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Exodus: Gods and Kings Review - Action epic loosely based on the Bible

...ld man of faith. He's a strong and confident Egyptian army general in the beginning and then becomes an argumentative and stubborn man when God tells him of His intentions with the plagues. Definitely not the man who requested his brother Aaron to speak on his behalf which, incidentally, didn't occur in the film. Aaron always seemed to be lurking in the background when Moses spoke with God, afraid to approach. He also couldn't see God, that was something only Moses had the ability to do. Speaking of God, this was another portrayal I initially liked at first, in part at least. God appears throughout this film as a child. I admit, at first I didn't like the de...

Lent: Day 1 - The Didache

...their new faith communities. The book opens with a strong and definitive start: The Two Ways, one of life and one of death. This is reminiscent of the various lists of vices which Paul writes to avoid in his epistles, contrasted with the right way to conduct yourself to enter the Kingdom. Some of the other things that are quite striking about the Didache, are the practices described that demonstrate that certain things which the Church (via different denominations/branches) has taught through the centuries actually originated at the very start, well within the first century. Such as baptism not always being full immersion, but sprinkling being permitted where...

Did the Qumran community predict the coming of Jesus?

...I'm going to start a new category here for "General Interest" which will be for things I see or read about that I think are interesting or informative about the Bible, Christianity or the faith in general; but which aren't necessarily topics I could, or would need to, write a full blog post about. I'll kick off this new venture with an brief look at something I read the other day from the Dead Sea scrolls which is very interesting – Qumran text 4Q521. It gives us a glimpse of early Jewish expectations of the coming Messiah from the time before Jesus arrived, and shows just how Jesus did actually meet those expectations. For example, when John asks his disci...

Former Muslim Explains the Trinity

...he Muslim faith; one of them being: Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. He also has sadly died in 2017. I haven't read his books, and only just found out about him after looking up more info on this video, though his book is definitely on my wish list now....

What did Jesus actually sacrifice?

...what our faith hinges on – 1 Cor 15:14), and was still recognisable by those who knew him. Paul states that he was seen by “five hundred” of his followers after he was raised (1 Cor 15:5-8) as well as the Twelve and Paul himself, and they all knew him. Jesus didn’t just put on a human skin mask for 30 years or so and then shed it once his job was done. No, he was “flesh and bones”, not a spirit or ghost, though flesh in a new way (Luke 24:39; 1 Corinthians 15:50). This is what Paul goes into some detail about in his epistles: the resurrection and the bodies we will inherit through that. Though we may still look human and recognisable, our old bodie...

Lent: Day 6 - Ignatius to the Magnesians

...for their faith. There is definitely a strong theme with Ignatius with regards to the structure of church leadership and how the believers should trust and follow their bishops, which begins to make more sense now in this letter as his thinking is displayed some more. He urges the church to submit to their bishop because in doing so, they are in fact submitting to the Father, who is “bishop of us all”. The opening chapters of this letter reminded me of Paul when he wrote to Timothy to encourage him in his position within the church, despite his youth (1 Tim 4:12). In a similar manner, Ignatius is advising this church in Magnesia to not become too familiar...