Gospel.com Blog

Do we know the exact location of Jesus’ tomb? What is the Shroud of Turin, and is it authentic or an elaborate hoax? Why were there guards at Jesus’ tomb, and who were they? If you’ve ever wondered about some of the details of the Easter story, our friends at the Archaeological Study Bible can help: they’ve created a site that looks at some of the most interesting situations, questions and objects surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection.

There are ten different entries, each discussing an Easter-related topic with insight provided by archaeological discoveries. Here’s an excerpt from the entry on the Upper Room—is it possible to identify the exact place in Jerusalem where it the Last Supper took place?

Christian tradition, supported by Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 310-386), identifies the site of Holy Zion Church in Jerusalem as the place where the upper room was located. This may well be correct, but the story is complicated and details are disputed by scholars. [...]

The traditional location of the upper room at Holy Zion Church is called the Cenacle or, in Latin, the Coenaculum. It is located outside the Old City near the Zion Gate and may be seen on the sixth-century Madaba Map, an ancient mosaic map of the Holy Land. The Cenacle is also (erroneously) referred to as David’s Tomb.

There’s plenty more to satisfy the archaeology geek in all of us. Explore it yourself here.

We all want an unflappably positive demeanor. We want to be the kind of people that waltz through life smiling and disregarding circumstances, determined to focus on God. Often the Gospel is preached as if the Christian life is a panacea for sadness—cosmic kiss of death to depression.

Yet, despite wanting this and sometimes even believing it to be possible, we still find ourselves not trusting God in moments of despair. We still brood and feel sorry for ourselves and generally act very much in opposition to how we think “good Christians” are supposed to act.

Humanity has an intimate relationship with melancholy. Every book of the Bible is peppered with references to ill-treatment, dissatisfaction and hopelessness. There are very few psalms overflowing with unfettered jubilation.

It’s almost as if these feelings are part and parcel of the human experience or something.

Been Thinking About has been ruminating on Depression and the Christian life these past few days. They have some interesting things to say:

If I’ve learned anything over the years it’s that there is a delicate, complex relationship between body, soul, and spirit. We are so wonderfully, mysteriously, and fearfully made that a disruption in our physical health can cloud our minds, just as a failure of spirit can affect the chemistry of our body. [...]

There are times when a change of mind or perspective can do for us what the Psalmist so often experienced (i.e. Psalm 73). Sometimes it’s a good nights rest, a good walk, times with friends, and a few good laughs. On other occasions, an honest, heart-wrenching struggle with God—to the point of surrender—is desperately needed.

Jump over to read the rest; the comments are particularly good.

For more on this topic, Been Thinking also points to Christianity Today’s recent cover article about depression.

No one would argue that Jesus’ teaching to love our enemies is easy. In fact, it might just be the hardest of his commands. I know from time to time I’ve wondered—did he really mean all of our enemies?

In this article Delve into Jesus discusses what it means to love our enemies:

The love of which Jesus speaks is not a feeling in any sense of the word. It is a decision resulting in action. It is a choice you make that has nothing whatsoever to do with how you feel, and quite often, occurs in spite of a feeling to the contrary. This kind of love judges the needs of a person but never the person themselves, and responds according to the gravity of the need, never the character of the person. [...]

This is the kind of love that Christ demands – not a feeling, but rather a spirit of service, selflessness and humility. It is the ability to give to others with no regard to what they can do to repay you, what they feel for you or what you feel for them.

Jump over to the site to read the rest of the article from Delve into Jesus.

We’re very happy to have you here at Gospel.com!

Over the past few months we’ve been slowly transitioning Gospelcom.net resources over to our new web home, Gospel.com. We’ve also added a number of exciting features to help you connect with the ministry partners that comprise the Gospel.com community.

If you’re looking for a way to search the bible, hop on over to our other main site, biblegateway.com.

