What a New Testament Scholar and Prominent Authority on the Historical Case for the Resurrection of Christ Told Me About the Evidence for the Holy Light of Jerusalem

When I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina for three years (1998-2001) I took a number of classes at Southern Evangelical Seminary, where prominent Evangelical Apologists taught graduate-level seminary courses. One visiting professor from Liberty University at the time was Dr. Gary Habermas, a New Testament scholar and prominent authority on the historical case for the Resurrection of Christ. I took two courses with Dr. Habermas, one on his Apologetics methodology and one that focused on his research on the Resurrection. I was even in the audience when he debated the then atheist professor Antony Flew on the John Ankerberg Show (before he died Antony Flew came to believe in God).

Among the things he taught in class were that near-death experiences and the Shroud of Turin presented strong evidence in support of Christian claims. Personally I considered both to be interesting arguments, but weak. So after class one day I asked him what he thought about the miracle of the Holy Light in Jerusalem, known in the West as the Ceremony of the Holy Fire, which is celebrated annually at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Orthodox Easter. He looked at me as if I was making up some story that he never heard of before. I told him it was a very well-known ceremony that is even covered by the media every year, especially on CNN at the time which would uniquely provide brief video footage of the event. He insisted he never heard about it. I told him I could compile some information and give it to him the next day, at our next class. My intention was to show that the evidence in favor of the Holy Light miracle was stronger than the evidence for the Shroud of Turin or near-death experiences for the Resurrection of Christ.

Thoughts and Happenings (11/16/25 - 11/22/25)

I thought I would try something new with this website, which was actually my original idea for it, and offer a few of my thoughts on something that happened on a particular day, or an experience I had, or just an idea, story or opinion on a given matter, to supplement some of my other work. Since I don't like using social media, this platform would suit me better for these things. My hope is to at least write something two or three times a week and put it out once a week.

11/16/25 -Sunday

It was a chilly afternoon when I pulled over my car to the side of a road in Allston to pick someone up at their apartment. Two young women, around college age, were walking on the sidewalk and came over to the passenger side of my vehicle. Upon rolling my window down to see what they wanted, one of them very pleasantly said, "Hi, I just wanted to invite you to come to our church." The invitation caught me off guard. It's not often you get invited to come to church by strangers while sitting in your car minding your own business, especially in a city like Boston, where religion is usually held to be a private matter. My immediate response to the young ladies was "Oh, thank you; actually I do go to church." They both seemed to be pleasantly surprised by my response, looked at each other with a smile, and after saying "Okay, great!" they both walked away. 

In hindsight, I wish I hadn't responded so quickly, maybe at least asked them what church they were inviting me to, perhaps tell them what church I go to, though I would have really been interested in finding out how successful they were inviting strangers on the road to church, especially in a city like Boston, but the encounter, like I said, caught me off guard, and the person I was waiting for was making their way to my car. It was hard not to admire the courage it takes to do what they did.

11/17/25 -Monday

I overheard an interesting conversation today, once again from two college aged girls, both students at Boston College, presumably Catholic. One of them was talking about her boyfriend, who was causing her a lot of stress and trauma. As she described her situation, she said that her boyfriend six months ago was an atheist, who in his sophomore year (last year, I think) had tried to kill himself, but failed. Recognizing that he had been raised in a non-religious home and he didn't have tools to deal with his depression, when they started dating she urged him to read the New Testament. According to her, after he read the New Testament, he became a completely different person. He stopped drinking, doing drugs, and began attending church every Sunday, giving his life to Christ. As she described him, he is literally a saint in every possible way, but she didn't know how to handle such a complete change. Before I wasn't able to overhear their conversation anymore, the last thing I heard was that the experience has traumatized her.

It was difficult to hear how much pain she was in because of this change in her boyfriend, and I certainly didn't know enough of the story to really understand what was going on, but between what happened yesterday and what happened today, I find the juxtaposition of stories quite interesting.

 

Highlights of My Recent Trip to Spain

On September 28th I arrived in Madrid, Spain for my first vacation since 2018. The reason I went to Madrid was because my mother, who is a hair stylist for a prestigious salon, goes on an annual work trip this time of year to different cities around the world, and this year she invited myself and my two older sisters along with my aunt (her sister) to join her. The plan was to stay in Madrid from Sunday September 28th till Thursday October 2nd, after completing her scheduled work appearances, then we would all go to Barcelona via train to enjoy a few days there until Sunday October 5th. Usually when I go on trips I like to constantly move and take in as much as possible in the few days I have, but since I was with others I had to slow my pace a bit, though I still was able to see a lot.

Sunday and Monday I focused on touring Madrid with my oldest sister Anastasia and my mom as much as she was able to join us. In Madrid I did the typical tourist things, including eating at historic restaurants over a century old, touring the Royal Palace, enjoying a Flamenco show, walking the historic streets, and visiting a few noteworthy churches, including the oldest active church in the city and all of Spain which is dedicated to Saint Nicholas from the early 13th century.