Exploring the Bible

 The Bible - a  Collection of Historical Documents? The New Testament was written by eight different authors who recorded the events and their perceptions of Jesus from their own unique viewpoints. Because these documents were combined into a single collection which became the Bible, they are rejected by most secular historians. It is a mystery to me why that just because an account is contained in the Bible it is almost automatically rejected. If these accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus had remained separate and independent of one another they likely would have been considered on their own merit, not by the title of the book they were contained within.  While this post will concentrate mostly on non-biblical sources regarding Jesus, I will touch briefly on the accuracy of the Gospels contained in the Bible. Just one example of many available involves Sir William Ramsey, a scholar who was educated and raised to doubt the accuracy of the New Testament. He set out t...

  Saint Catherine's Monastery The St. Catherine's Monastery is located is the shadow of Mount Sinai. It has the distinction of housing the oldest continuously used library in the world. It is also one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world. The monastery was constructed between the years of 548 and 565 A.D. and its library contains thousands of ancient manuscripts and books. Unknown until very recently, was that some of these manuscripts contain very valuable and extremely rare secrets. These secrets include languages long lost to history.  The Monastery is controlled by the Church of the Sinai which is a branch of the Greek Orthodox Church . The complex was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002. It is named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria. According to tradition Saint Catherine was a Christian saint and virgin. She was martyred sometime in the early 4th century by emperor Maxentius. Prior to her death at the age of 18, Catherine is said to have lea...

Jesus Predicts His time in the Grave In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus engages a group of Sadducees. The group had been questioning Jesus' identity and were demanding a sign from Him as proof of His claims. In His response, Jesus used the story of Jonah  and gave them a prophecy of the ultimate sign He would provide to the world to show who and what He truly is.  "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:40 In His statement Jesus tells the Sadducees He will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, just as Jonah was in the belly of a huge fish. This is a rare prophecy by Jesus concerning His future. Tradition tells us Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, placed in the tomb sometime Friday afternoon, and would eventually be raised from the dead. Friday would have been the first day, Saturday the second, and a portion of Sunday morn...

Jewish Tradition and Beliefs about the Afterlife What did the first century Jewish community believe about the afterlife? Did they believe in eternity, the eternal soul, or was this a later creation of the Christian church? The Jewish beliefs began with Moses when he received God's instructions and laws. The groups or leaders of the day-to-day belief system during the time of Jesus began in approximately 163 B.C.  At the end of the Maccabean Revolt, three separate groups of religious believers, orders, were established. These were the groups of religious leaders Jesus dealt and interacted with. The first of these, which was a minority, were the Sadducee. This group believed in the written law alone. The Sadducee did not believe in the afterlife, nor did they believe in spirits, ghosts, or demons.  They also believed very strongly in free-will. For the Sadducee, God plays no role in how your life turns out, your destiny was entirely up to you and the decisions you make. From ar...

What Can Tiny Weights Reveal About First Temple Period?  Two artifacts, very similar in shape and size have been discovered near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The first artifact was discovered in 2013 and has been dated from the time of the First Temple.  The tiny stone weight was discovered in dirt removed from the area of Robinson’s Arch. The round stone is inscribed in Hebrew with the word Beka. The actual engraving is done in mirror-writing which inverts the text. This is the only example of mirror-writing yet to be found from this time period. Robinson's Arch was a staircase and bridge leading to the Temple Mount Area. Under the arch and along the street there were a number of shops and businesses. Many, if not all, of these shops did business with people visiting the Temple, either as local residents, or people on a pilgrimage  from a distant land. These shops included money changers and shops offering animals for sacrifice in the Temple. Many of these shops would ...

Does Genesis 1 Tell a Different Story of Creation than Genesis 2? Does the story of creation told in Genesis chapter one contradict what is written in Genesis chapter two? For many non-believers, and some people of faith, the two stories of creation recorded in the opening chapters of Genesis are somewhat confusing. Does the Bible contradict itself from the very beginning? Or is there a logical and reasonable explanation for the apparent differences? First we will look at the story and order of creation as told in Genesis chapter one. The process, as most everyone knows, took six days with the seventh day reserved for rest. Day One - Light is created. Day Two - Heaven and earth are separated. Day Three - Dry lands, sea, plants and tress are created. Day Four - The Sun, moon and stars are placed in the sky. Day Five - All creatures that live in the sea and fly in the sky are created. Day Six - Land animals are created and spread across the earth - then man is created. Day Seven - G...

 How many people lived in the Garden of Eden? God created the Garden of Eden on the sixth day as a place for Adam and Eve to live. The garden had everything they needed to survive and live a full and enjoyable life. It also contained the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, whose fruit was forbidden. Eventually mankind gave into temptation and ate the forbidden fruit. This resulted in their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Most of us know this story very well, but when mankind was expelled from the Garden and forbidden to ever return, just how many people had to leave? The quick answer is two, just Adam and Eve, but is this the correct answer? Just how many people lived in the garden with Adam and Eve? Scriptures doesn't give us an exact number, but they do indicate Adam and Eve were not alone. God created the first man, Adam, and then Eve to be his partner and companion. They were created in the image and likeness of God and were perfect. Early in the Book of Genesis God give...

 Were the six days of creation literal 24 hour days? It can be very risky to attempt to reconcile the age of the Earth according to secular science and what creationists believe. If the Bible is the inerrant word of God, then we should accept what it teaches us. In the Bible, the Book of Genesis tells us God took six days to create the heavens and the earth, and then rested on the seventh day. End of story, no reason to question anything? Unfortunately scripture is not as clear on this subject as some believers claim. Were these days of creation what we would call a standard day of 24 hours? or did they last hundreds of millions of years? or were they perhaps a combination of both? There are very convincing arguments to be made that scripture is telling us the days were more than 24 hours, but just how accurate and convincing are these arguments? Many creationist believe the six days were indeed 24 hour days and the earth is approximately 6,000 years old. Secular science tells ...