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An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part One)

I know that "Conditional Immortality" is quite a divisive topic, and one you may have come across before (sometimes referred to as “Annihilationism”); and have been told outright that it’s “heresy” or false, or that it’s an emotional argument people want to believe because it ‘sounds nicer’ than the doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT). Or maybe you’ve never even heard of this before and you didn’t realise there were alternative interpretations and views on hell. If you are New to this, in brief it means that “the wicked” will be removed from existence after judgement and finite torment, rather than living forever in torment. Any...

Does Christmas have pagan origins?

For most people, the question of the origins of Christmas is probably far from their minds. Some may recognise and give a cursory glance towards the Biblical narrative on the birth of Jesus as something to do with it (although a 2017 study showed that almost 1 in 20 Brits thought Easter was the birth of Jesus!);—but in some Christian circles the question (accusation?) that “Christmas is pagan” is at the forefront of their minds. Table of Contents When was December 25th celebrated? The Christian Calendar Concluding Thoughts Bonus Information Further Reading & Sources: As time goes on and we move further and further into the future,...

Understanding The New Testament: Inspiration, Canonisation, And Historical Context

A common modern perception of the inspiration of Scripture often portrays it as a rigid, divine dictation of words from God to be written down verbatim. This perspective leads to concerns among some religious communities, such as Muslims, who view any alteration or addition to the text as a potential threat to the entire faith. The Islamic understanding of inspiration emphasises direct and unalterable divine dictation, contributing to their scepticism of multiple Bible translations, which they falsely label as “corruption”. In contrast, the Biblical inspiration of the Scriptures has never been viewed as a literal divine dictation, as if the apostles were un...

Armageddon Is Not A Battle Plan: What Revelation Actually Says — And Why It Matters Right Now

...arth. The New Jerusalem descends — and I have written at greater length elsewhere about why this city is best understood as the Church, the bride of Christ, the community of the redeemed rather than a literal rebuilt city. God’s throne, which was in heaven in chapter 4, is now on earth. He dwells with his people. He wipes away every tear. And the nations — note this carefully — bring their glory into the light of God. Not their weapons. Not their military might. Their glory. The eschatological vision of Revelation is not a world consumed by the fire of the last battle. It is a world healed, gathered, reNewed. The city has no need of sun or m...

The Resurrection as a historical event

...Table of Contents Jesus was raised bodily – and historically The resurrection is what makes Christianity unique! Evidence from Paul The mystery of the resurrection The nature of the resurrection The resurrection is more than physical What with Easter still ringing in our ears, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the topic of resurrection, but from a historical standpoint and why we can trust it as a real, world-changing event. So, what really is the resurrection? How will we be resurrected, and what does it mean for us that Jesus rose again? Let’s explore what this means for us as Christians, and see what the Scriptures say. Jesus wa...

The Coming of Jesus: Revelation Fulfilled?

...le in the New Jerusalem. Though this could be a hindsight text, writing of the previous persecution under Nero and the War and the spiritual events behind it – especially since John was told to measure the temple prior to this, and that the “nations” would trample the Holy City (Rev 11:2) which is what Jesus predicted in the Olivet Discourse (Lk 21:24), and that event was pretty much unanimously agreed upon by the Early Church writers to have been fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Revelation is also warning the Church that more is yet to come, and possibly is referring to yet another Jewish War: the revolt of Bar-Kokhba, which interesti...