How many magi came from the east?
How wise were these magi, or were they kings?
Was Jesus born in a stable?
How many cows and sheep were present at Jesus’ birth?
How could the magi have followed a star?

These and many other questions – or for most of us these are no questions anymore – will occupy us again during Advent and Christmas time. And while it’s true that these issues don’t touch the core of our faith, it is interesting to take another look at the familiar stories of Jesus’ birth and early years. Cause, even when Jesus wasn’t born in a stable, the fact that many of us would be willing to put our hands on the Bible and swear that he was, tells us something about our reading and studying of the Scriptures. Also, the Christian faith is built upon historical events (”and the Word became flesh”!) and therefore you may be interested in this blog post by theologian Ben Witherington III: http://blog.beliefnet.com/bibleandculture/2009/12/star-studded-wise-men-rethinking-the-christmas-story.html.

Some of this stuff I’ve already heard years ago, so it’s surely not a new hype or just “the babbling of a theologian who wants to contest the Christmas Stories”. So, I invite you to read it. Again, this isn’t about the very core of our faith, but it’s almost Christmas time. And I think it’s sometimes a shame that we just romanticize the incarnation of our Savior, have no clue about the facts surrounding Jesus’ birth and that we so often, also in more important matters, just assume we know what the Word of God has to say to us.

Be blessed (and you may respond to this blog…:-))!

The world’s press is reminding us of those exciting and heady days twenty years ago, when the Berlin Wall was torn down by sledgehammers and bare hands, and communist regimes across Eastern Europe came tumbling after.

These same momentous twenty years have defined Jeff Fountain’s term of office as director of YWAM Europe, which ends this December.

To bring these twenty years to closure, and to share plans ‘for the next twenty years’, YWAM Europe is organising a symposium in Amsterdam on Friday afternoon, December 11, 2:00-5:30pm, on the theme: ‘The Next Twenty Years’.
The symposium is open for all, and engages a panel of specialists from England, Switzerland, Germany, France and Holland, who will share their expectations of the challenges and opportunities of the next two decades. Jeff will also share some closing reflections on ‘Reason for hope’, and introduce the Schuman Centre for European Studies he plans to launch in the new year.

The symposium will be followed in the evening (7-10pm) by a reception primarily for YWAM staff and friends, where the European leadership team will be presented and prayed for as together they take on the oversight of the work in Europe.

Registration

Register here.

Programme

14.00 welcome and opening remarks

14.10 Drs Evert-Jan Ouweneel: Two views of the future
14.30 Prabhu Guptara: Where is globalisation leading us?
14.50 Dr Michael Schluter: Is there a biblical alternative to capitalism?

15.20 pause

15.30 Dr Christine Schirrmacher: Europe and Islam–what are the options?
15.50 Ir Stefan Fountain: How will the internet shape our lives?
16.10 Gerard Kelly: Speaking hope into the human future

16.30 pause

16.50 panel involving speakers responding to each other and to written questions
17:10 closing reflections: Jeff Fountain, Reason for hope, and introducing the Schuman Centre for European Studies
17:25 collection and close

Ik kan de blog van de wereldwijd bekende theoloog Ben Witherington III van varte aanbevelen. Hij schrijft niet alleen over theologie/bijbelse studies, maar over allerlei zaken (bijv. muziek, gedichten enz.). Maar persoonlijk ben ik toch het meest geïnteresseerd in zijn stukjes over theologie:-) Hier is het adres: http://blog.beliefnet.com/bibleandculture/