Exploring the Bible

  The oldest artifact to mention Jesus by name. There is an artifact dated to the first century A.D. that many believe mentions Jesus by name. The artifact is a ceramic bowl or Careened cup that, aside from a missing handle, is in excellent condition. The remarkably well-preserved artifact was discovered in 2008 by a team from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM). The team was led by Frank Goddio as they worked near the now-submerged islands of Antirhodos. This site is located in the harbor of the Egyptian city of Alexandria and is historically linked to the palace, and some speculate that it is the tomb of Queen Cleopatra. The extraordinary thing about this cup is the inscription upon it. Most scholars now believe the cup itself was manufactured and fired in Western Asia Minor sometime in the first century B.C. At a later time, the cup was inscribed. The inscription is believed to have come from the first half of the first century A.D., with many scholars pl...

 Why December 25 th   The Bible does not tell us the exact date of Jesus’ birth, so there is no way to know from scripture when Jesus was actually born. So, if the Bible is silent on the subject, how was it determined that Christmas, Jesus’ birthday, was on December 25 th ? There are two competing theories for how and why this date was selected. Some historians claim that December 25 was selected because that date was already a pagan holiday. In the Roman culture, December 25 th was the winter solstice, the date of the Sol Invictus festival. The thought goes that this would make it easier for some Pagans to convert to Christianity by absorbing the current religious festival into a new Christian festival. This seems a little far-fetched, as many in the early church wanted to distance themselves from pagan festivals and traditions. This theory is very popular with those who oppose Christianity. The second theory proposed is based on when Jesus died and, thus, when he was ...