Video: Crucifixion of Jesus
Video: Crucifixion of Jesus
Video: Crucifixion of Jesus. Did the body of Jesus rot on the cross?
Some history buffs say Romans would never have allowed the body of Jesus to be taken off the cross so quickly, and buried.
Though there are lots of references to crucified criminals getting left to rot on the cross, there's no indication Romans followed that as standard procedure. And there is plenty of evidence that bodies were removed from the cross and buried.
Romans did both. They let some criminals hang and rot. They let others get taken down and buried.
Video: Did the body of Jesus rot on the cross?
Video: Marriage by rape
Video: Marriage by rape
Video: Marriage by rape.
One of the ancient Jewish laws required someone who raped a virgin to marry her and never divorce her, since he ruined her for other men.
Unforgivable sin video
Unforgivable sin video
Video about the unforgivable sin
Unforgiveable sin: Here’s a nervous question ministers get sometimes when they counsel people: “What’s the unforgivable sin Jesus was talking about…because I think I did it?” The sin is “slandering the Holy Spirit.” But here’s why Bible scholars say the minister should tell the nervous soul to relax.
Unforgiveable sin
The unforgiveable sin, Q&A
I’M WORKING on paraphrasing the Gospel of Mark for the Casual English Bible, and adding a leader’s guide with an atlas of maps. I hope to post it online in another couple of weeks.
Here’s one of the tough questions I have to try to answer.
Take a look. Offer advice. I’m all E-ears.
The forever sin
QUESTION
Pastors say one of the most common questions they get during counseling with people who know at least a little about the Bible is that they are afraid they are going to hell because they sinned against the Holy Spirit. Mark said,“There is no forgiveness for those who slander the Holy Spirit. That sin lasts forever” (Mark 3:29 Casual English Bible).That shocking quote from Jesus also shows up in the Gospels of Matthew (12:31-32) and Luke (12:10). It sounds as though we could be in big trouble if we give the Holy Spirit a good cussing out. What’s a pastor to say?
ANSWER
The footnote to this verse in the Casual English Bible might be a good place to start:“The word is more literally ‘blaspheme.’ It’s not clear what Jesus meant by this. Matthew reports that Jesus said this after some Pharisees accused him of casting out demons by the power of Satan (Matthew 12:22-27). Given that context, some scholars say the sin is crediting Satan with a miracle performed by the Holy Spirit. Others suggest it is simply a person’s persistent unwillingness to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, which describes the critics Jesus faced. For people who fear they have committed the unforgivable sin, Bible experts point them to 1 John 1:9, which says that if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. Period.”The way the story flows in Matthew’s account is that Jesus had just healed a man who was triple-dipped in trouble. The man was demon possessed, blind, and unable to talk. Pharisees knew that healing this man was the kind of thing God would do, and not the kind of thing Satan would do. Yet they talked themselves out of believing that God did it. And they talked themselves into believing Satan did it. They looked into the eyes of the Son of God who had just healed this man, and they called him the son of Satan. People who are that intent on not seeing God when he is standing right there in front of them will, in fact, not see him. God won’t forgive people who refuse to acknowledge him or their sins. That, perhaps, is the bad news Jesus delivered to the Pharisees. But for people today who are worried that they’ve committed a sin that can never be forgiven, their worry is evidence that they haven’t committed it. That’s what many pastors tell the people they counsel. If we ask for forgiveness, God forgives us. It’s a message that shows up throughout the Bible.
“Turn away from sinful living. If you do that, God will forgive you and erase your sins” (Acts 3:19).
Inspirational videos about death
Inspirational videos about death
inspirational videos about death. When the ones we love have died.
Story of Milo & Hal Skinner, young man & grandpa who died in their small plane.
Video: When the ones we love have died
Video: Fallen Angels, did they marry human women?
Video: Fallen Angels, did they marry human women?
Fallen Angels
Did they marry human women?
One of the oddest stories in the Bible spins around fallen angels. The anonymous Genesis writer, often presumed to be Moses, says this: "Humans had sex a lot. Earth’s population exploded. Some of the daughters born to the families grew into gorgeous women. Sons of God took notice, and then took the women—any women they wanted…A race of giants called the Nephilim lived on earth at the time, when sons of God married whatever women they wanted. Their children grew up to become heroes—legendary warriors” (Genesis 6:2, 4 Casual English Bible)."Sons of God" who?
