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Lent: Day 15 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 36-47

...y ancient Greek text to have this wording, and then any other quote from Tertullian onward (~200 AD), comes purely from the The Old Latin Version (Vetus Latina Bible) translation of the Psalm, which is the Latin Bible which predated the Vulgate. Prophecy and free will The rest of the chapters go through more examples of prophetic messages and the different types that can be found in the OT, such as explaining that sometimes the Spirit spoke prophecies in the past tense as though they had already happened. To avoid this being used as a reason to misrepresent the message, Justin goes on to explain that the “things which [God] absolutely knows will take place,...

Lent: Day 16 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 48-59

...ny of the Greek or Roman gods and prophets came along. There is a lot of doctrine and theology contained in these chapters, a lot which is still very relevant for apologetics today, some which might serve as a starting point. I’d recommend everyone take some time to read these, and the preceding, chapters carefully....

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

...m ancient Greek meaning “witness”. For those who may be unfamiliar with the whole story (as much as we can see), John Chau had said since 2011 that he felt called by God to go and tell the good news of Jesus to the Sentinelese people. After many years of preparation, about two weeks ago in late November, he succeeded in getting to the remote island via a fishing boat (which was illegal to visit under normal circumstances). But after a few attempts at making contact, he is believed to have been killed. The fishermen saw some tribespeople dragging Chau’s body across the beach, so it has been assumed that he is dead – and no one knows any differently to da...

Fasting: A spiritual and physical discipline

...xample of Greek Orthodox fasting)! But here’s a breakdown of some typical fasts which anyone in good health should be able to keep which I’ve taken from the various teachings found in the Church Fathers letters on fasting and Lent: Weekly: A fast observed every Wednesday and Friday until sundown in the Traditional practice (see below) or a bread and water only diet. Wednesdays and Fridays were chosen for two reasons: Initially, to be on opposite days to the Pharisees (as this practise began during the start of the Church and is recorded as such in the Didache 8:1 and the Apostolic Constitutions, VII:XXIII); and, because Wednesday was when Je...

Women should be silent?

...ue to the Greek words). First thing though - "as the law also says": what law? Where is this in the Torah? Even if it is, why is Paul suddenly enforcing the Law when his other letters take so much time to explain our freedom from it (cf. Gal 3:1-14; Gal 5:1-15)? Cultural and historical explanations of this aside - and common explanations such as men and women sitting separately in Jewish synagogues which then followed through to the early church, (and women/wives then trying to shout across to their husbands causing havoc and Paul calling for order, not submission) - if some men and women, and some denominations in general, are taking Paul so literally on th...

God before ages becomes an infant!

...'s all in Greek,  but subtitled.      May you all have a good Christmas  :)...