The Christian Thinker

Posts filed under: New Testament

New Testament

Bethlehem, the Birth of Jesus, and Luke’s Census

The Roman census that appears in the second chapter of Luke (verses 1-5) is one of many criticisms of the Gospels. According to Luke, Emperor Augustus issued a census to...

Did Caesar Augustus order a universal census? (Luke 2:1)

The Gospel of Luke (2:1) records that before Jesus was born Emperor Augustus issued a census to be made throughout “the entire Roman world.” Bible skeptics have argued that this...

The Star of Bethlehem

The Star of Bethlehem Explained – YouTube On a starry night two thousand years ago, a group of men known as the Magi set out to follow what they believed...

The Mark of the Beast Explained

One of the most controversial passages in the Bible is Revelation 13:16-18. It is in these verses that we read about the mark of the beast and the number 666. The passage...

Bart Ehrman and the problem of Mark 2:26

In the introductory chapter of his best-selling book, Misquoting Jesus, Bible scholar Bart Ehrman recounts how he went from being a Christian to a skeptic. In his story, he mentions that...

Does the Book of Acts teach Socialism?

There seems to be an idea going around among non-Christians (and even some Christians) that the book of Acts teaches that the early Church promoted a form of socialism or...

Who Wrote 2 Peter?

Introduction The authorship of the Bible is a hot topic in both the scholarly and popular worlds. One of the most debated books in Scripture concerning its author is 2...

Revelation 17 and the Antichrist

Revelation 17 is an important chapter in the study of the Antichrist. It describes a woman who is seen riding the beast described in Revelation 13. In verses 9-11, the...

Revelation 13 and a Muslim Antichrist

Revelation 13 is one of the most-read chapters in the Bible when it comes to the Antichrist. It is here that we read about the False Prophet, the Mark of...

2 Thessalonians 2:4 and the Antichrist

There have been many different theories about the origins of the Antichrist, but the two most commonly held views today are that he will arise out of either Europe or...