Blog Search Results

Rob Bell's “Love Wins” (Review)

Book review on Rob Bell's “Love Wins” (originally written March 2013) This book was quite openly condemned by some prominent Christian leaders when the book was first announced back around Spring 2011, mainly mainly accusing Bell of being a universalist and denying the existence of hell. Lots of leaders formed opinions about the book and thus lots and laypeople took on various opinions as their own without much insight or research. The problem was that these leaders hadn't even READ the book! It wasn't released yet at the time. They decided their opinions based on the blurb and promo video which posed provocative questions about the doctrine of hell. Th...

Lent: Day 1 - The Didache

Day One: the Didache (in full) Who: Written by an anonymous author, possibly multiple sources compiled into one book at a later date. The title translates as “the teaching”, or in its full tithe: Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. What: The Didache is basically a church handbook with a summarised collection of the basic teachings of the Church and Gospel, aimed at local church leaders and new converts. Why: Tradition has it as being a collection of the apostles teachings, so it was probably written to preserve this information as they grew older or died, or moved away from the communities they planted. When: Between 70-100 AD The Didache is one of my...

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...

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

...ey may be someone you respect and find encouraging. As Paul wrote to the Roman church, saying a similar message, God is not diminished by what we do: Romans 3:3-4 What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true. But if these leaders who have caused schisms and dissent, cannot be brought back with “wholesome council”, then those who are ensnared in the deceit need to “loose yourselves from the nets of deceit, free your wandering steps from errors, acknowledge the straight way of the heavenly road”. But if they don't, then those Christians who h...

Lent Day 22: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 11-20

...to him by some friends every so often. Anthony spent twenty years alone in this fort, save for the demonic attacks he suffered. At one point they were so much that the villagers thought he was under physical attack from men, but discovered him alone and in prayer, singing praises and hymns to God. When two decades has passed, he finally left the fort to find a great crowd had amassed waiting for him so they could learn of his discipline. On seeing Anthony, though, they were all amazed because he had the “habit of body as before, and was neither fat, like a man without exercise, nor lean from fasting and striving with the demons”; and being full of the...

Lent Day 23: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 21-30

...he begins some lengthy teaching on how our battles aren't against flesh and blood, but the “authorities”, “cosmic powers” and the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12), whose number is great in the “air around us”, he says. Going into a little more detail on the deceptions of demons, Anthony explains how the more Christians press into God and keeping good discipline for living a Christ-like life, the more often demons will throw temptations and evil thoughts our way to try and distract us and cause us to stumble. But with prayer and fasting we can overcome and strengthen our resolve against their attacks, which we'll need...