Here’s a little bit more information on the three main sections of Gospel.com:

The Topics page let’s you explore the bookmarked content on gospel.com by viewing only the material that’s relevant to your current interest. For a good example, check out the topic page for Jesus. Additionally, each week at Gospel.com we focus in on a specific part of the Christian life and look at resources that you might have missed.

The Ministries page is a catalog of our ministries. You can visit the websites of each of the ministries and also view what information they’ve bookmarked on Gospel.com. This list is constantly changing, so please check back every few months.

The Gospel.com blog is a continuation of Gospelcom.net’s Buzz blog. In it we highlight resources and news from around the community.

Check out our about page for even more information or if you have any additional questions, get in touch with us at info@gospel.com.

We hope you have fun exploring Gospel.com!

We have two items from Answers in Genesis for you today:

1. They’ve recently released a media player on their website. You can catch the back catalog of their audio and video presentations there.

2. And in keeping with our Earth Week, here’s part of an article from AiG called, The ‘greenness’ of God:

In an effort to link Christianity with the conservation movement, some people portray God as the ‘Original Greenie’ whose chief concern is the preservation of the natural environment. But is God green? What does the Bible have to say about the greenness of God?

The Bible consistently teaches that God created all things by virtue of His own power and wisdom (Revelation 4:11). Everything He made was good and gave Him pleasure (Genesis 1:31). To this day His eternal power and divine nature are plainly evident in His creation (Romans 1:20).

Now if God created all things, and declared them to be ‘very good’, it stands to reason that He is concerned for their preservation. This concern is plainly expressed at various points in the Bible. For example, He commanded the people of Israel to avoid wanton destruction of fruit-bearing trees during warfare. He told them that when they besieged a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, they ‘shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an ax against them … thou shalt not cut them down’ (Deuteronomy 20:19).

God also set rules for the protection of nesting birds. If the Israelites chanced to come upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young or the eggs, they were not to take the mother with the young. They were to let the mother go (Deuteronomy 22:6,7). God is concerned about the conservation of His creation.

God’s concern for His creation is not business-like, but fatherly; not general, but particular. The Bible reveals that He knows and cares for the least of His creatures. For example, He hears and feeds the young ravens when they cry out for food (Psalm 147:9). Likewise, ‘The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God’ (Psalm 104:21). At God’s altars even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, ‘where she may lay her young’ (Psalm 84:3). Indeed, Jesus tells us that God is aware of every small bird that falls to the ground (Matthew 10:29).

Well, then, is God green?

…

Read more over of the article over at the AiG site.

Devotionals seemingly just appear. One finds them in waiting rooms, in churches, being handed out in the streets, sent to one’s email, one’s mailbox. Where two or more Christians are gathered, a devotional booklet or book is sure to be found.

There are devotionals for women, for men, for children, for marrieds, singles, for animal lovers, for food lovers, for every color and stripe of person and people group. And whether the devotional in question is written by a pastor or a layperson they all try to do one thing: show you God.

Devotionals are the thoughts of humans reflecting about God. This can be in the form of a meditation on a passage of scripture, a story, or a teaching. So, this week on gospel.com we thought we would search the gospel.com community for online devotionals that you can use to help explore your relationship with God. Whether it be in the form of a classic devotional like My Utmost for His Highest, or maybe something more like Power Up!, which is geared towards sports fans; devotionals can be life changing.

You can expect a few in-depth reviews of devotionals in the coming days from us, but if you’re feeling lucky, jump on over to the devotional topic page and browse around. You might be surprised by what you find.

Our Daily Bread

Daily Wisdom

Daily Encounter

Back to the Bible devotionals

A Word With You

When I was in high school I distinctly remember singing “This is the Song that Never Ends” for nigh on 30 minutes straight in the church van. After about minute fifteen our youth pastor stopped laughing at our stupidity and became suddenly very interested in the road.

I have no idea why he put up with any of our antics.

