We are explaining the origin of some Christmas traditions and customs. Before diving into the one for this week, I did want to point out a question that sometimes comes up at this time of year - why do people sometimes write Xmas? The origins of that phrase actually comes from the Greek...
Have you ever put up your Christmas tree and wondered, “Who in the world came up with the idea of putting a tree in your house to celebrate the birth of Jesus?” Or maybe you see all the pine needles your tree (real or fake!) is shedding and ask, “Why in the world is it a pine...
The passing of Thanksgiving moves us into the Christmas season, with Advent being the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day. This Jewish festival of Hanukkah typically occurs during this time as well, with December 2-10 the 2018 dates for the holiday. Many people wonder about the origin of this...
I have always found it interesting how quickly our culture moves from Thanksgiving to the Christmas Shopping Season and days like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. We start by giving thanks for what we have and then almost immediately begin thinking about what we need...
A question I have been asked by a few people over the past couple of years is why the New Testament sometimes refers to Jesus as “Jesus Christ” and other times as “Christ Jesus.” People are more used to “Jesus Christ,” but in Romans 8, for example, it...
I was recently asked to explain a verse that, to be completely honest, I find to be one of (if not the most) confusing verses in all of the Bible: 1 Corinthians 15:29. In it, Paul writes, “Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at...
Through the years I have noticed that Christians have different perspectives on Halloween -- some don’t observe it because of references to the occult and practices of the day of the dead, while others enjoy it because it gives them an opportunity to leave their houses and even knock on a...
