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Rob Bell's “Love Wins” (Review)

Book review on Rob Bell's “Love Wins” (originally written March 2013) This book was quite openly condemned by some prominent Christian leaders when the book was first announced back around Spring 2011, mainly mainly accusing Bell of being a universalist and denying the existence of hell. Lots of leaders formed opinions about the book and thus lots and laypeople took on various opinions as their own without much insight or research. The problem was that these leaders hadn't even READ the book! It wasn't released yet at the time. They decided their opinions based on the blurb and promo video which posed provocative questions about the doctrine of hell. Th...

Jesus Like You've Never Seen Before - Discoveries from Early Christian Art

...synoptic gospel story of a paralytic being lowered through the roof for Jesus to heal. Again, in this image, we see a young, short-haired Jesus performing the miracle. Catacomb of Callixtus — The Good Shepherd, 3rd century It’s challenging to assert definitively what Jesus looked like based on these varied depictions. Perhaps the Christ Pantocrator image reflects a later stage in Jesus’s life, but being a 6th-century icon, it’s considerably distant from Jesus’s era. The earliest depiction, found in Dura Europos around 235 A.D, presents him with a Roman-like appearance, short hair, and distinct clothing style. Not that I’m suggesting Jesus...

Understanding the Ultimate Ransom

...I recently made a video doing a response to something the televangelist “prosperity gospel” preacher Jesse Duplantis said in one of his recent videos. He was using Psalm 49:16 as a proof-text to say it’s ok that he is super wealthy, but clearly missing the context of the whole Psalm as it is speaking against those who boast and trust in their riches! Here’s the video if you want to watch it, it’s only 1:57 long (don’t forget to subscribe to me on YouTube or TikTok as that’s where I’m posting a lot more of my content recently):   But this did get me thinking about something to do with what Jesus said in his ministry and how his sacrifice ful...

An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part One)

...rough the gospel. John 10:28; 17:2I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. […] since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 1 John 5:12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. See also the many other times the New Testament authors speak of this as a gift: John 3:16,36; Rom. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:42–43; 50, 54; Gal. 6:8. We also see from Hebrews 1:3 that Christ “sustains all things by his powerful word”, so even if the soul survives death, it would only be because God willed it to be so for his purpose...

Women should be silent?

...1 Timothy 2:12 - "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent." Here's an often tricky subject, depending on who you speak to about it. Before I begin, it should be noted here that these words ("woman" and "man") could also be translated as "wife" and "husband", which then changes the thrust of this command quite drastically. This verse, and others similar, are often taken by people to mean that it only applies in a church setting (ignoring the fact that we are the Church - 1 Cor 12:27; Rom 12:5). A little while ago when discussing this topic, an argument was put forth about the 'Woman at the Well' preaching to other...

Coffee With Jesus: Luke 24

...Brief thoughts from daily devotions The road to Emmaus. A familiar story from the gospel to many, though today as I read it, I noticed some things which I probably glossed over in previous times. At the start of this chapter we see that some of the women who followed Jesus had gone to the tomb with spices to prepare the body of Jesus, and yet were met with a few surprises: an open, empty tomb and some angels! They ran back to the group of apostles and other disciples to tell the exciting news, and what was their response? “[T]hese words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” (v.11). They thought it was nonsense! Probably not the react...