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BOOK REVIEW: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...d through faith.”66 He too emphasizes the absence of biblical support for Walls, further pointing out the Protestant tradition of belief in pre-mortem sanctification in this life or, at the latest, on the point of death (e.g. Wesley, Hodge). Parry has more time for Walls, allowing for some flexibility of interpretation: “Scripture itself does not directly teach purgatory, so the proposal is of necessity speculative. Nevertheless, it can still claim to be biblical in an extended sense. It is an inference from and extension of ideas taught in Scripture (e.g. the eschatological trial by fire for believers in Malachi 3:3 and 1 Corinthians 3:11-15).”67 Pa...

Does Christmas have pagan origins?

...es of the faith” (now known as The Church of the Nativity)! The first person we see write about a specific date of the birth is Clement of Alexandria around 195 AD in book one of The Stromata, and he speaks about others who have tried to pinpoint the exact day and month of Jesus’ birth, which brings up a variety of dates: From the birth of Christ, therefore, to the death of Commodus [December 192 AD] are, in all, a hundred and ninety-four years, one month, thirteen days [18th November]. And there are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus, an...

The Coming of Jesus: Revelation Fulfilled?

...ainst the faithful. Chronology isn't a strong point in this book, it jumps around a lot. The last few closing chapters seem to be slightly sporadic, almost like isolated events disconnected from the previous narrative, which could be speaking of something future. Many of the Early Church Fathers believed and expected a literal millennial reign at some point in the far future, although opinion on this was divided, and Jerome refers to it as the “millennial fable” in his Commentary on Daniel, as he interprets the Church inheriting an eternal, spiritual kingdom – not an earthly one, along with Eusebius also considering such things as “figurative passages...

Humble without the #hashtag

...out your faith in a way that pleases God. Getting all offended and upset over coffee cups just seems to be missing the point really. This whole thing is just ridiculous at the end of the day. I suggest starting a better movement. A movement of people who practically live out and demonstrate their faith by caring and aiding those less fortunate; a movement that if done consistently by everyone who follows Jesus (and not just leaving it to the charities and organisations to deal with) then it could very well make a change and difference in our societies. I won't suggest a hashtag though because part of living out like this is to also bring humility and make o...

Does Jesus mean Hail Zeus?

...A meme doing the rounds on the internet You may not have come across the image above before, or the similar variants of it, but it pops up on social media groups every so often. The underlying argument is quite ridiculous, but there does seem to be a sub-culture with Christianity which promotes this as fact quite vigorously. Having seen this get shared at least three times on Facebook in the last month, I decided to add a new category to the blog: Apologetics.   In here will be articles for defence of the faith, though sadly this particular one needs to be against those who are already meant to be a part of the same faith! But many people seem to accept...

Lent: Day 5 - Ignatius to the Ephesians

...ty in the faith. Ignatius repeatedly calls for this and commends the Ephesian church on it, especially for the fact that no sects have cropped up from within. He's also very pleased that the whole congregation came to visit him whilst en route to be executed — something which he was apparently looking forward to, “so by martyrdom [he] may indeed become the disciple of [Jesus]”! Ignatius also has a lot of respect for the bishop of this church in Ephesus, and really sings his praises throughout the first few chapters. The man sounds quite something, but I especially liked this imagery that Ignatius uses to describe how well suited this man is for the positi...