When Jesus came, he announced a New Covenant that was far different from the Old Covenant. Ever since, a debate has raged back and forth about exactly what are the terms and conditions of this new covenant. In other words, what, if any, Old Testament commandments must Christians observe?

Hebrews 6:1,2 presents six “foundation[al]” Christian teachings. They are the “elementary principles of Christ,” the “first principles,” babies’ “milk” (5:12,13). They are the first and most important teachings one should learn and understand. Everyone knows when you build something, the foundation is laid first, and then you build on top of it. Thus all Christian teachings are based upon these six fundamentals. In this article we will examine the first teaching: “repentance from dead works.”

In this article I want to look into the purpose behind the second commandment. Many might say, Why ask, since it is so obvious? It forbids idolatry. If that is true, then why wasn’t this lengthy commandment simply shortened to, You shall not commit idolatry? And further, the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me,” already included idolatry.

Many do not realize that the New Covenant actually pre-dated the Old Covenant by hundreds of years. How can that be?

It seems to me that if this question could be correctly answered, so much error and confusion would be erased from the minds of so many Christians and Jews. Eschatology would become clearer and better understood…

Merriam-Webster says fatalism is “a doctrine that events are fixed in advance so that human beings are powerless to change them.” Considering this definition, do you think you are a fatalist? Fatalism pops up frequently every day in many of our words and phrases, such as: “it was meant to be,” “it was not his time to die,” destiny, karma, astrological signs. All of these point to one conclusion: none of us have free choice. And if fatalism is a fait accompli, how can one “cheat fate”? We should not be surprised that fatalism, like so many other contemporary philosophies, has its roots in pre-Christian paganism. In fact, most of the world’s major religions teach some form of fatalism. That being said, a Christian should ask, does the Bible teach fatalism?

In Leviticus 23 the Bible lists what are called “the feasts of the LORD,” and “My feasts” (v2). These festivals were observed annually by the Israelites at “appointed times” (v4), fixed dates and seasons on the Jewish (lunar) calendar. My experience has been that most Christians know little or nothing about these festivals. Let’s examine them…

After first wondering why a question with such an obviously easy answer was even asked, most would respond, “The Jews, of course.” The purpose of this article is to question whether that answer is really indeed correct…

I wonder if there is any other word in the English language that has more meanings and applications than the word “hell.” It is used as a noun with a seemingly innumerable number of meanings, and as an adjective or adverb modifying an equally innumerable number of subjects and verbs. Think about it. Hell can indicate fast or slow, hot or cold, fat or thin. The meaning of what other word could be more confusing? When trying to decipher the meaning of biblical hell, it can be just as confusing…

The first recorded teaching of Jesus was at the Passover, when he revealed to Nicodemas, “…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). I think that the fact that this is Jesus’ first message is significant, since it is foundational and central to all that he and his disciples would later preach and write about…