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I wonder where and when The "three kings" or the "three wise men" enter the Nativity narrative. Three "magi" are mentioned. Magi is the plural form of magus which denotes a priest of the Zoroastrian faith which was centered in Persia. They certainly weren't kings and we are not even sure that...

John Travolta's fans were upset when he was hospitalized for COVID-19. However, it turned out that he only has Saturday Night Fever and he's Staying Alive.

In an earlier post I explained that a Roman census did not involve returning to your home town because it was a census not of people but of land and business assets. I suspect that the Biblical story is the author's rhetorical device to move the birth from Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to...

Jasper National Park Canada.

Actually --- yes.

The Sea of Galilee is a fresh water lake and is fed by the (upper) Jordan River and underwater springs. Restaurants will serve you St Peter's Fish which is just another word for Catch of the Day.

It has taken me many decades to form my beliefs and that faith journey has not been an easy one. Forty years ago I thought that I was a very rare bird but since then I have found that I have plenty of very good company. Others have walked and are walking a similar faith journey. I certainly do...

I approach the bible much like a prospector would approach his claim. I am prepared to search for the shining nuggets of wisdom and insight but I am also prepared to have to shift a lot of rubble in order to find them. I do not discard God's Word" for the simple reason that it is wrong to...

I am very familiar with the Biblical birth narratives. When the Birth Narrative is examined objectively and in detail one is left with some real questions as to just how historically accurate it is. The earliest New Testament writer, Paul, makes scant reference to the birth of Jesus except to...

Travelers in the ancient mid-east would take shelter in a caravanserai. This was a walled open yard which would also contain an inn for the provision of food and lodging for the well-to-do. Peasants would sleep in the courtyard with their animals and purchase firewood and animal feed at the inn...

I agree. I have enough trouble with floaters in my eyes that the flakes just freak out my eyes.

With the exception of the ravings of John of Patmos in Revelation, the wrath passages are mostly pre-exilic in the OT. Their conception of God seem to be based on the typical behaviour of tyrannical middle eastern despots. After over 75 years of maturing in the faith I am convinced that most...

I have no hesitancy in believing that.

I am well aware of that but I am not entirely convinced that everything that appears in scripture is to be taken literally.

Traditions do change. What is called sacred tradition today was once new and innovative and perhaps even resisted.

It is well past time for reform. Pork should be outlawed in a bill like this. If Congress wants to donate $5 million to Joel Osteen then introduce and debate a bill to that effect.

Seems like a good thing to me. $10 million is trivial compared to the billions wasted in providing COVID relief to millionaires.

Winter solstice occurs at 5:02 AM on December 21 this year. In honour of the season I give you the following: What’s this empire coming to? Now they want us to stop greeting people with "Io Saturnalia!? "We have all these different cultures in Rome" they tell us, "We shouldn’t offend anyone"...

I find it difficult to think of "wrath" as a characteristic of the divine. It seems that some biblical writers envisioned God much like a despotic middle-eastern potentate --- arbitrary, jealous, vengeful and, yes, wrathful. Do we take all the worst vices of humanity and assign them to God. I...