Christian traditions

The Bible’s Mystical Numbers

The Bible’s Mystical Numbers. Reading time: 6-7 minutes. I’ve always been intrigued by the numbers the Bible writers used repeatedly. To me, the Bible’s mystical numbers seemed to be code words with hidden meanings. Where they only significant in Jewish-Christian tradition or did those numbers have similar meanings in other cultures? This post is my […]

Heresies in Early Christianity

Heresies in Early Christianity: Reading time about 6-7 minutes. Early Christianity outside Europe This is the third of a four-part series of posts about the origin of the Christian Church, or more accurately, churches. So far, I’ve written about the transformation of Saul, the persecutor of Jesus’s followers, to Paul, the dedicated Christian apostle. I […]

The Militarization of Christianity

Militarization of Christianity: Reading time about 8-10 minutes. About twenty years ago, our family attended the patriotic Fourth of July extravaganza at our church. After all the flag waving, chest-thumping, and patriotic songs were over, and we were in our car, my daughter asked me a question. “Dad, why does our church celebrate the military […]

Origin of the Gregorian Calendar

Reading Time: About 4 minutes Most of us aren’t aware of the fascinating history of something we use every day—the Gregorian calendar. Pope Gregory XIII introduced it in 1582 to modify the inaccurate Julian calendar that was devised in 46 BC. Julius Caesar had introduced the Julian calendar to replace Rome’s ten-month calendar from 750 […]

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