The Rambling Disciple

There are several books in the Bible that make us feel uncomfortable. The most prominent of these is the Song of Songs, which we've already discussed on this blog. Another book that makes us uncomfortable is the book of Philemon. Background The book of Philemon was written by Paul to a man named Philemon. Now it usually assumed that Philemon was written while Paul was in prison in Rome, around AD 62. Some scholars, however, think that this was written earlier while Paul was in Ephesus.  Now the book of Acts does not say if Paul was ever imprisoned in Ephesus, but that doesn't mean it never happened. Paul did stay in the city a long time. It also makes sense that Paul would meet Onesimus in Ephesus as opposed to Rome. Onesimus was a slave that escaped from Colossae, which is in Turkey. Slaves were marked as slaves. It is very unlikely that he made it all the way to Rome without being apprehended.  Another thing to consider is Paul's promise to visit Philemon soo...

The Roman Empire was, in many ways, not so dissimilar from America. Much of our legal system is based on that of Rome. Our appetite for entertainment and sports is quite similar to the Romans. They loved their races and fights in the Colosseum, while we love movies and football.  One way that the Roman Empire was very different from America is how they viewed their leader. We are generally split right down the middle when it comes to the President of the USA. Some people like him, others don't. No one, however, would go so far as to claim that the President is God.  The people of the Roman Empire worshiped their Emperor as a God. While viewing a leader of a powerful nation as a god was not unusual in ancient times (the Pharoahs of Egypt, for example) few held to the notion so fiercely as the Romans. In fact the most common title for the Emperor's divinity was the Son of God. Background The book of Mark was written by John Mark, a travelling companion of Paul and t...

As we have done many times before, imagine that you are living during the mid-first century. You have just been converted to this new religion some are calling Christianity. You came to believe in Jesus because of the testimony of Christians living in your town. They recount how they heard the stories of Jesus from the likes of Peter, Paul, and others who actually met Jesus. They do their best to repeat the stories they have heard, trying not to forget any detail. Still, as they admit, there is nothing quite like hearing the story of Jesus from someone who was there. As you go about your life trying to tell others about Jesus, you realize that people are asking questions you genuinely don't know the answer to. After all you only heard about Jesus from some one who heard it from an eye witness. You search the couple of letters your congregation has from Paul and James, and while those provide some answers they are more concerned with how to live the Christian life than relaying fa...