Early Christian History
The Story of St. Patrick
With St Patrick’s day being here, I wanted to tell the story of St Patrick. Mormons love good missionary stories, and I think the story of St Patrick is a wonderful missionary story. The information below comes from a DVD titled, Christianity-The First Two Thousand Years. (It was originally aired on A&E.) If you want […]
Baptism for the Dead – So What?
Recently, there has been some news where Jews object to the Mormon practice of baptism for the dead, especially for Holocaust victims. Catholics have also objected to the Mormons use of old church records for the purpose of baptism for the dead. I came across an Irish Columnist who basically says, “Why do they […]
The 3 Kings – Part 2
I talked previously about the Wise Men and their part in the Christmas Story. Not much is known about them, but there are quite a few interesting legends. For example, we assume there are 3 Wise Men, but some ancient painting sometimes show as few as two, and sometimes as many as four. Names and […]
Astrology in the Christmas Story
In my quest to find out things that aren’t generally well known, I came across a DVD called Mystery of the Three Kings by Questar Entertainment. I thought it brings up some really interesting points, some which really add to the Biblical story, while some details are a little strange. Here are some of the […]
Esther lived in Iran
I just finished a book called “DNA & Tradition”, by Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman. The book discusses evidence of Hebrew DNA, and talks about the science and religion of Judaism. As part of the discussion, I learned these interesting facts. The oldest diaspora communities are in Assyria, later conquered by Babylonia (now modern-day Iraq) and Persia […]
Inscription on Bowl Refers to Christ
I found this interesting article at MSNBC which references a recently discovered artifact. It’s not exactly the Holy Grail, but it dates from the time of Christ. The full engraving on the bowl reads, “DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS,” which has been interpreted by the excavation team to mean either, “by Christ the magician” or, “the […]
Eastern Orthodoxy: Theosis/Deification
I’ve learned some interesting concepts from class #23: Eastern Orthodoxy. The podcast is one from the Ancient and Medieval Church History class from Covenant Theological Seminary. First, let’s have a little background. (Incidentally, the seminary is a Presbyterian seminary.) The Eastern Orthodox Church officially split with the Catholic Church in 1054. The Pope excommunicated the […]
Center of Christianity in the Heart of Islam
As I mentioned before, I have been learning about Ancient and Medieval Church history from the Covenant Theological Seminary. What has been so interesting to me is that Turkey is a real center for Christianity. Paul spoke to the Ephesians in Ephesus (and his letter is in our bible now.) He also travelled to many […]
History of Baptism/Mikvah
The history of baptism is quite interesting, and much more complex than most people know. Baptism seems to be related to the ancient Jewish rite called “mikvah”, which was/is used for conversion to Judaism, ritual cleansing (Law of Moses type things, childbirth, women’s menstruation, and other things.) If you go to this link at Wikipedia, […]
Mormon Heretic 