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The Coming of Jesus: Revelation Fulfilled?

Don’t let the title put you off, we’re about to go on a mad journey through the annuls of history and the Roman Empire, contrasting what John saw in his vision with what has already played out on the “world’s stage” and what we possibly have to look forward to! First though, let’s look at a little history concerning the book itself before delving into its contents. Why do this? For a couple of reasons really: one, Revelation has some dispute over the year in which it was written, which can impact on the interpretation. Two, at various points in early church history, the book was held in suspicion of being spurious and almost...

Is Halloween a Pagan Holiday?

...f look at history, Hallowe’en celebrations originally had nothing to do with anything remotely Celtic. As far as Irish and Celtic origins go, we have still in existence a few Irish sources from around 830 AD which tell us that there was a feast “of all the Saints of the whole of Europe” on April 20th (Martyrology of Tallaght) This should offer us some evidence that the Irish Christians celebrated All Saints Day (and the eve before) around the time of the original decree by Pope Boniface IV, as the news of the new date of November 1st had yet to reach Ireland from Rome. Plus there’s also evidence that the name “Samhain” didn’t appear until the 10th...

Does Easter Have Pagan Origins?

...cument in history mentions or gives credence to a goddess by this name. Even if Bede was correct and there was some minor and relatively unknown goddess associated with the Spring equinox, it’s a rather large leap to assume that the 8th century Christian Church was somehow influenced enough by European “paganism” to incorporate (or blend) the Eostre tradition into itself when the actual Easter/Pascha festival had been celebrated since the second century at the very least. If we look closer, the older root of the word Eostre simply means “East” or “dawn” in some other renditions, according to An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Este...

Implications Of The Frankfurt Silver Amulet: Insights Into Early Christian Practice And Belief

...The discovery of an 1,800-year-old silver amulet in Frankfurt, Germany, has captured the attention of archaeologists and theologians alike. Known as the “Frankfurt Silver Inscription,” this artefact is the earliest known evidence of Christianity north of the Alps and serves as a great insight to early Christian theology and liturgical practice. Its early date (230–270 AD) sets it apart from previously known artefacts, which are at least 50 years younger. While there are historical references to Christian communities in Gaul and Upper Germania during the late 2nd century, reliable material evidence of Christian life in the northern Alpine regions generally...

Christians and the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

...alist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/ (infographic) https://patristics.info/cyprian-on-the-unity-of-the-church-intro.html http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050707.htm (Cyprian, On Mortality) http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0632.htm (Dionysius, Epistle 12: To the Alexandrians) https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-early-church-teach-coronavirus/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Cyprian http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250109.htm https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Letters_of_Julian/Letter_22 https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/solving-the-mystery-of-an-ancient-roman-plague/543528/ http://stretchtheology.com/christians-and-...

Should Christians get tattoos, and is it Biblical?

...today.com/history/2009/march/tattoos-of-cross.html https://www.tattoo.com/blog/history-christianity-tattoo-culture/ https://medium.com/@naileao/how-christians-made-tattoo-cool-in-ancient-rome-1b66ef35aa03 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H3793&t=NASB https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=H3789&t=NASB https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Lexicon.show/ID/H2710/chaqaq.htm As close as a source as I can find for this Basil quote, and the quote from the Church Council, is from a book called: Tattoo history: a Source Book: an Anthology Of Historical Records Of Tattooing Throughout the W...