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An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part Two)

...ise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. The Book of Revelation Let’s now move to the New Testament and take a look at some of the more difficult passages in Revelation which are often used as “proof texts” against Annihilationism and in favour of ECT. Here’s two of the more well-known passages of Scripture: Revelation 14:9–11Then another angel, a third, followed them, crying with a loud voice, “Those who worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their fore...

Jesus, Mithras and Ancient Roman Cults: Separating Fact from Fiction

..., such as healing the sick, command over nature and turning water into wine, demonstrate his divine power and connection to God as Lord and creator of the world. Another key difference is the fact that women were excluded from the Mithraic cult, which lies in stark contrast to Christianity which, in many ways, elevated the status of women. Jesus openly had women disciples and included them in his ministry and witness, as well as financial and other support (Luke 8:1–3) which went against the grain of society at the time (and later, even hosting churches in their homes!). For example, the scholarly view of Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet acknowledges that it wa...

Fact-Checking the Viral Post Connecting Human Anatomy and the Bible

...A poetic post has been circulating widely on Facebook, suggesting that our anatomy mirrors various aspects of Scripture. On the surface it sounds inspiring, but when we take time to weigh its claims, two main problems emerge. The viral post circulating on Facebook [Source] First, some of its imagery unintentionally undermines the pre-existence of Christ, as if Jesus only “held the earth together” for the 33 years of His earthly life. Second, it risks reducing the resurrection to something like biological regeneration, as if Jesus simply restarted after three days, instead of being raised in the miraculous power of God. Alongside these theolog...

Humble without the #hashtag

...e lonely, healing the sick… you know, the things that God and the Bible speak a lot about and places a high level of importance on as ways of living out your faith in a way that pleases God. Getting all offended and upset over coffee cups just seems to be missing the point really. This whole thing is just ridiculous at the end of the day. I suggest starting a better movement. A movement of people who practically live out and demonstrate their faith by caring and aiding those less fortunate; a movement that if done consistently by everyone who follows Jesus (and not just leaving it to the charities and organisations to deal with) then it could very well make...

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

...t for the healing of the nations. That is the vision John offers to battered, persecuted believers in the first century. And it is the vision the Church should hold before it today — not as a naïve dismissal of the reality of evil and conflict, but as a strong insistence that the last word belongs to God, and God’s last word is not war. To Conclude Augustine, writing as the Roman Empire was itself beginning to fragment, offered a caution that has never quite lost its relevance: “Obviously, then it is a waste of effort for us to attempt counting the precise number of years which this world has yet to go, since we know from the mouth of Truth that...

Lent: Day 14 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 24-35

...s coming, healing power and that he would die and rise again, saying that He was foretold by all the major prophets down through the generations, and specifically prophesied about coming by Moses, “the first of the prophets”. After giving a brief overview of Jesus’ birth and how it fulfills the Isaiah prophecy (Isa. 7:14), it is explained, quite strongly, that the virgin conceived a child not through any such lust (as the Greek god Jupiter did), but by the power of God that “overshadowed” Mary got her pregnant. The explanations make me think about the time Jesus opened the minds of his disciples to all of the Scriptures and prophecies concerning him:...