Category Archives: History

false brethren in acts 15 and galatians 2

Posted on February 16, 2013 by christopher fisher

Act 15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. Act 15:2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and … Continue reading →

Posted in Dispensationalism, History, Theology | 22 Comments

of mystery cults and baptism

Posted on February 14, 2013 by christopher fisher

The baptisms performed by Ambrose and Augustine are additional evidence that the Church, very early on, became heavily paganized. Continue reading →

Posted in Augustine, History, Mystery Cults, Theology | 1 Comment

Jesus was dirty

Posted on February 14, 2013 by christopher fisher

Over at CNN there is an excellent article on dismantling the clean image of Jesus. Literally speaking, Jesus was dirty in a literal sense. He suffered human problems, which could include things such as dysentery. Continue reading →

Posted in History, Jesus, Theology | 5 Comments

ancient swearing

Posted on December 30, 2012 by christopher fisher

Some Christians point to the fact that the entire world takes God’s name in vain as evidence that he is the true God. This does not seem a compelling argument to me; swearing by the dominant gods’ names is a tradition that pre-dates the spread of Christianity. In the past, “by Castor”, “by Hercules”, and the sometime still heard “by Jove” (Jove is Jupiter, which is the Roman name for Zeus) were common. Almost all gods of the Greeks and Romans could be used for a swear word. Continue reading →

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jewish proselytization and proselytes

Posted on December 22, 2012 by christopher fisher

In summary, early Judaism had already gained a large following from the Gentiles by the time Paul showed up on the scene, with both converts and God-fearers. The pagan historians described this massive conversion, and there is ample evidence in Acts of this fact. Paul leveraged this receptive audience to his advantage. The God-fearers is where most of Paul’s success was found. Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Dispensationalism, History, Theology | 3 Comments

why was paul persecuted and by whom

Posted on December 19, 2012 by christopher fisher

Paul was primarily persecuted by religious Jews who were offended that he taught:

1. Jesus was the Christ
2. Not to follow the works of the law
3. That gentiles and Jews were equal Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Dispensationalism, History, Theology | 8 Comments

on the progessives hurting the poor

Posted on October 29, 2012 by christopher fisher

Even the fact that slum-dwellers often joined with slum landlords to physically resist being evicted by the authorities from housing declared “sub-standard” did not cause Jacob Riis or many other reformers to reconsider whether what they were doing was really in the best interests of the people whose interests they were ostensibly protecting. It is all too easy for people with more formal schooling to believe that they know better than those directly concerned. Continue reading →

Posted in History, Leftists, Sowell | 3 Comments

on mayan torture

Posted on October 28, 2012 by christopher fisher

Captives [of the Mayans] were tortured in unpleasant ways depicted clearly on the monuments and murals (such as yanking fingers out of sockets, pulling out teeth, cutting off the lower jaw, trimming off the lips and fingertips, pulling out the fingernails, and driving a pin through the lips), culminating (sometimes several years later) in the sacrifice of the captive in other equally unpleasant ways (such as tying the captive up into a ball by binding the arms and legs together, then rolling the balled-up captive down the steep stone staircase of a temple). Continue reading →

Posted in History, Human Nature | 1 Comment

apologists for the aztecs

Posted on October 27, 2012 by christopher fisher

So this was the land Cortez came upon: human sacrifice (including men, women, and children), cannibalization, wearing of skin of the murdered (a yearly Aztec festival), and a bitter oppression of neighboring nations. The best book that describes these events is William H Prescott’s classic A History of the Conquest of Mexico. This is a book that praises Cortez for his primary mission to convert the natives. Continue reading →

Posted in History, Human Nature | 4 Comments

was Jesus married?

Posted on September 21, 2012 by christopher fisher

If Christ had his own wife, there would be no need to draw the parallel between Christ and the church. He would draw the parallel between Christ and Christ’s wife. Even if he was making some grander theological statement, wouldn’t Christ’s wife be worth mentioning in a passage using Christ to illustrate marriage? Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, History, Jesus | 1 Comment