So, someone or something that the Genesis writer cryptically called “sons of God” had really good taste in woman. And it sounds like they did more than make babies. They supersized them. They made giants. That’s one way to read the story. What’s going on here? Who are these “sons of God?”One theory
Well, they’re angels. That’s the oldest known interpretation of this Bible passage. And it’s still the most widely accepted among Christian Bible experts. If that theory’s right, back in those patriarchal days when men sometimes treated women like goats, and other livestock, there were at least some women who could honestly say, “My husband’s an angel.” Yeah, but they were fallen angels. That’s another take on the theory.For more, watch the video, Fallen Angels, did they marry human women?
Video: Looking for Noah’s ark in the mountains
Video: Looking for Noah's ark in the mountains
Video: High Seas, Looking for Noah's ark in the mountains
Audio reading, Luke 2, birth Jesus
Audio reading, Luke 2, birth Jesus
Audio file, a reading of the Christmas story, from Luke 2> it's about the birth and childhood of Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem.
Audio file, Luke 2, the birth and childhood of Jesus
Video/reading of Genesis 1
Video: I will thank God he’s my Savior
Video: I will thank God he's my Savior
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Stephen M. Miller wrote the song "I will thank God he's my Savior" immediately after reading the last words of a prophet. God had just told Habakkuk that invaders would take everything. And they did, erasing Israel from the map. The prophet was never heard from again. But his last words remain haunting, challenging, and inspiring.STORY BEHIND THE SONG
• I Will Thank God He's My SaviorLYRICS
When the fig tree fails to blossom, the grape refuses to grow, when the olive dies in the treetops, the field is scorched here below, when the sheep are taken from us, the cattle are gone from the stalls, what is left to the measure of life? What should we do when we fall? CHORUS I will thank God, he’s my Savior. He gives me the strength to go on. He gives me the sure-footed speed of the deer, To higher ground he leads on. When the child in me is broken And I fail at what I would do, Angry, ashamed and uncertain, Not a hint, not a hope, not a clue. When I lose my sense of direction, I can't find my way back to you. When questions don't seem to matter to me, What is there left here to do? CHORUS x3WHY I WROTE THE SONG
I’m paraphrasing the entire Casual English Bible. I have just a few books left. There’s one little section in the Bible that inspired this song...in a really odd way. I was finishing the Bible book of Habakkuk--a book most Christians probably never heard of--and I did something I’m embarrassed to admit, because it's strange. I was so moved by what the prophet said in his prayer that I got up from the desk, in the middle of the workday, and I ran down to my media room, and wrote this song. The core of the lyrics comes from Habakkuk 3:17-19. I can’t sing very well. I can manage some songs, but I can't do justice to this one. So, I gave it to my daughter who can sing; she has a beautiful voice. A few weeks later, I was walking her second-grade son home from school and I asked how the song was going. He said "Terrible." I asked if it was the lyrics or the tune. He said, "Both. You need to start over." The kid is a short second-grader. And he's looking up at me and telling me that? I started laughing. Well I couldn’t leave it. So, to bring the song to life, I hired a group of New York City musicians whose real names I’m not able to use because of the contract they have with the music producer. So, the names of Gabe & Michela are pseudonyms, and a tip of the hat to a couple famous angels. I wrote the song. But another man and a woman sang it, backed up by a band and a gifted sound engineer. In Habakkuk’s book, God tells him invaders are coming. They will destroy the farms and vineyards, take the livestock, level the cities, kill many of the people of Israel, and send the survivors into slavery or exile. Israel disappears from the world map. And we never hear from Habakkuk again. But his response lives on. It’s what inspired this song, because it inspired me. I hope it does the same for you.Music video "I will thank God he's my savior"
Fun with Ecclesiastes
Fun with Ecclesiastes
Fun with Ecclesiastes
Here's some more good news. We don't have to agree with everything in the Bible. That's good because some "wisdom" writers...like the one claiming to be Solomon in Ecclesiastes... occasionally sound a little over the edge and off the wall. Whoever actually wrote that book says it's the story of his journey to find the Meaning of Life...why we humans exist. Naturally, he begins buy conducting this very logical scientific experiment:"I decided to drink a lot of wine and make bad decisions—as part of a scholarly study. I wanted to know the best way to spend the short time we have in life: as the rascals or the righteous." (Ecclesiastes 2:3)The point of this video is to remind us to think about what we're reading. Not everything in the Holy Bible is holy or wise. The Bible reports the stories of both those who got it right and those who got it wrong. Job's comforters, for example. They brought no comfort and only bad advice. Ecclesiastes gets it right sometimes and wrong other times. That's because the writer is telling the story of his journey. He's not preaching. Or if he is, he shouldn't.
