by Steve Kindle Pastors in the Liturgical traditions find that Advent has been smuggled out of the church, and in broad daylight to boot! The Liturgical Year is a way of educating the people about the biblical story of salvation needed to offset the nearly universal illiteracy of Christendom in its formative years, until almost…
by Herold Weiss More than any other biblical book According to John is concerned with the necessity to distinguish what is true from what is false, what is genuine from what is spurious. Throughout the gospel one finds declarations concerning “the true light,” “the true bread,” “the true food,” “the true Israelite,” “the true shepherd,”…
by Herold Weiss Toward the end of the first century the Christian Church established rituals through which members could cleanse themselves from sin and receive the benefits of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. These are called sacraments. The Church also set apart persons with special powers who could mediate the power…
by Herold Weiss It is not uncommon for a person who has not read the Bible to ask a Bible reader for advice as to where to start. Most books are read starting at the beginning. Reading the Bible this way, however, may prove quite a challenge. If one does that it may not…
by Henry Neufeld, Publisher A serious problem in dealing with stereotypes is that there are almost always examples of individual who truly fit the stereotype. When a bigot sees such an example, he or she points at that person and says, “See! They really are like that!” Of course, the problem with the stereotype is…
by Edward W. H. Vick The question is: What does it mean to believe? The following sentences express some themes of the thirteen chapters of the book. Ask yourself these questions: What do I believe? Is it the same as what I say I believe, or think I believe? Is my belief reasonable? Is it…
by Edward W. H. Vick The question is: How to explain that the Bible has authority? That the Bible is unique is not the question. But why is it unique? Ask different people and you will get different answers, for different people read the Bible for different reasons, approaching it in different ways according…
by Edward W. H. Vick Here is the question for you: What do you make of the following sentences taken with the qualification, ‘But we cannot tell you when’? The end of the world is nigh. Jesus is coming again soon? God is about to judge the world and bring in his kingdom. ************************* I…
by Rev. Dr. Robert R. LaRochelle To be honest with you, my original intent in writing this article was to do a followup look at the visit of Pope Francis to the United States. I was planning to look at Catholicism and Protestantism in relation to one another at this point nearly 500 years after…