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Did Baptism Originate with Christianity? Most people haven’t considered where baptism originated and assume it was with the advent of Christianity. John 1:19-27 shows it was not.  Here Pharisees were sent to question John the Baptist as to who he was and why he was baptizing.  They didn’t ask him, “Why in the world are […]

As I continue to discuss the topic of water baptism in light of 1st century Jewish culture, this article will discuss why this is such an important subject and give a brief histor. A few important words Baptism can be a very emotionally charged subject. I have found that no matter what scriptures or arguments

This article, the first in a five-part series on baptism, seeks to highlight all the supernatural things God did to ensure the Gentiles (which is most of us) were accepted into the church; and, perhaps more importantly, why did God have to do these miracles? It’s not that the Gentiles weren’t accepted by God, it’s

Leviticus 20:10 “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death. Deuteronomy 17:6-7 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on

There’s a funny scene in Monty Python’s Holy Grail when King Arthur meets God. First he and his men throw themselves to the ground to which God says “Stop groveling and stand up!”. Arthur says “sorry” to which God says, “And don’t say ‘I’m sorry’. Every time I meet someone it’s sorry this and forgive

I’m going to make a metaphor to try to help understand why holiness should not be the goal of the Christian life. In the metaphor, I’m going to liken being slender to holiness, and being overweight to being unholy. Hear me out This is only a metaphor mind you, and I realize this is a

Romans 15:7 says “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” NIV What is Acceptance?  What does it mean to say, “God accepts me”?  How is it different than “God loves me”? Acceptance is an elementary yet fundamental component of relationships.  It requires trust, forgiveness, and vision in another person.

In this article I’ll discuss how the Jews of Jesus’ time had a slightly different application of the word “repent” and how this difference can affect our modern interpretation of passages like Acts chapter 2.  The word “repent” is found in the NT quite a few times used by several different authors.  Here are some

First of all, why does matter?  It matters because Jesus was very specific when he prophesied in Mat 12:40, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”  In Mark

Ah technicalities. Where do we normally see technicalities come into play?  Wherever life involves any kind of laws:  legal agreements, state laws, federal laws, traffic laws, tax laws, dress codes, home owner’s covenants, etc. You hear horrible things like a criminal getting off because their Miranda rights weren’t read, an old lady losing her home