Watch on
YouTube or Vimeo.Ecclesiastes 1
WHATEVER WE DO, IT’S A WASTE OF TIME
1David’s son, the Scholar and King of Jerusalem, offers these observations. 2It’s a pitiful waste of time, the Scholar says. It’s all worthless and meaningless. 3What do people get for all their hard work, For spilling their sweat under the sun? 4A generation dies and another is born, But it makes no difference to the everlasting earth. 5The sun rises. The sun sets. Then it races all night to rise again. 6The wind blows north. The wind blows south. The wind blows round and round. It follows its route, comes back home, Then it starts all over again. Read More.Having fun with Ecclesiastics
Video: Majestic, God who puts humans in charge
Video: Majestic, God who puts humans in charge
Psalm 8 video: In one of King David’s most famous songs, he raves about God and then wonders why a god would bother with humans…let alone trust them with the control over all of creation.
Here are the lyrics, from the new Casual English Bible® paraphrase.
PSALM 8
THERE’S MAJESTY TO GOD’S NAME
FROM HERE TO HIGH HEAVEN, GOD SHINES
A psalm of David. LORD and master, There’s a majesty to your name throughout the earth. Your glory shines from here to high heaven… When I look at the sky you created with your fingers, And the moon and stars you hung there, I have to ask why you bother with people. Why do you care about us at all? You created us just a little less than yourself. And then you glorified us with high honors.HUMANITY: EARTH’S CARETAKER
You put us in charge of everything you made. Gave us control of all of your creatures: Every sheep and cow in the fields, Every wild critter in the woods, Every bird in the sky and fish in the sea, And any other animal that gets wet in the water. LORD and master, There’s a majesty to your name, spread throughout the earth.Majestic, the God who puts humans in charge
Video of Psalm 8: Majestic, God who puts human in charge
Video: A little prayer for kindness
Video: A little prayer for kindness
Video: A little prayer for kindness
About 3,000 years ago, a Jewish songwriter who seemed in big trouble wrote a prayer to God, asking him to show some kindness and help him out of whatever problem he was facing at the time. Here's part of the prayer, excerpted from Psalm 31, in the new Casual English Bible.
LORD, I need some kindness here.
I’m in big trouble.
I’ve cried my eyes red and dry.
I’m weary to the bone And crushed in the spirit.
I’ve known sorrow all my life.
I’ve moaned my way through the years.
My strength has collapsed, Weakened by my sin.
My body is run down and used up.
I have so many enemies now That everybody seems to hate me.
Everyone who knows me dreads me. If they see me coming, They get going.
I’m a shattered pot, a broken man. I’m as gone and forgotten as a dead man.
I’ve heard my share of insults. I’m terrorized by people on all sides.
They’re ganging up on me.
But here’s the thing. I trust you, LORD.
I remind myself, “You are my God.”
You hold the days of my life In the palm of your hand.
Shine some kindness on me. Save me because kindness is who you are.
Video: The Greatest Show of Faith on Earth…the Faith of Habakkuk
Video: The Greatest Show of Faith on Earth...the Faith of Habakkuk
Video: The Greatest Show of Faith on Earth—the faith of Habakkuk.
A contender for the greatest show of faith on earth is a prophet most Christians have probably never heard about, Habakkuk
Aside from Jesus, who expressed his faith by dying on a cross, the faith of Habakkuk, this little-known prophet, showed what he was made of when he found out his Jewish nation was about to get wiped off the map.
Most Christians never read what he said, even though his words lit the spark that produced the Protestant movement.
When he got the news that Jerusalem would fall, he shook with fear, went into isolation, and grew depressed. But when he came up for air, the words he spoke anchored him God. Christians who know the words he spoke remember them, at least well enough to put into their own words and apply them to tough times they face.
Habakkuk 3
Faith of a prophet who lost his country: Habakkuk
Video: The Greatest Show of Faith on Earth