“Well, we don’t choose our parents!” How often do we hear or say that when we don’t like what our parents say to us or when they do something that bothers, angers, hurts or embarrasses us? How often do we wish, if only momentarily, that we had been raised in a different situation? How often […]
Valerie Abrahamsen
Franklin Graham, the Bible and the Gay Issue, Part II: Scholarly Evidence for Same-Sex Relationships
In our last post, we discussed the Rev. Franklin Graham’s negative attitudes toward same-sex relationships, especially in the context of his criticisms of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and Graham’s use of Bible verses to support his stances. Here we will outline some of the scholarly research concerning same-sex relationships in the early church (from […]
A Neolithic Site in Turkey, its Goddess and its Women
There is a strong possibility that in prehistory – in Old Europe and perhaps elsewhere – our ancestors lived for centuries in peaceful, matrilineal societies that revered an all-powerful Nature Goddess. To illustrate what life might have been like in such a Neolithic society, we can focus on an archaeological site called Çatal Hüyük (also […]
They Know What We’re Up to: Paranormal Evidence about Our Deceased Loved Ones
From Electronic Voice Phenomena to near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and the work of reputable mediums, the paranormal evidence shows that our deceased loved ones do not “go off” somewhere far away and become disconnected from us. Nor do they cease to exist and enter some kind of eternal emptiness. Rather, they stick pretty close to […]
Ancient Corinth II: Women in St. Paul’s Time
Last week, we examined the deities worshiped in ancient Corinth and saw how influential goddesses, as well as gods, were before, during and after the time of St. Paul. Here we will look at the status and role of women at Corinth, especially how their involvement in society and local cults may have influenced Paul […]
Random Christmas Thoughts
Three days before Christmas: a good time to share some random thoughts on the reason for the holiday – the man Jesus with the title “Christ.” Jesus the man lived nearly 2,000 years ago as a Jewish subject in the Roman Empire. After he died, his followers kept his memory alive in a myriad of […]
Index to the Second Year
Thank you as always for checking in with WisdomWordsPPF! Here is a guide to the past year of blog posts (note that some posts appear in several categories). If you want a guide to the first year (October 2015-October 2016), you can find it here. Posts on Social Justice, Politics and Our Peer Nations The […]
The Wheat and the Weeds: The Law of Cause and Effect and Christian Judgmentalism
Traditional Christian judgmentalism – the notion that only those who believe in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior will go to heaven when they die – originates in part from the New (Christian) Testament lesson that was read in many churches on Sunday, July 23, 2017. The lesson is from the Gospel of Matthew, […]
How Archaeology Can Assist Early Christian Studies and Why it Matters
In recent years, scholars of the New (Christian) Testament of the Bible – comprised of documents composed between 50 and 150 of the Common Era (CE) – have begun using the tools and interpretations of archaeologists in our quest for the context in which the earliest Christians lived. Since the apostle Paul (a Jew, let […]
The Devil and Us: Lessons from the Paranormal Evidence
The devil, also referred to as Satan, is featured several times in the Great Litany of the Church, which is sometimes spoken or chanted during Lent. Are these references to Satan pertinent to us in our time? If so, in what way? Is the devil a real being with potential to do great harm or […]