DISCIPLE

Was Jesus born on December 25, or in December at all?  Although it’s not impossible, it seems unlikely. The Bible does not specify a date or month. One problem with December is that it would be unusual for shepherds to be  “abiding in the field”  at this cold time of year when fields were unproductive. The normal practice was to keep the flocks in the fields from Spring to Autumn. Also, winter would likely be an especially difficult time for pregnant Mary to travel the long distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem (70 miles). “A more probable time would be late September, the time of the annual  Feast of Tabernacles , when such travel was commonly accepted. Thus, it is rather commonly believed (though not certain) that Jesus’ birth was around the last of September. The conception of Christ, however, may have taken place in late December of the previous year... Isn’t the virgin birth of Jesus Christ mythological and scientifically impossible? Answer How do we k...

A prison chaplain noticed an inmate who had been tasked with mending uniforms. Greeting the man cheerfully, he said, "Good morning, friend! Sewing?" "No sir," replied the inmate with a grim smile. "Reaping!" As the book of Daniel opens, the southern kingdom of Judah is about to reap a bitter harvest for long years of disobedience to God's Word. Judgment should not have come as a surprise, for as far back as Moses, somber warnings had been clearly sounded regarding the price of departure from God (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). When judgment came, it was for two clear reasons. First, the Mosaic Law specified that every seventh year the land was not to be farmed since it was a sabbatic year, a year of rest for the land, symbolizing that "the earth is the Lord's." But apparently the Israelites had not observed this law for 490 years, because the writer of Chronicles states that the captivity was 70 years in length because: "As ...