Hippolytus's account of the baptismal service (early third century): "When the person being baptized goes down into the water, he who baptizes him, putting his hand on him, shall say: "Do you believe in..."
A number of books are mentioned in the Bible, but not included in the Bible. Here's a list of the ones I know about.
CANON 1: If anyone denies that it is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was "changed for the worse" through the offense of Adam's sin, but believes that the freedom of the soul remains unimpaired...
Yes, it's true: the sins of the entire world are missing...at least as far as God is concerned, anyway. Many people think that God keeps close track of everyone's sins (the better to condemn you with, my dear) but nothing could be further from the truth.
There are a lot of common misconceptions about Christianity, and probably the most common is that Christianity is about being good. Of course, the "commonness" of an idea has nothing to do with its accuracy. Christianity isn't about being good. Not even close.
The Old Testament speaks of slavery often, and lays out rules on how slaves were to be treated. This has caused some to become confused...but a basic understanding of the context for ancient near-eastern slavery shows that the Old Testament does not condone slavery. Let's look at some common assumptions:
Anonymous GodWords Reader asked: "I was told that the name of Jesus is special, and saying His name in a prayer means it will be answered. Is that true?"
Jesus had one earthly parent and one heavenly parent...and let's not forget to include Joseph, too. Jesus' lineage is listed in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 ...but a careful reading of these two passages raises a few questions.
Some facts about Jared: Son of Mahalalel, Father of Enoch. Technically an ancestor of Jesus Christ [Luke 3:23-38]...
Husband of Ruth. Some facts about Boaz: Boaz means "fleetness" or "alacrity." Mentioned in Ruth, 1 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles...
Luke [Luke 1:3] and Acts [Acts 1:1] were both written to a man named Theophilus. It was a common name among both Romans and Jews at that time, so there's little we can know about him for certain.
According to the Bible, Huldah was a prophetess. We know more about her husband than we do about her but, though she appears in only nine verses, it's clear that she was considered a very important person.
