Blog Search Results

Lent: Day 10 - Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans

...eir false teaching! He defends the resurrection by telling of how the Apostles ate and drank with, and touched the risen Christ since “He was still possessed of flesh”, but to this he also adds that he believes Jesus is still possessing a body of flesh, whilst being spiritually “united to the Father”. I'm not sure if he means this in the same way we might today when we talk about the glorified/resurrected bodies, since you don't often hear people say they are “flesh”, but it's probably just a semantics issue here. With regards to the unbelievers who taught that Jesus wasn't really in the flesh, Ignatius gives us a strange insight into a belief abo...

Spiritual Disciplines of the Early Church: Ancient Practices for the 21st Century

...ould also teach and use the sign of the cross for protection from demons and as part of performing exorcisms. “Behold there are here some vexed with demons … [Anthony] called upon Christ, and signed the sufferers two or three times with the sign of the Cross. And immediately the men stood up whole, and in their right mind …” Life of Anthony (356 – 362)   Weekly Fellowship This one may be the most obvious practice, and possibly the only one that is kept universally to this day, regardless of denomination or the different branches and traditions of Christianity: Going to Church every week for communion, worship and fellowship with other believe...

BOOK REVIEW: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...biblical teaching that there are degrees of punishment in hell.”4 Kershnar makes an eloquent ethical/philosophical case against ‘infinite sin’: “Human beings do not deserve hell because they either cannot cause an infinite amount of harm or are not responsible for doing so. Also, since humans don’t have infinitely bad characters, hell can’t be deserved on the basis of character.”5 Fellow essayist Parry further reminds us that “in the Bible sins are differentiated in degrees of seriousness”, thus not all incurring identical punishment anyway, plus: “Finite creatures are simply not capable of committing sins that warrant never-ending...

The Historic Practice of Abortion and How Ancient Christians Responded

...s Judaism teach about abortion? — Abortion — GCSE Religious Studies Revision — BBC Bitesize Letters of Julian/Letter 22 How pagans viewed Christian charity | Acton Institute Greek Concordance: εἰκόνα (eikona) — 10 Occurrences (biblehub.com) Icon — Wikipedia CHURCH FATHERS: Letter 188 (St. Basil) (newadvent.org) The Didache | Patristics.info The Epistle Of Barnabas | Patristics.info Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus | Patristics.info  ...

26 Differences Between Muhammad and Jesus

...ng in the teachings of Jesus (and the prophets) since what Muhammad taught and lived like is very different. To add more suspicion to it, Muhammad claims to have received the Qur’an from an angel, which would conflict with what Paul warned about: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!” (Gal 1:8). I’ll add more commentary at the end, so without further ado, here are 26 differences for your consideration: Muhammad said Allah hates those who don’t accept Islam. (Qur’an 3:32, 22:38, 30:45).  ? Jesus said God loves everyone, and he came to lay down hi...

The Coming of Jesus: Revelation Fulfilled?

...doctrine teaches.   Historical Context While the other views and interpretations possibly have some plausibility, I don’t believe it completely fits the context of Rev 17 where it mentions the “seven heads” of the beast being the seven mountains on which it sits, ie. Rome. Other than that, we can read of the persecutions from early accounts written by Christians during these times and how they related Domitian’s rule to be like that of Nero and how he “possessed a share of Nero's cruelty” and “who dyed his sword in Christian blood”, as Tertullian wrote (Apol. 5.17). By this point, Nero was long dead but his cruelty wasn’t forgotten. The...