christianity
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The Witness of Those Who Walked the Land We Only Dig Up. Antiquities of the Jews 1.11.4 (§203): “…but Lot’s wife, continually turning back to view the city, was changed into a pillar of salt; for I have seen it, and it remains to this day.” That’s Josephus telling his Roman audience, “Yep, I’ve personally seen the thing.”…
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Why Every Serious Theologian Must Confront This Question It’s a question most churchgoers simply scoff at. They rarely give it a moment’s thought, assuming it’s too basic to warrant doubt. But at some point in the journey, every honest theologian must stare this question dead in the eye: Did Jesus really exist — and can…
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Every now and then, you hit a moment that reminds you why theologians, scholars, and anyone who studies Scripture beyond the surface often feel like strangers in their own church. I hit that moment recently. I shared a simple Hebrew clarification about Genesis 1:1–2—nothing wild, nothing speculative, just what the earliest readers understood. And the…
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Before the cross became a symbol, it was a scandal. Before the altar became marble, it was a table. The first believers didn’t approach communion with organ music or a priest’s polished phrases. They gathered around borrowed tables in homes, breaking bread with calloused hands, tears, and gratitude. The Eucharist was never a performance; it…
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Most Christians imagine the early church as this pure Hebrew bubble — apostles quoting scrolls, rabbis debating Torah, fishermen preaching the kingdom in synagogues. And sure, that’s part of the story. But the moment the Gospel stepped outside Jerusalem, it walked right into a world soaked in Greek philosophy. Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Epictetus, Cleanthes —…
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Early Christian life wasn’t Sunday-morning spiritual TED Talks and mid-week potlucks — it was a full-body, full-risk, covenant-shaped way of living. Let’s paint the picture the way a first-century believer would’ve actually lived it. 1. Daily Life: Faith, Work, Sweat, and Shared Bread Think: a small, tightly knit spiritual family — not a religious side-hustle.…
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A Wake-Up Call to Bible Readers Most Christians love their Bible. They quote it, highlight it, underline it, and post verses with sunsets behind them on Instagram. But if we’re honest, most of us read it like it was written directly to us, in English, in the 21st century, and in our denomination’s dialect. We…
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I disagree with him on plenty, but Dan McClellan wasn’t wrong about this one: there really is no such thing as “the Bible.” There are editions. Traditions. Variations. Families. But no single, pristine, universal copy everything descends from—no more than there is the dictionary or the laptop. In the ancient world, it was even more fluid. Scripture lived as oral…
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A Quick Tour Through Theological Anthropology Most people assume they know what a human is because, well… they are one. But Scripture, the early Church, and even ancient Judaism paint a far deeper, stranger, and more beautiful picture than “a soul stuck inside a body until heaven.” If you grew up in modern Christianity, that…
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This past Sunday in church, I heard it again: “Lay it all at Jesus’ feet because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.” The room softened. Heads bowed. People settled into that familiar emotional glow—the kind of moment that feels warm and safe. And I just stood there thinking: “Do we even know what…
Restoring Apostolic Faith 