Tag: The Bible
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Pentecost: heaven in the sky or cloud cuckoo land?
We will soon be enjoying the Whit Bank Holiday – but how many people understand the nature of these celebrations? Whit celebrates an even reported in Acts of the Apostles that is, frankly, so far fetched as to be unbelievable. Acts was written by the same man who wrote the Third Gospel, Luke. Its main…
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The End of Celibacy?
In February 2013 a most remarkable thing happened – the Head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal O’Brien, called for an end to the requirement that Catholic priests be celibate, and urged the next Pope to allow them to marry. The insistence on celibacy, he said, left many priests struggling to cope with…
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Christianity – the ultimate barrier?
Ann Widdecombe once presented a TV programme on the future of Christianity. Ms Widdecombe is a former government minister with a forthright manner somewhat reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher, her political hero. When the Church of England voted to allow women clergy, she promptly resigned her place on the ruling Synod and became a Roman Catholic,…
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The gospels differ significantly over Yeshua’s trial
The gospels differ significantly over the details of Yeshua’s trial and committal: In the First Gospel (‘Mark’), they took him to Caiaphas, the high priest’s, house where the Jewish governing council (Sanhedrin), had assembled. The Jewish leaders gave false and conflicting testimony; Yeshua remained silent. Then Caiaphas asked him if he was the Messiah. Previously…
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The New Testament letters justify slavery
There’s no doubt about it – the New Testament letters justify slavery. If one regards the New Testament as the ‘word of G_d’, then one has some explaining to do! Keeping slaves was a common practice in Greek and Roman society, and the coming of Christianity made virtually no difference. The most important letters in…