarp, we stand just one generation away from the eyewitnesses of Jesus Himself. He served faithfully as bishop of Smyrna (modern-day Izmir, Turkey), a bustling port city of trade, culture, and imperial devotion. When persecution began to stir, Polycarp was not a young zealot but an elderly shepherd who had spent his life guiding others in Christ...

An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part One)

...ue to its history, it took on a more eschatological/spiritual meaning as a place of judgement and destruction. Hades (Sheol)This is the Greek form of the Hebrew Sheol found in the Old Testament, usually (and properly) translated as “grave”, or meaning the general place of the dead (similar to the place of the same name in Greek mythology). TartarusThis only appears once in the New Testament in 2 Peter 2:4 and is used in relation to the angels who sinned and were put in chains. Interestingly, it’s another word borrowed from Greek mythology, for the prison where the Titans were sent as punishment. If you are interested in how we got the word “hell”...

Was there death before the Fall?

...It is often said and believed by many that our souls are immortal - that God gave us a spirit/soul that cannot die when he created us, and that death was not even a concept or reality before Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Despite this idea being a fairly "recent" concept (in terms of history and theology), and it stemming from Greek philosophy, it's also not supported by the Biblical text - especially in Genesis. Lets look at the creation account in Gen 2:7— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. The word "being" in that verse, or "sou...

I am one with the Force; the Force is with me – A Star Wars theology

...From the history of the Jesus Prayer I once read, it was the quest of a young monk who wanted to fully understand Paul’s encouragement to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:15-18) and he came across a hermit who taught him this method. The purpose of this Jesus Prayer, much like Chirrut Imwe’s use of the Force prayer, is to constantly bring to mind, and keep it focussed on, God at all times, hence “without ceasing” until you embody the words and they take a deep effect on you and your mind and keep you humble before God. Jude 1:20But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit   Often people throw out t...

Lent: Day 7 - Ignatius to the Trallians

...ius’ “history of Christ” just because I really like the way it summarises the Gospel: Stop your ears, therefore, when anyone speaks to you at variance with Jesus Christ, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly born, and did eat and drink. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate; He was truly crucified, and [truly] died, in the sight of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. He was also truly raised from the dead, His Father quickening Him, even as after the same manner His Father will so raise up us who believe in Him by Christ Jesus, apart from whom we do not possess the true life....

Lent Day 20: Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 19-27

...hroughout history and serve as a timeless reminder to not forsake our first love and turn back to Jesus with our passion and joy renewed (Rev 2:4-5)!  ...