CHRISTIANITY

  THE TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS 2And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON; LISTEN TO HIM.” 8And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. MARK 9:2-8 COMMENTARY Six days after the foretelling of his death (Mt 16:24; Mk 8:31), and eight days, including the prophesy of the death of the Lord (Lk 9:21), Jesus took his closest apostles, Peter, James, and John to an unknown high m

  THE TEMPTATIONS IN THE DESERT 1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “IT IS WRITTEN: “‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ And “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’” 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to him, “All these I will giv

  WAS THE NEW TESTAMENT REALLY WRITTEN IN GREEK? The oldest manuscripts we have from the Christian New Testament are all in Greek language, and none of them are copies directly from their original authors. The oldest manuscripts we have of the New Testament written in Koine Greek are 5,800, apart from thousands more written in Latin and other later translations; however, Greek has always been considered, according to the dating data, to be the basic texts from which all other translations emanate. The problem arises, when we considered that regardless of the age and language of the translations, the original authors of the NT texts were humble people, except probably Matthew, Luke, and Paul. Most of the other apostles and disciples were common fishermen and tradesmen, and the language they spoke was Aramaic. At the time, Judea was a middle ground of Hellenistic, Latin, Jewish, African, and Arab cultures, including their languages. The narrative of the NT let us see the high pro

  ASH WEDNESDAY The custom to use ashes as a sign of repentance dates from biblical times, prior to Lord Jesus (2Sam 13:19; Job 42:5-6; Mt 11:21; Lk 10:13) and for this reason it has been chosen to be spread symbolically on the forehead of the penitent as a sign of sorrow and repentance on the Wednesday, six weeks before Easter. This custom is very old in Western Christendom. The council of Nicaea proclaimed a period of 40 days fasting prior to the commemoration of the sacrifice of Lord Jesus on the Cross (1), and Roman Pope Gregory I (540-604CE) is said to have put ashes on ‘Ash Wednesday’ as initiation of this fasting period (2); finally, in the year 1091, Roman Pope Urban II decreed the custom to be official in Rome (3). ASH WEDNESDAY TODAY Even as this is not a biblical command, the custom has been passed on to all branches of Western Christianity (It has never been practiced in the East), to each church according to their tradition. Traditional Churches, like Catholic, W

  JESUS SANA A UN LEPROSO 40 Y vino a El un leproso rogándole, y arrodillándose le dijo: “Si quieres, puedes limpiarme.” 41 Movido a compasión, extendiendo Jesús la mano, lo tocó, y le dijo: “QUIERO; SÉ LIMPIO.” 42 Y al instante la lepra lo dejó y quedó limpio. 43 Entonces Jesús lo amonestó severamente y enseguida lo despidió, 44 y le dijo: Mira, no digas nada a nadie, sino ve, muéstrate al sacerdote y ofrece por tu limpieza lo que Moisés ordenó, para testimonio a ellos. 45 Pero él, en cuanto salió, comenzó a proclamarlo abiertamente y a divulgar el hecho, a tal punto que Jesús ya no podía entrar públicamente en ninguna ciudad, sino que se quedaba fuera en lugares despoblados; y venían a El de todas partes. MARCOS 1:40-45 COMENTARIO Mientras predicaba en Galilea, un leproso, que obviamente había oído hablar de los poderes sanadores de Jesús, creyó en Él, se acercó al Señor Jesús y le pidió humildemente que lo sanara. Lo reconoció como Señor, porque le habló sin dudar

  ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF HIS WILL The air we breath is conformed of 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% of Water, 0.9% of Argon, and 0.04% of Carbon Dioxide. Life would not be possible without this air on the surface of the planet, among them, human life. But from all these ingredients, the basic element is Oxygen, which is the chemical that causes combustion in the lungs and allows us to breath and renew our physical composition. But this Oxygen, the way we can inhale it, is in diatomic form, meaning, it can only be in two atoms of Oxygen linked together at the time. A monoatomic form of Oxygen, meaning present in a single atom, or with three atoms instead, which is Ozone; both can be lethal to human and animal life, making life on the Earth impossible. Breathable Oxygen can only be present in two atoms linked together at the time, which form a single molecule of Oxygen, which in turn, mixed with the other above-mentioned agents, conform the air we need to continue living.

  HOW LONG DID IT PASS BETWEEN ABRAHAM AND THE LAW? In Galatians 3:17; Apostle Paul mentions 430 years between the time Abraham was given the promise of becoming a great nation and inhabit what is today Israel, and the time when Moses received the Ten Commandments. THE PROBLEM This seems to be the immediate meaning of the text: “This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.” Galatians 3:17 This number seems to have been taken from the book of Exodus 12:40, Hebrew version, where it says openly, that the Israelites were in Egypt for this length of time: “Now the duration of the Israelites' stay in Egypt was 430 years.” Exodus 12:40 – Masoretic. The problem is that Exodus quotes that the duration of the time in Egypt, meaning from Joseph until Moses, were of 430, years, and does not take into account the other three generations from Jacob to Abraham, when the initial

  JESUS WORKS WITH POWER 29And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. 32That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. MARK 1:29 – 34 COMMENTARY After the incident in the Capernaum synagogue, on a Shabbat, Jesus went to the house of Simon, Peter, and healed his mother-in-Law, since she had been sick for a while without the use of medicine or effort. Jesus’s fame had become known, and that evening, people from all over the town came to Simon’s house begging for Lord Jes

  DIFFERENCES AND DIFFERENCES Our salvation depends only on our faith in JESUS OF NAZARETH, our Redeemer, the Son of God (Acts 16:31; Eph 2:8). But this faith, is understood to be obedient, that is, to be followed by a desire and compromise to live under our Savior’s will (Jn 14:23; 15:9-10), under the danger of falling off Grace if we do not submit to Christ’s will (Mt 7:21, 26-27; Jn 15:4-6). Nevertheless, it is our faith alone in Jesus that finally saves us because no human will ever come to the end of his life and be ready to pass a divine judgement and found to be perfect and totally obedient, always faithful to God. He will be sinful (Acts 7:59; Ro 10:6-9). Every Christian, regardless how he has lived, in holiness or sinfulness, he must always repent at the last minute and ask Lord Jesus for forgiveness, and he will be forgiven (Jn 6:37; Heb 4:16; 1Jn 1:9), That is the only way we can attain salvation. Through forgiveness, due to our living faith in Jesus, and not in hope