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Lent: Day 16 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 48-59

...death of Jesus. He quotes Scripture at length in order to fully prove his points in order to show the Emperor, to whom he writes, and indeed any of us reading his works today, the undeniable reality that Jesus was the expected and long-awaited Messiah. I won’t quote massive amounts of these chapters, since it would be redundant, so I’ll just highlight each prophecy and give the Scriptural references which are used in Apology as proofs for Jesus's Messiahship. Finding the actual quotes is sometimes difficult because Justin has a habit of combining various verses from different chapter of the same prophet into one sentence! Christ’s Life and Death Foreto...

Lent Day 36: Ambrose of Milan: Concerning the Mysteries: 5-9

...the Lord Jesus alone”. Which I suppose means that they accept the Gospel and reject all other religions and beliefs that they may have. Fire from heaven Ambrose also makes a link between a couple of times in the Old Testament where a sacrifice was consumed with heavenly fire, and the baptism of fire we receive in the New Testament. In Judges 6:21 when Jerubbaal had an angel burn up the sacrifice, and another time in 1 Kings 18:38 when Elijah was battling with the prophets of Baal, fire from the Lord came down to burn it up. “To those [of old] a visible fire was sent that they might believe; for us who believe, the Lord works invisibly” – our fire f...

Man-Made Tradition vs Apostolic Tradition

...es. Yes, Jesus had a go at all the Pharisees for making their traditions greater than Scripture (Matt 15:2-3; Mark 7:9) and in that case dismissing something as "man made" is valid. But what about when it's something based on or inspired by Scripture, something that becomes almost 'living exegesis' rather than just head knowledge? I've been thinking of Lent lately, as that often is dismissed as "man made” or “Catholic tradition" without looking at the history or how the practice came to be. Generally, no one has an issue with you saying that you're going to fast, but say you'll do it at a specific time of year or for a certain length of time, and suddenl...

What is Advent?

...Coming of Jesus: Introduction | The Sacred Faith: Timeless Truths for Modern Minds The Liturgical Calendar image  ...

From Dust to Redemption: The Meaning of Ash Wednesday

...xample of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–2) and was intended to prepare believers spiritually for the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Athanasius, the great bishop of Alexandria, regularly wrote paschal (Easter) letters to the churches to encourage fasting, self-control, and moderation during this period. His writings provide valuable insight into how Lent was observed in the early Church and confirm that the practice was well established long before later claims that it had pagan origins. In one of his letters, written around AD 332, he describes the structure of the Lenten fast: The beginning of the fast of forty days is on the fifth...

Rob Bell's “Love Wins” (Review)

...nd quotes Jesus' words, and a few other scriptures, which leads to more questions. Therein lies the purpose of this book – not for Rob to push you to believe what he does, but to get you to question and really think about the things we say we believe. Bell then moves on to heaven. Unless you've really studied the Bible on Heaven, this chapter will likely smash a lot of cultural ideas you hold without you really realising it – the same can be said about the the chapter after which deals with hell. Prepare for an eye-opener, and a lot of "Gospel Truth" that has somehow got lost, changed, misrepresented and mixed up in Medieval tradition and imagery over the...