First Official Post

The more I read and talk to people, the more I see how much misinformation is out there about the Bible and Christianity. When it comes to the Bible, I have noticed so many are still basing their information off of fictional works such as The Da Vinci Code.  

I remember passing out literature in New York at a Mormon Temple opening. One woman stopped to talk, but when she saw that the literature was Christian she dismissed us by saying "Go read The Da Vinci Code!" as if this fictional book was the final say on the Bible. Or books such as Holy Blood, Holy Grail that put forth a hypothesis about Jesus and his life that, though interesting, is completely inaccurate.

As for Christianity, I find that people are mistaken about its teachings. Many people I have talked to were once involved in some way with the church. But when they describe to me what they were taught, it does not reflect accurately Christian beliefs. Others have had only peripheral exposure to Christianity and are mistaken about its teachings. I hope through these post I can correct some of this misunderstanding and give people an accurate picture of what Christians believe. 

I also hope to help Christians as well. We are called to   "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 1:3) If we are inaccurate about the teachings of the Bible we may find ourselves contending for error. We want to be accurate about what the Bible teaches, history and also accurate in our portrayal of the beliefs of others. The bottom line is we want to tell the truth or we may end up looking like this. 

Sometimes this may mean admitting the mistakes of the church in the past. One things we do not want to do is try to cover them up. 

I also hope to encourage Christians in their faith. We have a faith that is not mystical or mythic but is grounded in history. We can be certain that what we have in the Bible is accurate, both to the events it describes and to the original manuscripts penned by the authors. 

Before I became a Christian (You can read my story here) I thought Christianity was for fools. Then I met someone who was both intelligent and a Christian. Someone who was willing to answer my questions. Someone who was willing to be honest. I found that I was mistaken about Christianity and the Bible. What I had been rejecting was not Christianity at all but a false understanding of it. I am very thankful for this friend and I hope I can too be a friend like this to others.

Over the next few months I will be mainly posting on the topics of the Bible, mainly the New Testament, and medieval church history

Things such as the original Greek text, the transmission of the Bible, it's accuracy, which books should be included and who made that decision, etc. 

I will also be discussing the topic of Medieval Church history. One only need watch a few movies about his period of history to see the negative view most have of the activities of the Church during this time. But are these portrayals accurate? Can we know for sure? I believe we can. So stay tuned for some interesting discussions.