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Examining End Times Beliefs: A Scriptural Perspective If the news we watch every day, and the social media we follow is true, the end times must be just around the corner, right? What does Scripture say? Faced with such a dire time of tribulation, some Christians have wondered whether they will have to live through it. The historic answer, for both Catholics and Protestants, is that we will. Jesus warned us we would have to face persecution (John 15:20). However, in the ninet …

As the number of Christian books grew, so did the need for the Catholic Church to discern which were truly authoritative, which were merely helpful, and which were positively harmful. This resulted in a process that gradually clarified which books did and didn’t count as Scripture.The guiding principle for Christians was Jesus Christ himself, so the question became which books he would consider authoritative. Since he presented his ministry as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, this …

One of the objections to the Christian faith that most impacts people on an emotional level is the problem of evil: if God is good, why would he allow evil to exist? This objection gains its power because we all experience evils in life. Type of Evil:Philosophers and theologians divide evil into two types.-Moral evil occurs when people perform immoral acts (i.e., sins). Adultery is an example of moral evil.-Physical evil occurs when people suffer, whether or not that suffering was caused by sin. …

As the Christian faith spread, its members encountered new challenges, and the early Church began to develop an extensive apologetic literature, directed both externally—to non-Christians—and internally—to deal with apologetic issues among those professing to be Christian. Early Apologists and their Critics: Beginning in the second century, a group of Christian authors known specifically as “apologists” began to appear. They also had critics. One of the most prominent second century apologists w …

CHALLENGE: The value of Christ’s sacrifice was infinite. He paid it all. Therefore, there is no role for penance in the Christian life.DEFENSE: The value of Christ’s death on the cross was infinite—more than enough to pay for all the sins of mankind. But even after God has forgiven the eternal consequences of our sins, he wants us to experience some negative consequences.When a child misbehaves, there need to be consequences. If parents never applied any discipline, the child would never learn h …