The Rambling Disciple

As we get back into the groove with Historical Fridays, I have decided to do something a little different today before we continue our grand survey of Christian history. I have decided to talk about a movie that is out that depicts an interesting time in Christian history. Just a disclaimer: I won't do this very often. To be perfectly honest I am not a fan of many of the Christian movies that come out nowadays. Some, like Risen , are pretty good. Others, not going to name names, are not. They tend to pander to Christians without challenging us in any way to grow in our faith. They tend to face Christianity off against the world as if it were a fight rather than a mission of reconciliation given to us by Christ. That being said, Silence is a film many Christians probably won't see. I think this is sad. It is not an easy film to watch. It is nearly three hours long and deals with very challenging subjects. It does not pander to Christians but rather forces us to examine our o...

Imagine being a Christian in the early first century. It is very possible that you either met or have come into contact with someone who met Jesus in person. You are now trying to live your life in accordance with this new teaching; this good news about Jesus. You look back to the Old Testament, the only Scriptures you have, and now see how the prophets proclaimed the coming of Jesus hundreds of years prior. The other pillar of teaching you have to lean on is that of the apostles and other eye witnesses. If you leave near Judea and Galilee (what we now call Palestine) you may hear Peter or John preaching the good news. If you live further away, you may go and listen to Paul or Philip. Still you may not know entirely what to do. The Old Testament had plenty of rules and guidelines for holy living, but you weren't converted to Judaism. You see clearly how the Law pointed to and eventually was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but you aren't sure what that means in terms of being a C...

Hello all. First off I realize that this isn't the normal day for this. I accidentally hit the wrong day on the post planning app. So that is due to human error. This post is going to be short because I want to outline how we are going to tackle the New Testament. For the Old Testament we went in canonical order; meaning the order the books appear in the Bible. This works really well for the Old Testament as a lot of the books were connected and told one big story. For the New Testament I am going to try something a little different. Instead of going in canonical order, I am going to go in the order they were written in. Why? To make it easier on all of us. Now I am a big proponent of the canonical order. I think it is worthwhile to read the books of the Bible in this order. For the purposes of this blog, where we are going over the major themes, it might get a tad confusing. This is simply because the four gospels are all together and Paul's letters are all bunched toget...

After some technical issues it is good to be back. So long as Google cooperates, this blog will once again be posting normally. Thank you for your patience. The time of the Old Testament is over, but the New Testament has yet to begin. More than four hundred years stand between the two parts of the Bible. These are often called the years of silence, because God did not speak through prophets during this time. That does not mean that God was not active. Through the years different empires rose and fell, each bringing something critical to the world stage. In hindsight it is easy to see the fingerprints of God all over this period of history. God was setting the stage for climax of his rescue plan; Jesus. A Tale of Four Empires The four hundred years leading up to the birth of Christ are quite eventful in the eyes of world history. There were four major empires during this time that came and went. God used each of them to add a vital piece to the world stage. We see these empire...