Gary Cottrell's Blog

My soul waits for the Lord More than watchmen for the morning More than watchmen for the morning. Psalm 130:6 (ESV) While this post has nothing to do with the stated purpose of this blog ( I posted it on my other blog) I wanted to place it here, because I hope it’s message will […]

Originally I did not intend to comment about my ongoing battle with lung cancer, but I feel the need to share a short summary of what I am doing and how I am responding. As I anticipated, it has been almost impossible to maintain the physical and mental discipline necessary to post further entries. I […]

This post is to let my readers know that the nature of this blog may change in ways that cannot be predicted at this time. On April 15, 2014, I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Further tests are being run to determine the best course of treatment, but the oncologist made it clear […]

The current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review contains an article, which discusses how many characters mentioned in the Bible have been confirmed. The article lists 50 people, although the author says that list is conservative. This includes not just people we normally think of as “Bible characters,” but also ancient kings and Pharaohs which are […]

1998 I wrote my memoirs, describing my experiences with the U. S. Army in Vietnam during 1969-1970. The title of the book is In the Shadow of  Dragon Mountain. Because of the personal nature of the book, I did not publish it. Instead, I printed a limited number of copies for family and friends. I have rewritten […]

We all know the Christmas story, although there are a number of elements that we commonly associate with it that we probably shouldn’t. Some of these include: Jesus was born on December 25. Actually, nowhere in the Bible are we given the date of Jesus’ birth, and shepherds would not likely have been in the […]

A large number of the posts in this blog have dealt with textual variations in one form or another, especially in the text of the New Testament. I have concentrated so much on this topic, because opponents of the Bible frequently charge that the variations among the manuscripts demonstrates that the text of the Bible […]

I have said that there are no textual variants that affect doctrine or theology. Actually, the one I wish to discuss today does have doctrinal implications, but primarily in the religious tradition of which I am a part. My heritage practices adult baptism by immersion and almost exclusively asks the person being baptized, “Do you […]

In some respects the story of the woman taken in Adultery found in John 7:53—8:11 may be the most significant textual problem in the New Testament. While this passage does not contain any doctrinal issues that should concern us, the message of forgiveness is significant I want to avoid going into too much textual detail, […]

The ending of Mark is perhaps the most significant textual question in the New Testament. It is important for two reasons. First, there is real doubt as to how the gospel originally ended. Also, it is a significant message. This is the type of issue that troubles people. Let’s look at it. Most modern translations […]