I’ve seen many Christmas pageants and Nativity scenes in my time, and most depict the newborn baby Jesus in a manger surrounded by Joseph, Mary, farm animals, shepherds, and three kings bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. There’s no harm in that, but historians and biblical scholars say that’s Read more…
Before I became a Christian at age 20, I often asked Christians why God is silent. After all, if—as I was so often told—God will save whoever “believes,” why doesn’t he show himself so that everyone would believe? The answer to that question is two-fold. Part of the answer—as I Read more…
Hanakkah—or Chanukah, as it’s sometimes spelled—begins this year on December 18th and runs through December 26th. The word means “dedication” in Hebrew. The story of Hanakkah begins in 175 B.C. with the accession of Antiochus IV to the throne of the Seleucid kingdom, one of the three kingdoms into which Read more…
In Mary’s soliloquy in Luke 1:46-55—which has been called “The Magnificat”—we find these lines: He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts.He has brought down rulers from their thrones,And has exalted those who were humble. —Luke 1:51-52 God exalts the humble and humbles the proud. It’s a common theme in the Read more…
People in this country and in Europe are very concerned about illegal immigration, and rightly so. What we don’t often hear about is that illegal immigration is closely connected with climate change—and that both are likely to get far worse in the future. But let’s come back to that in Read more…