Science&Faith

St. Peter (mainly) preached in Rome where he served as its first bishop, was then crucified head downward on the Vatican Hill and his bones rest beneath the high altar of his basilica there; this was  confirmed by  archaeologists  in 1939 when they  found the original tomb with writing “Peter is within.” His feast day is  June 30 ; additionally his (Papal) Seat is celebrated on February 22 .  St. Paul  mainly preached in Turkey and Greece, was beheaded in Rome and is buried  beneath the high altar of  his basilica there on the Via Ostia; in  2009 this was confirmed  by archeological research. His feast day is  June 30  together with St. Peter ; additionally Paul's conversion is celebrated on January 25 .  St. John the Evangelist lived in Ephesus (Turkey, with Mary), was imprisoned on Patmos (Greece) where he wrote the book Revelation, and  died back in Ephesus where he was buried as well, all according to...

Many see in Jesus of Nazareth a (great) prophet or (only) a great moral teacher, but are not aware of His own claims about Himself as reported in the Gospels. C.S. Lewis , famous for his christian apologetics, said: " Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. ... But... not ... a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. ” Here an extensive list of Jesus' claims, see for yourself;-) Origin And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man who is in Heaven. (John 3,13) For the bread of God is He that cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life unto the world. (John 6,33) For I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. (John 6,38) Ye are from beneath; I am from above. Ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8,23-24) ...

Of old it  has been emphasized  that the  One (Judeo-)Christian  God  is  Transcendent . That was certainly necessary to make a clear distinction with paganism, which is  often  pantheistic ( i.e. seeing  nature as  divine). Worshipping 'Mother Earth' as a goddess is a prime example. This (feminine) picture of earth as a mother seems very 'natural' as both have associations with the familiar, with sensing, having a connection, with something/someone close by.  The (masculine)  view of the  Abrahamic  God certainly contrasts strongly:  a (more) distant, rational,  fatherly figure, in short Someone T ranscendent. Nevertheless, heresies like  the five solo 's of Martin Luther, are precisely wrong because in stressing this 'only,' they put limits on the God who is Almighty, Unconditional, Omnipresent, in short Unlimited. In the same way, it cannot be said that God is 'only' trancendent; 'He' is immane...

This post discusses the Chronology of the three great christian feasts (Christmas, Easter & Pentecost) that form the backbone of the process of Redemption, that it follows a certain Sequence and what this could teach us. Christmas ,  the first Feast,   is celebrated on December 25, at the beginning of W inter, when the days are shortest, and also in the middle of the Night , so at the darkest moment. The signification of the Feast,  Jesus who enters   into the world  as its  Light ,  corresponds well with that timing in the natural cycle . In the same month,  the 25th day of   Kislev,   Hanukkah  a Jewish festival is celebrated,  commemorating the  rededication of the   Second Temple .   This  also corresponds well with the birth of Christ, the new Temple ( cf . Jesus' words in  John 2:19 : destroy this Temple and in three days I will rebuild it). Incidentally,  Hanukkah is observed for...

There's no explicit mention of the Trinity in the Old Testament (obviously, otherwise the Jews would believe it as well). However, there are enough 'glimpses' of the teaching that we can say that it is clearly being foreshadowed. This post contains a listing of all these glimpses. God in the plural Genesis 1,1 states:  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  The word used for God, Elohim , is a plural noun but used here with a singular verb bara . Then Genesis 1,26 :  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And Isaiah 54,5 proclaims:  For thy Maker  is  thine husband; the LORD of hosts  is  his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.  The word used for Maker is plural in Hebrew. Triplets Deuteronomy 6,4  contains the great Sh’ma prayer of Judaism: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.  Besides a triple naming (LORD, God, LORD), t...