Exploring the Bible

Are Medical Miracles real? - It would seem nearly 8 out of 10 Americans believe they are. In a recent survey 79% of American said they believe in miracles. What may be more surprising to many is the fact that 75% of doctors surveyed said they also believed in miracles. Even more surprising may be the fact 55% of doctors said they have seen miraculous results in their own patients.  How many miracles take place, and can they be confirmed? There are no real statistics kept for the number of miracles which take place. The Catholic church does not keep track of miracles except when they are related to the canonization of a saint. In these cases, a complete investigation is done, and all claims are carefully researched and confirmed before the miracle is deemed to be authentic. Since the Catholic church tracks these miracles, and has a trial for each miracle, I will be using their methods and numbers in this post. The first order of business is to determine what is a miracle? The church...

Where is the Ark of the Covenant? In modern times, largely due to a certain blockbuster movie, the Ark is often referred to as the Lost Ark of the Covenant. It is a very accurate description since the Ark has been 'lost' for approximately 2,500 years. Not only are we uncertain where the Ark is today, we aren't even certain exactly when it went missing, which makes the task of finding it far more difficult. The Ark of The Covenant was constructed during the time of Moses while the people of Israel were won d ering in the desert. The Ark was intended to hold the tablets upon which the Ten Commandments  which were given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. The Ark is also said to contain the golden pot filled with mana as well as Aaron's staff that budded. "having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron's staff which budded, and the tablets of the covenant." - Hebrews...

 Is it possible for you, or anyone alive today, to be related to Jesus? While being a direct descendent of Jesus is not possible since He had no children, it is possible to be related to His immediate family. Some experts say it is actually highly probable many, if not all of us, are in fact related to Jesus. While Jesus had no children of His own, he did have siblings. The Bible tells us that Jesus was fully God, but He was also fully human, which means He had DNA, like every other human. This DNA would have been shared with His brothers and sisters through their common mother, Mary. This DNA, relationship, would have been passed down to any children of Jesus' siblings. One of the many unknowns of this is how many, if any, children these individuals had. [There is an argument in popular fiction that Jesus did marry and did have children. This fiction is generally dismissed by most scholars. There is no Biblical or external evidence Jesus ever married, and certainly none that he ha...

 Jesus selected twelve men to be His close followers and nearly constant companions.  These men had the privilege of seeing Jesus perform His miracles and listening to His teachings. Some of these individuals are better known than others. In all Jesus had fourteen Apostles. This includes the original twelve selected by Jesus, as well as the Apostle Paul who Jesus selected to send to the gentiles. Also included in the list of Apostles is the man selected by the Apostles to take the place of Judas after his death.  The twelve Apostles are held in very high regard and are mentioned in the Book of Revelation. In the writing by the Apostle John we see that the names of the Apostles will be remembered in the foundation of the new city. "And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb." - Revelation 21:14 During His lifetime Jesus was obviously the focal point and the Apostles played very much a secondar...