CHRISTIANITY

It is accepted that Jesus took on human nature in its full sense, as we are. For this reason Scripture says: “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:17 Jesus’s human nature was subjected to the same limitations and faculties common to all humans; subjected to tiredness (Jn 4:6-7), hunger (Mk 11:12), physical sensitivity (Mt 27:34), need of sleep (Mk 4:38), circumscription of space (Jn 11:21) and also passions, including love (Mk 10:21), anger (Jn 2:14-16), sadness (Jn 11:33-36) and fear (Lk 22:42-44). He also possessed qualities like capacity to grow, intelligence and capability to learn (Lk 2:52). In this respect, his human nature could be identified truly as one of us. Jesus was a real human being. However, in order to represent all of humanity, Jesus had to incarnate like Adam

In his second epistle to the Corinthians, St Paul states: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” (2Cor 6:14-15) Even though Paul may be referring to social connections in general, marriage, as one of the most important “social connections” in human life, is certainly included here. Marriage binds a man and a woman in a single unit that has physical and spiritual dimensions unique to this status, so special that it is compared to the union of Christ and the Church (Gn 2:24; Mk 10:6-8; Eph 5:25-33). For a marriage to be successful there must be coherence in moral beliefs and a common view on life’s purpose. Without this cohesion the harmonious unification of a couple “as one” in the full sense of the word, would be impossible. Furthermore, St Paul also says: “Bad comp

The Sun is a star, like millions of others in space that is made up of burning plasma as a result of internal nuclear combustion.   It is said to consume 600 million tons of hydrogen, or 4 million tons of matter per second. Air is composed of many gases, mainly of Nitrogen (78%), Oxygen (21%), Carbon Dioxide (0.04%), and others, from which only Oxygen is consume by our bodies during the breathing process. Oceans are massive bodies of water, accumulated and contained within holes in the Earth’s crust, allegedly by gravity. THE PROCESS Even though scientists sustain that all of the Sun’s energy eventually will be consumed; nevertheless this star has been burning unceasingly from the beginning of humanity to our own times, making life possible.   The Oxygen we consume from the air is a particular two molecule type called Dioxygen (0 2). If the oxygen we breathe would carry one more molecule, it would become Ozone, and be poisonous for us. If it had one molecule less, it

Through history, Christian theology has tried to identify several approaches and conceptions of the Atonement of Christ as distinct from one another. Theologians have put forward theories apparently distinct from one another, have giving them names like Ransom, Recapitulation, Moral Influence, Satisfaction and other names as they appeared in history, from the early centuries to the modern era. WHY ARE THEY CONSIDERED DISTINCT FROM ONE ANOTHER Theologians have made these distinctions according to the manner the Atonement was explained at different times in history. That way, for example, the Ransom theory, where Jesus ransomed humans from eternal death, is assigned to the early Church Fathers; while the more medieval Satisfaction theory is assigned to Saint Anselm of Canterbury and so on. ARE THEY REALLY DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER? Even though these different ways to explain the Atonement were presented by different people at different times in history, looking at the

Most people have experienced sometime in their lives, that whenever things are going really well, all of the sudden they give a 360 degree turn and become sour or disappointing. When we least expected it and have taken things as done, they dismantle without any apparent reason leaving us perplexed and depressed. WHY THIS HAPPENS There are four reasons why things go unexpectedly wrong, even though we have done things properly and failure should not be a logical consequence of our actions: 1 – A FALLEN WORLD: When God said to Adam : “Cursed is the ground because of you; … thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you”                                                                                                                                                    (Gn 3:17-18 ) In a world like ours, separated from the Glory of God, our efforts will not always attain its final purpose. We will toil, and instead of fruit, thorns will sprout. 2 – EVIL WILLS: Som

This is one of the basic doctrines of the Christian Religion that sometimes gets distorted by foreign theories. 1 – When a person dies, his body goes to the ground, but his spirit is judged immediately (Heb 9:27)(Lk 16:22-23). 2 – The unrighteous in full consciousness, go to an intermediate state where they suffer despair and torment in the spirit, and the righteous to a place of joy and bliss, in God’s presence in the spirit.   There they remain in waiting for the Great Judgement. (Lk16:19-31)(Rev 6:9-11) 3 – Then comes a first Resurrection, where the righteous will rise again, and together with the righteous who remain alive until then, they will receive Lord Jesus Christ at his Second Coming, to reign with Him forever. (1Th 4:15-17)(Rev 20:4-6). 4- After a thousand years of the ruling of Christ and his saints over the nations of the world, and after the Battle of Gog and Magog, a Second Resurrection will take place for all the unrighteous, who will parade together wi

