Latest articles byDr. Zachary Porcu
St. Dismas, the good thief at Golgotha
All four Gospel accounts related the fact that Jesus was crucified along with two other men. According to Luke’s account, one of the thieves mocked Jesus, while the other thief recognized that Jesus was the Christ, humbled hims...
Symbolism: What is the meaning of an owl in the Bible?
There are a variety of verses in the Bible that refer to owls, though how many depends on the translation. For example, the New King James version refers to owls explicitly in Leviticus 11 verses 16, 17, and 18; Deuteronomy 14,...
Where in the Middle East was the country of the Gerasenes?
The country of the Gerasenes (also known as Gergesenes or simply as Gergasa or Gergesa) was a land to the south or southeast of the Sea of Galilee, though it isn’t clear where exactly it was. This site is famous because it is ...
Gideon's Altar: What does "Jehovah shalom" mean?
Jehovah Shalom means something approximating, “the Lord is Peace”, and is sometimes used more loosely to mean, “the Lord is my peace” or that the Lord gives peace. The phrase occurs only once in the Bible, in the book of Judges...
How long is a generation in the Bible?
The word “generation” is used in a variety of ways in the Bible. It is not a precise technical term or a standardized unit of measure. Sometimes the Biblical authors use the word to mean everyone who was alive at a certain time...
St. José Sánchez del Río, modern child martyr
At the beginning of the 20th century there was a conflict in Mexico that lasted from 1926 to 1929. As a part of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, the government attempted to make Mexico more secular—in the face of its deeply Ca...
Was Luluwa the wife of Cain?
The Bible does not identify Cain’s wife, and while some traditional, extra-Biblical sources attempt to explain where Cain and Abel acquired wives, most of these sources are of dubious authority. Many ancient sources indicate th...
Bestiality and other deviant sexual practices in the Bible
The Bible lists many prohibitions on various kinds of sexual behavior. Leviticus puts the main ones in a short list together, and includes adultery and homosexuality along with bestiality: “...you shall not lie carnally with yo...