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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What does it take to be a Christian? Christ.
Physicality is good. Some way or another, choose a full performance of Messiah and give it your full attention. More than one time. Consider it a devotional practice.
The unbeliever will search for relief from temptations in worldly prescriptions and pleasures. The believer searches for answers in the promises of the One who can bring true lasting peace in mind, body, and soul.
We’ve become experts at making deals with God.
A truly Christian work is it that we descend and get mixed up in the mire of the sinner, taking his sin upon ourselves and floundering out of it with him, not acting otherwise than as if his sin were our own.
Even as children of God, we have down days. That’s just a fact of being sinful and living in an evil world.
Saying the words of the prayer together meant that if my voice became too weak or shaky, other voices would be around to support and continue the message.
As we live as the children of the Father of lights, the giver God, he will keep on pouring out his gifts, and they will overwhelm us more and more.
Only when we stand where God has located Himself for us do we find an imperishable promise.
Dürer's first significant work to be published was a woodcut which served as the title page for a volume of St. Jerome’s Letters in August of 1492.
Suddenly, this word was. It was no longer a breath, or an idea, or a wish.
"Faith Alone, The Heart of Everything" written by Bo Giertz and translated by Bror Erickson, is now available for purchase from 1517 Publishing