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Lent Day 28: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 71-80

...aching of the cross, which as we know from Scripture, is not something unexpected (1 Cor 1:18). On hearing their objections, Anthony answered them by turning their own beliefs against them; Which is more beautiful, to confess the cross or to attribute to those whom you call gods adultery and the seduction of boys? [...] Next, which is better, to say that the Word of God was not changed, but, being the same, He took a human body for the salvation and well-being of man, that having shared in human birth He might make man partake in the divine and spiritual nature; or to liken the divine to senseless animals and consequently to worship four-footed beasts, creepi...

Armageddon Is Not A Battle Plan: What Revelation Actually Says — And Why It Matters Right Now

...blood of the cross, not the blood of his enemies. the armies of heaven are ranked behind him. And then the beast and the kings of the earth are defeated not by superior firepower, not by a counter-charge of heavenly soldiers, but by the word that proceeds from Christ’s mouth, described as a sharp sword. This is no arbitrary image. the author of Hebrews uses identical language when he writes that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow” (Heb. 4:12). the sword is the Word — and the Word, as John’s own Gospel makes plain, is Christ himself (John 1:1). the...

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

...e sign of the cross over yourself before you pray (well, before doing anything really!). “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross” Tertullian (c. 250) “Let us then not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in our goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when...

the World's Oldest Anti-Christian Meme

...essage of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18). the Greek word is mōria — absurdity, stupidity, the kind of thing educated people laugh at. To the Greeks, a crucified saviour was intellectually embarrassing. To the Jews, it was a skandalon — literally the trigger of an animal trap, the thing that causes you to stumble and fall (1 Corinthians 1:23). It wasn’t just offensive, it was faith-wrecking. Deuteronomy 21:23 declared that anyone hung on a tree was under God’s curse, which meant a crucified Messiah didn’t merely seem unlikely; by the Law’s own terms, he appeared theologically disqualified. Paul add...

Should Christians get tattoos, and is it Biblical?

...for us on the cross! Isaiah 49:16a (WEB)Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Similarly, a couple of chapters previously to this one in Isa. 44:5, it speaks of the people writing the name of the LORD of their hands in celebration, and a similar, but less violent, word for “engraving” is used here too. Going back to the passage in Leviticus, the word translated as “tattoo” is a weird one in Hebrew from what I’ve read and isn’t easily put into English, so using “tattoo” is as close a meaning that we have, but not necessarily the same as what we mean. If you look at the Strong’s Hebrew definition, it’s quite small semantic...

A Prayer You Can Hold: A Maker’s Reflection on Beads, Scripture and Attention

...e sign of the cross, and receive bread and wine. the Christian faith does not ask us to escape being embodied creatures. At its centre is the astonishing declaration that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Material things are not God, but they can serve our attention to God. That is the modest place in which I understand prayer beads. they do not create faith, improve the words of Scripture or make prayer more sincere. they simply give the hands something quiet to do while the heart and mind try to remain present. As a maker, I think about weight, texture, spacing and movement. A bead should pass naturally beneath the thumb. the cord or chai...