Character in Context

Yeah, you guys get the picture. I have my snark on for this one. Yeshua/Jesus is pretty specific here but we don't like it so we try to find workarounds. Let's look at these final verses of the Olivet Discourse in Mark 13 to find out exactly what He is and is not saying.

What is the huge deal here about the Son of Man coming on the clouds and what does it tell us about the identity of Yeshua/Jesus? And fig trees again? Did the fig tree growers association have an endorsement deal with the writers or is there a deeper meaning to be found here?

Such a controversial subject and we are going to look at some of the leading theories as to when this was as well as some more off the beaten path proposals. And just what is it that the reader is directed to understand?

Here, at the beginning of the Olivet Discourse, the longest speech in Mark and perhaps the oldest written document about Yeshua/Jesus, Yeshua responds to the disciples question of “When the heck is the Temple going to be destroyed??!!” with a bunch of false signs which won’t tell them much of anything because, as He says, “These are all just part of normal life.” And so why, when so many non-scholars read them, do they get moved out of the immediate context and into predictions of still future events?

The destruction of the Temple Herod rebuilt marked the end of Jewish life as they had known it. The Temple marked the center of Jewish culture, Jewish religion, Jewish worship, Jewish hopes, Jewish nationalism, and Jewish identity. To call it the end of the world as they knew it is to severely misrepresent what it was like for them. This week, we will look at the writings of Josephus, Tacitus, and other historians at the Jewish war of 66-70 CE and the destruction of the Temple by Titus in 70 CE.

Mark 13 is filled with apocalyptic symbolism and prophecy—but is it pointing to what we presume it us? We’re going to do a quick and dirty crash course in the genre of Jewish apocalypse. We’re going to clarify and clean up the reality and wrong assumptions about prophecy in Scripture. And we will find out what eschatology means and how it relates to Mark 13, if at all.

The son of a social media friend committed suicide back in February and while talking about it, I realized how shamefully the believing community fails to serve those who are suicidal, clinically depressed, and mentally ill. Part of the problem is a terrible misunderstanding of what the word Pharmakeia meant in the ancient world and the tendency for modern people to look at a word and judge the ancient context by what related terms mean today. As this misunderstanding adversely affects those who need our help the most, we’ll be looking at Pharmakeia in the Greco-Roman world and also at what it is actually most like today—and the results may shock you.

This is a real controversial topic within some fringe Torah groups and I was asked to address it from a Biblical/historical perspective. Last week, I talked about male and female-identified religion and the dangers—and this is a big draw for some men. So, we’re going to look at what the Bible does and does not say about it. Is it ever spoken of in a positive way? What is the fruit? What restrictions did Yeshua/Jesus put on marriage and what did Paul have to say about polygynists in leadership?

Hey all! The Dire Straits is upon us—that three-week period before the 9th of Av when like all heck breaks lose spiritually. We’re starting out the next few weeks with a break before diving into Mark 13 and 14, and I am going to cover three (at least) topics that people have been requesting I discuss. This week I want to talk about those pesky people who used to be believers before denying Yeshua/Jesus and then become stealth missionaries for the other side, actively manipulating people by presenting the Bible out of context for the sole purpose of slowly converting people away from our Messiah. I will use that as a segue into the problem of male and female identified religions—which is where people who go this path will often end up. Men and couples into more male-identified modes of religious life and women into neo-paganism. After watching this happen for the last eight years, there is a definite trend and I want to talk about how and why it happens.

Lest all the scribes get credit for the wisdom and honesty of the one (remember, the ones attached to the Sanhedrin have decided to get rid of him at this point), Yeshua takes the group of them to task for, among other things, oppressing the vulnerable and namely, widows. And what is the tragedy of the “Widow’s Mite” that is so often missed?