Around the year 930 BC, the united monarchy of the Kingdom of Israel split in between the two of King Solomon’s sons; Israel in the north under Jeroboam I and Judah in the south under Rehoboam. The Kingdom of Judah retained the Holy city of Jerusalem, the temple and the priesthood, while the Kingdom of Israel established its own version of Mosaic religion at Shechem. However, even after this schism, God Almighty never abandoned Israel, but maintained his promises to them as they were given when they were one nation with Judah. Even though only the Kingdom of Judah had the things necessary to worship God as He commanded; and they could be counted as the “original and genuine” Mosaic religion; God sent prophets to Israel and many were born there, like Elijah, Elisha, Hosea and Amos. When their dispensation was completed, both Kingdoms were destroyed by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires respectively, until the later formation of Judea, where our Lord Jesus Christ was bor

The word “Church” comes from the Greek E κκλησία, that means “assembly” or “congregation”. The word itself does not imply any specific model or system, save a group of people united by a common interest and vision. During his earthly ministry, our Lord Jesus Christ did not leave a perfectly organized apparatus that we could catalogue as an institution in the same way as we conceive a Church organization today; but he left the basis for the developing of one fully equipped organization and spoke about it: “And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”   (Mt 16:18) “If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”       (Mt 18:17) The Christian community of believers was initially made up by the Apostles of the Lord and the little number of converts who accepted Lord Jesus as Messiah. (Mt 16:16); later on after Pentecost, it

It is common to hear and read catholic comments that Protestant editions of the Bible are wrong, especially the King James version in English and the Reina Valera version in Spanish.   However, in the editions of the New Jerusalem Bible, a heretical translation long time discarded has been brought back to the gospel text of Luke 3:22; where the voice of YHWH comes down from Heaven and speaks to our Lord coming out of the Jordan River. In all Protestant and old Catholic Bibles, the passage reads like this: “And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “YOU ARE MY BELOVED SON; WITH YOU I AM WELL PLEASED.” (Luke 3:22, ESV) But the New Jerusalem Bible translates:   “And the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical form, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY HAVE I FATHERED YOU’.” (Luke 3:22 NJB) Nestle Textus: “Σὺ εἶ ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα.” Textus Receptus 15

Since her foundation by Lord Jesus Christ, the Church has gone through different structures of organization as it grew in numbers. From being a small group led by twelve men (Acts 2:42-43), to local groups organized in a communal model led by Elders under the authority of the Apostles (Acts 14:23; 15:4), to finally settle in a more hierarchical structure known today as Episcopal system (1Tim 1:3; 4:11; 5:17-19;Tit 1:5). By the time the apostolic church of the first century was fully organized, it looked like this: SIMON-PETER: Head of the Apostles, first among equals. Even though Peter was one of the Apostles, he was commended with the leadership of the apostolic quorum. That is why Peter is named first among the Apostles’ names (Mt 10:2; Mk 3:16; Lk 6:14). To Peter were the women sent to announce the Lord’s resurrection in a special manner (Mk 16:7). Jesus appeared to Peter before any other apostle (1Cor 15:5). Peter was given a special grace to serve as support to his brot

When some Christians hear the word Tradition, they imagine customs and folkloric practices; but as a theological term that is not the case. Tradition with capital T, is a proper name that refers to the whole set of beliefs and practices that are part of living Christianity. It is not only something that comes from the past, even though Tradition started with the Apostles and chronologically precedes the Scriptures in existence; it is a living phenomenon, as it changes and adapts into new expressions in time. Tradition is divided in two forms according to origin: APOSTOLIC TRADITION: Conformed by all the beliefs and practices that have been held by Christianity since very ancient times, everywhere and by most, to this day. These beliefs are found in the writings of the first Christians, especially of the first four centuries, also known as “Church Fathers”. It is called “apostolic” because due to their antiquity, it is very possible that these ideas were of apostolic or

Since Christians profess the Bible as it stands today, to contain all the doctrine and moral teachings necessary for salvation, and to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit; it professes also as necessary consequence, that the Jewish-Christian scriptures are infallible and inerrable to be able to serve the purpose for which they were created; that is, that they are free from all error in its teachings and in the way they are expressed in their original version. INFALLIBILITY:   Christianity professes that the scriptures, in their original version, are free from error in all doctrinal and moral teachings. (2Tim 3:15-17) INERRANCY:   Christianity also professes that the scripture in its original version is free from factual error in all the information it contains in all matters of human knowledge and science. (Lk 2:1-5) WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT Some modern biblical critics and scholars who don’t believe in the direct divine inspiration of the scriptures, but believe that

At different times we may have heard this question put forward by different Christian groups. Some of them will argue so strongly in favour of a scriptural self -evidence that would give the impression that the whole Bible dropped from Heaven, while others will endorse the role of the Church in defining the Canon that would give the impression that the Church wrote the whole Scripture.     This occurs because both groups have an agenda to protect and vindicate; but the truth in reality, contains part of both version and then something else totally different. The Bible as we know it today, it is composed of two sections, the Jewish Scriptures, which we call “Old Testament”, and the Christian Scriptures, which we call “New Testament”. The main body of the Jewish Scriptures and most important part, is the Torah, which is composed by the first five books prophet Moses wrote under direct revelation of God, which stand today as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. L