This is a massive question. Regretfully, in some cases, we don’t know how the religion was created, or why it was formed, as the religion stretches too far back, and we don’t have the sources. I’m thinking primarily of Hinduism. But we do have ideas on other ones. I’ll start with Christianity, as we have…
The topic of suffering has been a difficult idea to reconcile with a loving God. The question, why do bad things happen to good people, has been at the forefront of this. The book of Job tries to answer this question, while also examining various popular beliefs at that time. Yet, unlike what many would…
This is part 2 of a critique of Richard Wackrow’s book, A Beginner’s Guide to Blasphemy. History is often much harder and more complicated than many want to give it credit for. In the opening to chapter 2, Wackrow is not immune to this. The historical inaccuracies he portrays though are forgivable as they are…
When getting into theology, there is a massive amount of works. Some are scholarly, while others are written for the general public. Some try to remain balanced, while others clearly have taken a side. Working through the mess can be quite challenging, which is why I’m creating this series. I will be examining a number…
One of the seemingly most difficult doctrines of Christianity appears to be the Trinity. Quite often, within discussions, confusion seems to follow. As I was finishing up my coursework for my bachelor’s, I enrolled in a class that centered around the Trinity. It wasn’t a topic I was all that interested in at that time,…
If we assume that the Nephilim were real, we can be fairly certain that they would no longer exist today. We can be certain about that because of the flood. Looking at the buildup to Noah’s flood, we are first introduced to the nephilim. They are part of the reason why God becomes dissatisfied with…
Excellent question, and I’ve actually been discussing this lately. So I will start from the beginning and work towards modern views. First, we have to start with Paul. Paul was a Pharisee, and obviously, he thought Jesus was the messiah. This isn’t surprising as Jesus wasn’t the first person to be considered the Messiah. During…
When the Mennonites (and Quakers) immigrated to the United States, it was because they were facing heavy persecution in Germany. The Pennsylvania Dutch would follow later on. In the United States, they didn’t completely get beyond that discrimination, and there were other issues that came up. The United States also had immigrants from Germany, but…
Right now, the fastest-growing religion in China is Christianity. This is largely due to revamped missionary work in the country, as well as all of Asia. However, this isn’t really a new phenomenon. Christianity did spread eastward early on, and it created a variety of distinct and rather interesting traditions. Christianity most likely traveled east…
One of the problems with many of the tribes of people, or even individuals, who are mentioned in Biblical texts is that there are no extra-biblical sources. The reason is often that they were smaller players on the world stage. They existed in a really insignificant area, as we can tell by the lack of…