Today, the longing for cultural Christianity on both the left and the right hearkens back to an older version of Christendom that was a mixed blessing for the church in the western world. The cultural mediation of Christian views on created order has certainly benefitted the civilization we’ve inherited. But the gospel itself isn’t something that can be reduced to cultural mediation either. Instead, the gospel as a message stands apart from all human accomplishments and achievements, no matter how beneficial they might be.
Josephus does not tell us that Christianity is true, and Christians do not need Josephus to tell them that Christ is risen. But Christianity makes claims about things that happened in public history under identifiable rulers, priests, and governors. For that reason, testimony from outside the church matters.
The student of Scripture should always have a map open next to their Bible as they read. If possible, they should also travel to Israel, not to make a pilgrimage, but to see the context of the land in which these stories took place. These are not fairy tales made up about fictional fantasy lands; these are stories about real people in real places interacting with a real God.

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There is a question often raised by Christians and even some theologians that is unanswerable: Why are some saved, and others are lost? While it might seem to be a good question, it is not. Let’s examine it more closely.
When we proclaim Jesus' death we are, at the same time, preaching that this cup from which we drink is the cup of salvation for all who believe and receive it.
By more intentionally and consistently incorporating the concrete elements of story and metaphor into your preaching, you refresh your language, serve your people, and shed fresh light on the Gospel.
Their hearts burned, their feet ran, and their mouths opened. “The Lord is risen, indeed!” they confessed, because this is what Easter does: It makes confessors.
It is safe to say that Easter this year will be unlike any Easter we have ever seen.
The only point in being a Christian at all is if this message of the resurrected Jesus continues to be the solid ground on which you stand.
The devil is to be taken seriously, but we should also not give him more credit or more power than he has after being defanged by Christ’s resurrection.
God and love are synonymous. Any talk about love that is not talk about Jesus is, at most, a half-truth.
What the law is powerless to do, Jesus accomplishes for us. Jesus delivers what the law demands.
Neither the disciples nor Paul expected a resurrected Messiah, so something has to account for their dramatic transition from faithless to fearless in the days/years following Jesus’ crucifixion.
Paul says Christian faith means confessing Jesus is Lord, beginning at the Cross, and owning the historical fact that God raised Him from the dead.
The Church becomes anti-church when the new world order Christ inaugurated by eliminating demographic division through the commonality of Baptism is exploded by allegiance to cults of personality.