This Sunday's readings deal with one of the most important events in Christian history.
Although the majority of Christians have little or no knowledge of the event, a pivotal moment in the history of the Church is recorded in Acts 10.
This event is the conversion of the household of the Roman centurion Cornelius, and it is important because, when this event occurred, it became clear that one did not have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian. This opened the door to a wave of conversions from people of all nations and kept Christianity from being a purely Jewish phenomenon, ethnically speaking.
But the conversion of Cornelius is controversial. It was in its own day, and it is in ours as well.
Some try to draw lessons from it like everyone should speak in tongues upon their conversion to Christ . . . or that baptism is merely a symbol that does not convey God's grace.
How can one respond to these claims, and what are the *true* lessons that one can learn from this turning point in the history of Christianity?
In this video episode of the Jimmy Akin Podcast, Jimmy discusses the arguments and reveals both surprising and reassuring facts about the conversion of Cornelius.
This must-see video will prove eye-opening for Christians of all persuasions.
You can watch it here . . .
. . . or DOWNLOAD IT BY RIGHT-CLICKING HERE.
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Thanks for the great, educational video. Is there any historical evidence regarding Cornelius’ life after his conversion? Would be fascinating to know if his role as Centurion brought him into conflict with his new faith or that of his Jewish spiritual brothers.
Why is the sound level so low that you can’t understand what Jimmy says. I couldn’t hear him with my sound volume as high as possible
The sound level is perfectly normal, James Patton. Therefore it shall be assumed that you do not know very much about computers. Must be something wrong with your hardware settings. There are at least 3 normal ways of setting the volume on your computer, and then after that there are dozens of not so obvious ways (like power turned off on powered speakers for example. Or someone “uninstalling the volume and sound drivers on your PC.) The most obvious is the sound control on the video link screen - which you are probably monkeying with. Next obvious is the volume contol on your operating systme such as windows, which is found in the bottom task manager tray on your desk top screen. A third obvious way is to adjust the physical volume level on your laptop or PC, which can be found as a rotating wheel, or arrows on your keyboard, such as “fn” “<” or “alt” “>”. This is just to name a few (without going into any detail.)
The story of Cornelius is important to me not so much because Peter laid aside all the legalism about Jews entering into the house of a Gentile, but, moreover, that once the brethren in Jerusalem got wind of what Peter did, they took Peter to task for violating Jewish law. The brothers had yet to learn what Peter already knew —Christianity is not about rules, regulations and keeping church laws. Unfortunately, too many in church leadership today still think as the brothers did. It’s also interesting that Jesus “marveled” when finding the man He said had the greatest faith “in all Israe"l was not even Jewish. It was the Roman Centurion, a Gentile.
I really appreciate the ‘mini lectures’ in the form of the short videos presented by Mr. Akin and his style or format is very conducive to a more quiet understanding of the materail. I find too that as I am listening to him, a question arises and sure enough he will address it later in the tape.He also makes me want to read (re-read) some of the passages used to further support his position and (it may seem trite) but I like the fact that in making references, he doesn’t always note their specific location and avoids the persception that one needs only quote a specific biblical passage (with no context) and then proclaim that here is the truth or some variant of same.
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