We started our special series, Convince Me There’s A God, almost six years ago. The purpose was simply to answer the question atheists have asked me for almost 50 years – why did I leave atheism for Christianity since (in their opinion) there is no … Continue reading Convince Me There’s A God: The New Testament Part 1
What Is Man?: Adam, Alien or Ape? (Elm Hill, 2018) by Dr. Edgar Andrews is definitely a must-have addition to any Christian apologist’s personal library. I would expand that to say it is a must-have book for any Christian interested in understanding the truth about … Continue reading Book Review: What Is Man? Adam, Alien or Ape?
Imagine that you were a Christian during the Great Persecution of 303-313 AD. Your pastor and most other leaders in your local church are in prison or have been executed. Biblical manuscripts and pastors’ sermons are destroyed. Church members are not allowed to meet on threat of arrest. The government confiscated your property. You lost your livelihood and have no way to earn a living. People you used to think were loyal friends have turned in Christians to save themselves from government persecution. You are always in fear of being hauled before a judge to face the charge of being a Christian. You have seen countless family members and friends arrested, imprisoned, tortured and many killed. The last ten years have been the toughest of your life. You may even wonder if Christianity will continue to exist with the Roman Empire doing its best to destroy it.
Now imagine that it’s 313 AD and you hear about the Edict of Milan. Roman emperors Constantine I and Licinius agreed to grant all people freedom to worship any deity they chose. You find out that your legal rights are being returned to you, as well as the property taken from you during the Persecution. You can return to your home. You can go back to work to earn a living. You can raise your family in safety. You can worship God with other Christians openly. Church leaders can preach the Gospel of Christ without fear of arrest, torture and death.
What would you think about such an edict?
313 AD must have been a great time of relief for many Christians. It was also a challenging time with Christians trying to sort out what had happened to them during the Great Persecution. Who would lead local churches after so many bishops, pastors and deacons had been tortured and killed? How would faithful Christians deal with believers who had lapsed in their faith and turned other believers in to authorities to save themselves? It was a challenging and turbulent time for the Church.
Courtesy BAS Library
Robert Funk, The Jesus Seminar and Westar Institute would have us believe that the Gospel of Thomas is the 5th Gospel account of the life of Jesus – and may be more accurate than Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Are they right?
Death and the Afterlife: Biblical perspectives on ultimate questions (IVP Academic, 2018) by Dr. Paul Williamson is a great guide into a subject that impacts everyone on earth. The contents of the book were originally part of a lecture Dr. Williamson gave during the 2016 … Continue reading Book Review: Death and the Afterlife
We have looked at the HOW and WHY of street epistemology in previous reports and are currently looking their tactics. You can click here to read a basic report before reading further. It is an introduction to basic tactics, so that’s a good place to start. This second part … Continue reading Street Epistemology: Basic Tactics, Part Two
We are currently looking at Christian apologetic writings from the 4th century AD. In our last article we saw that the 4th century for Christians exploded into an all-out attempt by the Roman Empire to destroy Christianity. Christian bishop and historian Eusebius of Caesarea lived through the Great Persecution and wrote about it in his well-known Church History.
The persecution came to an end in 313 AD with the Edict of Milan. Emperors Constantine I (Western Empire) and Licinius (Eastern Empire) agreed to allow all people in the Empire to worship the deity of their choice. Christians received their legal rights back and were allowed to own property and organize local church assemblies.
Keep in mind that thousands of Christians died during the Great Persecution – many of them leaders of local churches. What followed the Edict of Milan was the process of Christianity finding its way in a new world that did not include persecution, but did face other strong challenges.
