Exploring the Bible

 During His time on earth, Jesus performed a total of thirty-seven miracles. These are recorded in the gospel accounts written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Of the thirty-seven, are there certain miracles that were more important or more significant than others? Is there one miracle that stands out as the greatest miracle performed by Jesus? The answer can be both yes, and no. Each miracle performed by Jesus was done to not only show His power over natural law, but to teach His disciples. These miracles were recorded in the Bible so they could also teach us, nearly two thousand years later. In this way each miracle story is unique and very important in helping us to understand Jesus, who He is, and what He was trying to teach the disciples, and indeed us. While every miracle is certainly important, can we pick just one? Perhaps the gospel writers did this for us.  Of the thirty-seven miracles recorded in the gospels, nineteen of them are only listed in one of the four gospe...

New Book Release During His earthly ministry Jesus performed thousands of miracles. From curing all types of diseases, to calming a storm, to raising people from the dead, Jesus showed His power over and over again. The writers of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, recorded 37 specific miracles out of the thousands performed. These were selected to give us a better understanding of who Jesus is as well as demonstrate His power and authority. Each miracle has multiple lessons to teach and only by close examination can you see everything Jesus was attempting to teach his followers two thousand years ago, and today. This book puts the 37 miracles of Jesus in chronological order. Each entry shows the scripture, where the miracle took place, and gives a commentary on the meaning and lessons of the miracle. There are also interesting facts inserted including archaeological discoveries that help put the miracle stories in a proper context. The text also examines possible contra...

Saint Mark wrote the earliest of the four Gospel accounts. Most scholars believe Saint Peter was the source for Mark's Gospel and there is very little reason to doubt this theory. However, far from being simply a stenographer for Peter, Mark was uniquely qualified to write a gospel account of the life of Jesus. Mark's life is anything but ordinary as it intertwines with both the Apostles and Jesus himself. From being an eyewitness, to traveling with the Great Missionary to founding a leading school in Christianity, Mark's life was truly remarkable. Mark was born in approximately 12 A.D. or 15 years after Jesus. The family lived in what is modern day Libya. While Mark was still an infant his family began to be persecuted and lived under constant threat. To protect his family, Mark's father packed up their things and moved the family to the region of Cana. Sometime shortly after arriving in Cana, tragedy struck the family when Mark's father passed away. In first centu...

 Saint Paul was one of the most influential and energetic of the early followers of Jesus. St. Paul travelled as much as 10,000 miles on his three missionary trips recorded in the Bible. In the years of 47 and 48 A.D. Paul travelled to Cyprus and Galatia. Then from 49 to 52 A.D. Paul travelled through Asia Minor and Greece and settled for a time in Corinth. Finally, in 52 to 55 A.D. Paul again traveled through Greece and possibly what is modern Yugoslavia. These are the three biblical missionary trips of St. Paul during which he both founded and encouraged churches throughout these regions. These three trips are recorded in the Bible and many of Paul's letters were to churches he founded or visited during these trips. While the Bible records three trips, many believe St. Paul made a fourth missionary trip. This trip is hinted at both in the Bible and in other non-biblical writings from the early church. It is believed possible, even probably, St. Paul traveled to Spain, but is the...

The Bible records thirty-seven miracles performed by Jesus. Recorded by the four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, these miracles show us the divine power of Jesus. Critics point to possible contradictions within these miracles, and even in which miracles were recorded. Do these claims of contradiction hold any merit?  Some people see the different miracles recorded in the Gospels as a possible contradiction. Why would the writers not record the same miracles in each of the Gospels? This is not a contradiction at all and in fact the differences should be expected. Each Gospel writer had a wide variety of miracles to choose from for inclusion in their writings. This could be compared to a person who compiles a sports highlight film. If they are to select the greatest plays from a weekend of professional football, there would be more than a dozen games with perhaps thousands of plays to consider. Some of the truly remarkable plays may be included in all of the different h...

People of faith accept the teachings of Jesus as told in the Bible as fact. It may come as a surprise to some that critics of the Bible and Christianity dispute the fact Jesus was even a real person. These critics will tell you Jesus is not mentioned by any early historians. Because of this, they claim Jesus was not a real person and was created centuries later, nothing more than a fictional character to support a fictional belief system. These critics dismiss the Bible authors as unreliable and argue it is circular reasoning to use the Bible to prove the Bible. Are these critics correct? Did early historians ignore Jesus because He never lived? Is it right to dismiss the Bible as an historical document? The facts are, these critics ignore a great many facts, and outright deceive people by saying there are no historical records of Jesus outside of the Bible. There are in fact, many.   While we have several external mentions of Jesus, let us begin with the Bible. The word 'Bible...

 The authenticity of the Shroud of Turin has been hotly debated for many decades. Is the Shroud the burial cloth of Jesus and could it possibly contain an image of Jesus? Some believe this is exactly what the Shroud is, while others insist the Shroud is a fake manufactured sometime during the Middle Ages. A new study in Italy has now given us new reason to believe the Shroud may indeed be from the first century and therefore, could be the actual burial cloth of Jesus. The primary area of controversy surrounding the Shroud is the age of the fabric. If the fabric is from the first century, or earlier, then it opens the door for the Shroud to be authentic. If the fabric was produced in the Middle Ages, then obviously the Shroud is a fake and all but worthless.   For years the church would not allow testing of the Shroud because the testing would require the destruction of a small piece of the Shroud. While the church does not official say the Shroud is genuine or fake, they hav...

The Bible tells us two different versions of the empty tomb of Jesus, but which is accurate? In Matthew 28:11 we are told the guards reported the tomb was empty but were given money to report the body was stolen during the night. While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. (Matthew 28:11-15)   Of course, the other version is that the tomb of Jesus was empty because He had risen in total defiance of death, in an ultimate victory over de...

Angels are mentioned in the Bible 273 times, so they are certainly not unknown to people. There are however a great many questions associated with Angels, their origins, their duties, and just where they came from. Below are many of the most common questions people have concerning angels and what the Bible teached us about them.  Where did angels Come from? As with all things, Angels were created by God. According to the Book of Job (38-7) the Angels were present at the creation of the world. This would mean Angels were created some time before the Book of Genesis but exactly when is unknown. While the Book of Genesis tells of the creation of the heavens and the earth, this does not mean it was God's first creation. - " by Him all things were created,  both  in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible," Were angels ever human? No. Angels are an entirely different type of being than humans. Humans and Angels are actually not created equally. In Palsm 8:4-5 we are ...