This articles intends to show that there was a deep symbolic reason for why Jesus spoke about and physically used fig trees in many of his parables. In Jesus’ time, the fig tree was indeed a common fruit-bearing tree. This means it could be used in parables needing a tree and/or a fruit tree. Perhaps […]

There is a claim that the Catholic Church changed the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday in the 4th century AD, and, even more interesting, that this is a sign that they are the Antichrist. Let’s consider these claims in this article. To start with, did the Catholic Church change the Sabbath from Saturday (starting

The words grace and mercy are not as close in meaning as one might think. Their one commonality is the recipient gets something unmerited or outside of their control. Besides that shared trait, they are very different. From the perspective of the receiver, mercy is receiving forgiveness or leniency when deserving of punishment, while grace

The following may seem unrelated to my other theologically-centered articles, and I struggled with whether to post it or not. One disclaimer is this is a hypothesis. It speaks about things that are difficult to impossible to measure, therefore we may never know whether it is true of not. Nevertheless, the article is related to

The Period before Elders To Obey the Bible or To Obey the Bible There are two competing ideas when it comes to the appointment of roles beyond the evangelist. First, to obey the Scriptures that call for the appointment of qualified spiritual men; and second, not to appoint unqualified men. To which side should the

The letter was written by Henry Kriete in early 2003, and also goes under the names “the 2003 Letter”, “the Kriete Letter”, or simply “The Letter”. The actual title is “Honest to God” with a subtitle of “Revolution through repentance and freedom in Christ”. It’s a 39-page dissertation of the state of the church under

The traditional response is during the sixth century BC when Daniel himself said it was written. He writes in the present tense that he lived during the Babylonian and Persian empires, during the reigns of such historical figures as King Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus the Great. Why is there a question about when Daniel was written?

The word “kingdom” is found many times in the Gospels, but what precisely is or was it? Can it’s beginning be determined? Who belongs to the Kingdom of God? What did the Jews of Jesus’ time think about the Kingdom? The Risk of Interpreting Prophecies We’re going to look at some Old Testament (OT) prophecies

Is the Gospel Really This Complicated? The very first comment I got on the previous article was, “Salvation is not this complicated”. That’s a great point and really got me thinking, is the Gospel as complicated as the prior four articles and this article would suggest? It shouldn’t be, right? Even the simplest person should

Review By way of summary, here are some important bullets to get out of the first three parts of the series: The early church continued to believe that following the Law was necessary. Jewish converts needed to recommit their lives to the Law (aka repent) in order to become Christians. Gentiles weren’t even considered candidates