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.
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.
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 no pain like the pain of being mistreated by those who, above all others, you expect to love you unconditionally.
We all began by hearing the truth, and then speaking the truth and believing the truth. That truth came to us on the lips of another.
No, when the Lord is ready for battle, of all creatures, he commissions Mary’s little lamb.
I became like God’s child David, whom the Lord pardoned of his adultery and murder. I became like Noah, Abraham, Judah, Aaron, Gideon, and so many more wayward children.
God cannot love me unconditionally without prerequisites, especially after all I’ve done, can He?
Take away the water, words, bread and wine. Can you be a Christian without water, words, bread and wine?
He has wandered away into the darkness of his doubting, got lost in his grief, confused by the pains he’s suffered. It happens. Shepherds sometimes become lost sheep as well.
Today the Spirit whom unfaithful David prayed the Lord would not take from him Pours himself into sinners that they might sing of the faithful love of their Husband.
Hus was burned at the stake in his early 40s, Luther lived to a fairly ripe, old age, but why?
What Jesus did and gives on these two Thursdays encapsulates his whole life and mission.
But on the mountain in Galilee, where we encounter a very different side of God, doubts overtake us. Why?
Should we consider the tomb of Jesus completely empty, or just somewhat empty?