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 The Bible - a  Collection of Historical Documents?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...