Although upon reflection, he was the one that probably started the singing…

Anyway, Youth Ministry Exchange recently ran a contest for youth workers soliciting their worst road trip story. The winner is just painful to read:

We’ll start with the fact that the last 20 miles of the trip took 2.5 hrs, driving over steep, curvy mountain roads in a whiteout. It snowed three feet in those two hrs. I was driving a loaded van, pulling a 10 ft. trailer, leading a caravan of several other vehicles. We couldn’t pull off of the road, and cars were going into ditches all around us. So, after 12 hrs of driving, we finally get to the lodge. We wake up the following morning to 18 degree temps and strong cross-winds. As we are walking to get the kids their skis, we start down a set of steps. One of our chaperones promptly falls on an icy step and breaks her ankle. Badly. I wrap my coat around her, and take off looking for ski patrol. We hook her up to a sled, and get her the infirmary. I then have to dig our van out of the snow (more than an hour), and go off the road twice driving to the infirmary…

Read the rest, it gets far far worse.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has an interview with Mindy Meier. Mindy has been doing campus ministry for quite some time and has recently compiled answers to some of the most questions she is frequently asked in a new book called Sex and Dating.

From the online interview:

Many InterVarsity chapters seize the opportunity to schedule special events around Valentines Day. “If you’re ever going to have a talk on sex and dating, or on relationships, it’s certainly an appropriate time to do that,” Mindy said. Through television, music, and movies, students are bombarded by sexually charged messages. “They need to hear a Christian voice and a positive presentation of sexuality from God’s point of view,” she added.
…
Although a lot of the questions, and the answers, have stayed the same over the past 20 years, there are some new ones that relate to technological innovations, for instance. “No one was meeting marriage partners on the internet 20 years ago,” she said. “That presents new issues.”

People who are matched by computer often have amazing compatibility. But that only goes so far, because relationships still take work. “It’s always merging two personalities, and that’s challenging,” she observed. But when inevitable problems surface the internet isn’t necessarily to blame. “Any two people that try to put together a relationship are going to run into some bumps in the road.”

Valentines Day is an important day on campus, because college students are interested in love and relationships. InterVarsity staff help students focus on healthy relationships that can stand the test of time.

The full audio interview is interesting as she attempts a few quick answers about topics like, “How do you know if you should get married to the person you’re dating?” She offers the advice that you don’t marry a person you marry a family. Ask yourself the question, Do I want to spend 50% of my Christmases with these people? A fact that not everyone thinks of before marriage.

Sex and Dating is available now through InterVarsity Press. You can read the table of contents and excerpts form the book here.

There’s just something about finding something hidden that excites us:

Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

Jesus knew–far better than any of us–that explosion of giddiness humans experience when we find any kind of treasure. If you’re a modern day person itching for adventure, Youth Ministry Exchange has an article on geocaching you just might be interested in, and while the article is written for and about youth leaders, it would work well with any group of people: mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, small groups, friends, etc.:

You’re trekking through a wooded area on the outskirts of your local park, scanning the undergrowth for signs of the treasure. Your GPS tells you that you’re closing in, but you still don’t have a visual on the target. Then you spy it. High in the tree to the left, an ammo-box hoisted into the bare winter tree with a camouflage rope. Your partner unties the slip knot from the tree and slowly lowers the awaited treasure into your arms. Sound like fun?

Read more over at Youth Ministry Exchange.

Like many of you, I grew up in a protestant church–a baptist one to be exact. We had about as much connection to the traditional church calendar as we did to the Mayan, so days like Ash Wednesday were cognitively placed in my mind labeled “Things that Catholics Do”.

Recently, however, I’ve begun to search for more of a connection with the historical church, and the church calendar. So, when my pastor announced last Sunday that we would be doing an Ash Wednesday service to kick off the Lent season I was quite excited.

At 6:30 this morning a few friends and I braved the icy Western Michigan roads before work. We entered the church to dimmed lights, a sparse stage, and–for me–a sense of mystery. There was a homily, some responsive readings and then we were invited to come and receive the ashes.
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