In this current age of technology and science, it is difficult for us to realize that one of the most important incidents reported in the Bible for understanding the Christian faith is about an evil spirit referred to as “Satan” or “the devil.” The particular incident I am referring to is Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by Satan for forty days, related to us in Matthew 4:1-2, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-2. (FYI: “Satan” is the Hebrew proper name of the supreme leader of evil spirits opposed to God; “the devil” is the Greek rendition of the original Hebrew proper noun; both mean the same.) Read more…
Categories: Christianity, Easter, Jesus, Lent, Satan, temptation, the devil Tags: evil spirits, Garden of Gethsemane, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus, Judas, New Testament, Old Testament, Resurrecction of Jesus, Satan, temptation, the devil
Year after year Christians around the world celebrate Christmas by focusing on the story of the first Christmas as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew (1:18-25) and Luke (1:26-38; 2:1-20): the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. We concentrate on the same details each year: that Mary was a young woman, had not been intimate with any man, yet gave birth to Jesus as a result of God’s selection of her to be the mother of the Messiah, and that she gave birth to Jesus in a stable; and that Joseph was a carpenter by trade, kind hearted, a devout Jew, a good father to Jesus, and a very caring wife to Mary. The purpose of this week’s article is to look at some aspects of Mary’s and Joseph’s lives less often written or talked about.
We do not know exactly how old Mary was. Read more…
Categories: Christmas, Divorce, Family, God, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Religion, Spouse, The Big Ten of Grammar, Virgin Birth, William B. Bradshaw Tags: Bethlehem, Bible, Census, Christmas, Divorce, Gabriel, God, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Matthew, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Joseph, Love, Mary, Nazareth, Pressure, Taxes, Unceertainty, Virginity
Here we are at Easter weekend, celebrating the greatest miracle of all time: God’s raising Jesus from the dead. This event led to the beginning of the Christian Church and the promise of everlasting life for those who unite in faith with Jesus. But now, over 2,000 years later, people frequently ask: did the resurrection of Jesus really happen? And what about all the other miracles attributed to Jesus during his ministry. Did they actually take place? Or were the miracle stories we find in the Gospels merely literary fiction—fictitious events inserted into the Gospels by their writers in order to promote their own religious faith?
How do we know whether something really happened or is literary fiction? Read more…
Categories: Christianity, Easter, Lent, Religion, Resurrection of Jesus, William B. Bradshaw Tags: Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew, Religon, Resurrecction of Jesus
