Dr Paul Allen

For Love or Money (1993 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) What we do with money really matters — for the gospel frontiers and for our own families. Whether we daydream about it, or ignore it and wish it would just go away, or hoard it, or spend it, how we handle money reveals a lot about us. “Where your treasure is,” says Jesus , “there your heart will be also” (Matthew  6:21 ). Some of the Bible ’s gravest warnings deal with money. These are some of the sharpest words in all of Paul’s letters: Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. ( 1 Timothy 6:9–10) If we take the Scriptures seriously, we’re right to be at least a little bit scared about what our sinful souls might do with money. Tool in the

English: Baptism of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Galatians 4:4–5 “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (v. 4). Many university students are sitting under lecturers hostile to the New Testament , to Christ and Christianity. Parallels are often drawn between Greek myths of dying and rising gods and the biblical account as proof that the Scriptures are just another work of mythology. Unfortunately, young people are too often unprepared for this onslaught and begin to doubt the Christian faith. However, as those familiar with ancient literature well know, these similarities are superficial. The Greeks made no real attempt to defend their myths as historical while the Bible grounds itself in real space and time.  Luke 2 , for example, locates the birth of Jesus during the reign of Caesar Augustus and the governorship of Quirinius , both of whom were real people. The evangelist assumes that we will take his account at

English: Bust of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Octavius, first Roman Emperor. 27 BC - 14 AD, Marble. cm 42 From Rome, Via Merulana Capitoline Museum, Rome. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) On the outskirts of ancient Rome stands what remains of the villa owned by Livia Drusilla , wife to Caesar Augustus , Rome's first and greatest Emperor . Though the villa was discovered and explored as far back as the 16th century, serious excavations did not begin until the 1860's. In 1863 these excavations uncovered a remarkable work of art, the statue that would come to be known as Augustus of Prima Porta . Livia kept this marble statue of her husband, itself a copy of a bronze commissioned in 20 B.C. to celebrate Augustus' great triumph over the Parthians. This statue is the first of the twenty-five objects through which we will explore the history of Christianity. Born Gaius Octavius, Augustus was the great-nephew and eventual heir of Julius Caesar . Following his uncle’s murder, Aug