While I realize I may be late to the party, I tend to get lots of questions from friends and family when it comes to issues surrounding theology and/or Rob Bell. I was apparently in “wave two” of Amazon’s shipments of Bell’s newest book, Love Wins, so I just got my copy on Wednesday. [...]

So, with the recent furor over Love Wins, and with varying degrees of hand-wringing or gnashing of teeth over the certainty in hell’s manifestation, it probably makes some sense to outline what the Bible actually says about hell, some of the different views of hell, and why loosely holding your beliefs about pareschatology – the [...]

Happy Resurrection Day!
This is the final post in the current series of articles on Holy Week:
Part I: Lamb Selection Day
Part II: Passover Preparation
Part III: Passover Banquet
Part IV: Passover Sacrifice (also inserting Jesus’ use of remez while on the cross)
Part V: The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Today, in Part VI, we will briefly discuss the Feast of [...]

Just as a refresher, here is where we have been thus far in this series:
Part I: Lamb Selection Day
Part II: Passover Preparation
Part III: Passover Banquet
Part IV: Passover Sacrifice
In the past, we’ve also examined Jesus’ use of remez while on the cross
Tonight, in Part V, we will be examining the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Timing
“Celebrate the Feast [...]

In Part I of this series, we examined Lamb Selection Day, and in Part II, we examined the preparations for Passover. In Part III, we delved into the Passover Banquet, now called the Seder. Tonight, in Part IV, we will examine the passover sacrifice.
Origins
The origins of sacrifice in Hebraic tradition, and so, too, for us, [...]

In Part I of this series, we examined Lamb Selection Day, and in Part II, we examined the preparations for Passover.
In Part III, we will examine the banquet traditions of Passover as practiced in the first century – in very similar manner as is done today – with the intention of examining some significant details [...]

In Part I of this series, we examined Lamb Selection Day, which we Christians celebrate as Palm Sunday (though technically, since the selection happens on Sunday evening, it is actually on Monday in the Jewish calendar).
In this, Part II, we will examine some more of the traditions of Passover as practiced in the first century [...]

[A few years back, I did a series of articles on Holy Week on my personal blog. I'm making a few updates and reposting them during this year's Holy Week.]
There are a number of interesting events and “coincidences” that can be examined in the Jewish Traditions of the Second Temple period which hold significant [...]

This past weekend, I had lunch with a good friend of many years, John, and afterward we spent some time discussing Paul and his letters to the different churches (among other things). John’s in a house with three daughters (the youngest of whom is in college) and my youngest son is a senior in [...]

A couple months ago, I wrote a review of Zondervan’s Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (ZIBBCOT) Volume I (Genesis – Deuteronomy), part of a new 5-Volume set from Zondervan.  I was highly impressed with the insight and sources provided in the historical comparative material covered in that volume.
In late December, I received volume 5, which covers [...]