Video courtesy of Christianity.com To learn more about how Christians determined which texts were true and authoritative, read these articles: Who Decided Which Books Belong in My Bible? and Why No Baptized Lions or Talking Crosses Made It Into Your Bible. 30 Days through Church History: Day 8
[Read More...]Church History: Who Were the Gnostics and What About Their Gospels?
Video courtesy of Christianity.com To learn even more about the Gnostics and other challenges to second-century Christians, read these four brief articles from Ligonier Ministries: * Montanism * Gnosticism * Marcion’s Challenge * Irenaeus of Lyons 30 Days through Church History: Day 7
[Read More...]Church History: What Happened after the Apostles Died?
By the end of the first century, Roman persecutions were dogging God’s people from the outside, and false teachings from people who claimed to be Christians were hounding the church from within. The Ebionites said that Jesus was a human Messiah but not the divine Lord. Most Gnostics, on the other hand, depicted Jesus as […]
[Read More...]Church History: Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Have Anything to Do with Jesus and the Early Church?
Near the northwest corner of the Dead Sea, there is a long-deserted settlement known as Qumran. Here, it appears that a discontented Jewish sect maintained a thriving religious community in the second century B.C. and again in the first century A.D. At one point, this community’s library contained more than a thousand sacred scrolls. Some […]
[Read More...]Church History: What Happened to the Jewish Temple?
When Jesus walked along the dusty roads of Judea and Galilee, the Jewish people had a temple in Jerusalem. But today, there isn’t one. So what happened to this temple? First, a bit of background: The temple in the time of Jesus was the second Jewish temple. The Babylonians had burned the first temple in […]
[Read More...]Church History: Did Nero Really Fiddle While Rome Burned?
You’ve at least heard the saying. Maybe you’ve even said it yourself at some point when someone was fooling around in the face of an impending crisis. “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” But did he? No, not even a chance. In the first place, fiddles as we know them weren’t even invented until the Renaissance, […]
[Read More...]Church History: Do Any Ancient Historians Mention Jesus?
Video courtesy of Christianity.com To dig deeper into ancient historians’ references to Jesus, take a look at this chapter from Gary Habermas. 30 Days through Church History: Day 2
[Read More...]Church History: A Thirty-Day Whirlwind Tour through the History of Christianity!
Have you ever wanted to gain an overview of church history, so that you can understand where all the divisions and denominations came from? But it’s not like you have hours each day that are free to fill with reading! If that’s the case, here’s an idea: check in here every day for thirty days. […]
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