Last year a band of scholars caused a furore as they revealed the 3200-year-old Mt Ebal “Curse Tablet” written in Hebrew, which would revolutionise the study of the Bible and ancient Israel.
Fifteen years ago I met a man who claimed that penal substitutionary atonement was just an invention of the apostle Paul. He challenged me to find just one example in the gospels where Jesus himself spoke of his death in that way. At the time I was stumped! I wish I could have that conversation again: I would point him to Jesus’ Last Supper.
Though all accounts agree that his death was sudden and unexpected, each offers different and irreconcilable accounts of when, where and by whom Odaenathus died.
In this episode we talk with Karen Beilharz about getting the basics right, so we are ready to commend and contend for the gospel.
I sometimes wonder if I would have been a better Christian if I had lived alongside Jesus like his disciples did.
