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The Temptations of Jesus: Testing God

...s through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13) and trying to jump out of a window to fly. Doing “all things” doesn’t mean we can just summon up super-powers in the same way that Jesus couldn’t expect God to send angels to catch him if he willfully jumped off the pinnacle of the temple! But I do believe we get a glimpse at where this angelic protection would have been applicable to Jesus during his arrest. We see in Matthew 26:53 that in Jesus' rebuke of Peter, he says that he could ask the Father and have "more than twelve legions of angels" come to his aid. The only reason he didn't is because Jesus knew the path and plan God had for him, and the a...

Are There Levels of Sin?

...on't know Christ's salvation, in that I can view God as opening His books and really looking at what people did before making a decision (cf. Rev 20:12) - otherwise, what's the point in checking out everyone's deeds if the only thing that matters is whether you said "the sinner's prayer" or not, or were born in the right country/continent to have heard the Gospel message - and if not you are automatically condemned to hell? There's really no need for a judgement scene, for reading everyone's deeds, for looking through all the books, if the decision is already made by God to condemn you in the worst possible manner, as it then wouldn't be fair or just....

Losing a Loved One: A Few Ways to Find Solace

...This is a guest post by Lucille Rosetti from thebereaved.org. The views are that of the author and don't necessarily reflect the views of That Ancient Faith. This week I have a guest post by Lucille Rosetti from thebereaved.org looking at the hard topic of death. As Christians we shouldn't fear death, and ought to look on it with a paradoxical hope, since we know that through Christ death has lost its "sting" (1 Cor 15:55-57) and that we look forward to the Resurrection and life to come. But even with that in mind, the physical and earthly loss is still hard and something we need to process and deal with, and the following guest post aims to help with the...

How Polycarp (And Others) Show The Early Use Of The New Testament

...Polycarp is one of the most important people in early church history. He was a disciple of John the Evangelist, and later became the bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp was born around 69 A.D. in Smyrna, which is now modern-day Turkey. He grew up during a time when Christians were being persecuted for their beliefs, and he himself became a Christian at a young age. Polycarp is regarded as one of the earliest church fathers because he had a significant impact on Christianity as it spread throughout Asia Minor and Europe, and he also played an important role in shaping biblical canon for centuries to come. We don’t know a great deal about his life, apart from t...

The Historic Practice of Abortion and How Ancient Christians Responded

...It’s no secret that the majority of Christians are against abortion, no matter where you look in the world. But nowhere has the issue come to more of a head than in the US recently with the overturning of Roe v Wade, which had made abortion legal across the country. Now abortion is no longer a federal constitutional right, but individual states now have the authority to determine the legality and rulings around abortion. Christian opposition to abortion in America has always been a heated topic, especially in recent decades, but this isn’t a novelty within the Church in America, or globally, and has been a position of the faithful for about 2000 years. Even...

26 Differences Between Muhammad and Jesus

...If you’ve ever spent any time online, either in random Facebook comment threads or reading the news, I’m sure you’ve come across the claim that Islam and Christianity are basically the same and that “we all worship the same God”, getting lumped together as an “Abrahamic religion” along with Judaism. Muslims claim Islam “is the completed final version of the previous messages originally revealed to Moses and Jesus” which came to “correct the deviations of Christianity”, which had apparently become corrupt by the seventh century when Muhammad came along. But for something which is meant to come from the same God at its core, it would sugges...