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John Chau, missionary to the Sentinelese: martyr or madness?

..., and his death had nothing to do with whatever purpose Chau went there with, therefore he wasn’t technically martyred. But if that is the case, then you could make the same point about many of the early Christian martyrs who were killed by the Romans. Sure, there were times of specific and targeted persecutions against the Church, but there was also times where persecution was more of a by-product of the Roman Empire’s hostility to those were disloyal to the Emperor. The men and women who were killed during those times were still seen and declared to be martyrs for the faith since they stood strong in their convictions in the face of death. For example in...

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...

Horus, Jesus, and Egyptian Mythology: Separating Fact from Fiction

...f a clear death and resurrection story for Horus. Horus' mythology mainly revolves around his struggle against Set, the avenging of his father Osiris, and his role as a living god and protector of the pharaohs. In contrast, the concept of resurrection is more closely related to Osiris, who was brought back to life temporarily by Isis. Osiris' resurrection symbolised the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, which was a fundamental aspect of ancient Egyptian cosmology. However, this concept should not be confused with the story of Jesus' resurrection, as the two are rooted in different cultural and religious contexts and the resurrection of Jesus accomplishes very...

The Coming of Jesus: Daniel's 70 Weeks

...oming and death, and then what's oftern thought to be his return are all wrapped up in this 70 weeks. "From the time the word went out" is often related to King Cyrus, who gave the initial decree that allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding their temple (cf. 2 Chron. 36:23; Ezra 1:2-5). This is assumed because Cyrus was prophesied about by Isaiah 150-200 years before he was born. The amazing thing about this prophecy is that Isaiah actually named Cyrus and that he would do this! Check it out: Isaiah 44:28 ...who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd,    and he shall carry out all my purpose”;and who says of Jerusalem, “It shal...

The Coming of Jesus: Coming on the clouds

...the life, death, resurrection and forgiveness of Christ! Jesus's coming which he spoke of here was never to do with a physical return, but was always a prophetic reference to him visiting Jerusalem in judgement, just like God had done in previous generations, when he spoke to the people through prophets using this type of figurative language. When we can clearly see that all of these visitations by God in the Old Testament, using the same phrases and language that Jesus used, were prophetic and symbolic references to God using armies and other nations to bring war and destruction on something as judgement against them as though God himself had done it, why t...

Lent Day 18: Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 1-9

...e face of death. Many Christians at this time were martyred but there were many who also abandoned their faith and sacrificed to the gods in exchange for their lives, or bought a certificate to say they had when they hadn't. This was all considered sin and blasphemy by the Church, though many felt regret and wanted to be forgiven and restored. “But how can a man say that he believes in Christ, who does not do what Christ commanded him to do?” Cyprian argues, since the faith of many had become weak. It is not “persecution alone that is to be feared”, Cyprian writes, since “caution is more easy where danger is manifest” but to be all the more vig...