He Never Did Claim That

 

Certain Bible scholars have resurrected the question again about whether there is any merit in Jesus" claim to be God. The ironic thing here is that after their years of study none of these persons have detected one simple thing in the Gospel and other Bible accounts about Jesus – and that is that he never ever claimed to be God. He said very clearly that his Father was greater than he was. That he came to do the will of his father. This his food was to do the will of his father etc. etc. Not once did he claim to be this same person.

Read the Gospel accounts as well as other parts of the Christian Greek Scriptures or the New Testament with an open mind (no preconceived ideas) and you will see this clearly.

This idea of him and God being the same person was something early apostates, after the death of the Apostles , incorporated into their teachings from the religions of the Middle East and the rest of the world the world in an effort to attract people from other religions to the Christian faith.

Simple, Nourishing Foods of Jesus' Day

The Jews of Jesus' day were early leaders in the production of wholesome organic foods with a selection of nourishing breads, grains vegetables, fruits, fish and meat used to create nourishing meals from breakfast to dinner as well as for special feasts.

Grains such as wheat, barley, oats, spelt and millet were grown by Jewish farmers in Jesus' day and formed a major part of the first century Jewish diet with each person consuming nearly 200 kilograms of cereals each year. This provided them with about half of their caloric intake. A good part of these grains or cereals were in the form of bread.

Like today different types of bread could be bought in the market but in most cases Jewish women made their own bread in stone ovens after spending up to three hours or more grinding wheat or other grains into flour. And bread formed only part of the meal.

The breakfast meals, especially for people living near coast also included fresh fish, bread, nuts, raisins and olives. This is likely the type of breakfast Jesus offered some of his disciples after they had spent an entire night fishing without much luck. Remember how Jesus called out to them on this occasion described in John 21: 9-13: "Come, take your breakfast."

Like many of us the midday meal or lunch was often light. According to the book, Life in Biblical Israel the Jewish often prepared a meal from bread, some type of grain, as well as olives and figs.

The evening meal varied widely depending on the wealth of the individual or family. According to Poverty and Charity in Roman Palestine, First Three Centuries C.E. most persons ate a very simple meal. "Most people ate bread or porridges made of barley, various cereals and legumes or sometimes wheat. They supplemented them usually with salt and oil or olives, occasionally a strong sauce or honey, or sweet fruit juices.

But, depending on the family and part of the country a wide variety of foods could form a part of the menu with milk, cheeses and 30 different types of vegetables such as onions, garlic, radishes, carrots, cabbage to name a few. And many of the Jewish people also a choice of some 30 different types of fruits such as figs, dates, and pomegranates growing in the area. And those living near the sea could also catch and prepare fish as part of their menu while more wealthy persons also included some type of meat and wine (a very popular beverage in ancient Israel) as part of the evening meal made even more flavourful with a dash of herbs such as dill, cumin, and mustard finished off with a desert "of roasted wheat prepared with almonds, honey, and spices."

 

 

 

 

God's Qualities Can Be Clearly Seen

 

The Apostle Paul's words partially quoted here from Romans 1:20: where Paul said, "For his invisible [qualities] are clearly seen from the world's creation onward."

What he meant is evident in the design of creatures around us. Consider the humpback whale for instance. This 30 ton 40 foot long animal is more agile than most human swimmers being able to turn in seemingly impossibly tight circles even when the whale is climbing at steep angles.

The secret is in the leading edge of its flippers. They are not smooth like the leading edge of an airplane wing as you might imagine but faced with protruding bumps or tubercles which cause the water to accelerate over the flipper in an organized, rotating flow. This reduces drag and increases lift – much better than any airplane wing

So much more efficiently, actually, that biomechanics experts such as John Long believe that before too long we could see every jetliner wing designed with similar protruding bumps on the leading edges. Such wings would definitely need fewer flaps and other moving parts, need less maintenance and make the airliner much safer to fly in and is a perfect example of God's design intelligence.

Another example of this is the seagull's wing which aircraft designers have been to mimic in prototype drones which have the seagull's ability to hover, dive and climb rapidly according to an article in New Scientist magazine.

Military aircraft designers are keen on designing and building such small aircraft, which can hover and dive between tall buildings to help search for chemical or biological threats in big cities such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles throughout the world.

All of this so far is but a quick look at what Paul was talking about in the introduction to his Bible book of Romans, but it does help to illustrate what he meant – the proof all around us in the world of nature of a super intelligent and creative God.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Words of Three More Bible Writers Vindicated

Many sceptics question the accuracy of the Bible, claiming things like it is nothing but an anthology of mythical events and characters, but archaeologists are proving them wrong.
Take, for instance, the accounts of the destruction of the two Egyptian cities of Memphis and Thebes. Both of these cities were once famous cities of ancient Egypt. Memphis on the West side of the Nile River was about 14 miles to the South of Cairo. From here the ancient Pharaohs rule Egypt until about the Third Century B.C.E. when they moved their capital 300 miles farther South to the city of No or Thebes the site of the largest structure ever built with columns – a temple dedicated to their chief god: Anon.
Both Ezekiel (Ezekiel 30: 14,15) and Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 46: 25, 26) predicted the complete destruction of these cities along with their inhabitants. And that is exactly what happened.
If you were to travel to the old location of Thebes all you would find would be the modern town of Luxor built over part of the ruins of the ancient city. And, according to Bible scholar Louis Golding all that remains of ancient Memphis are stones protruding above the black soil for mile on mile.

Then there is the matter of one Belshazzar who Daniel said was the King of Babylon at the time that Cyrus the Great destroyed it. For centuries Belshazzar was never heard about outside the pages of the Bible so sceptics claimed that he never existed, that he was just the figment of Daniel's imagination.
But sometime in the Nineteenth Century somebody discovered cuneiform cylinders mentioning one Belshazzar, the oldest son of King Nabonidus – the recognized King of Babylon at the time of its fall at the hands of Cyrus and the Medes and Persians. So Belshazzar did exist after all.
And not only did he exist as the Bible says – but archaeologists also found other tablets with cuneiform text that proved that Nabonidus had entrusted the kingdom to this son, Belshazzar, some time before Cyrus attacked and destroyed the city.
He was the number two ruler of Babylon definitely – under his father, Nabonidus – but he was the King of Babylon – at the time of its destruction.

Amazing Accuracy After Thousands of Years

The accuracy of both the Hebrew Scriptures ( the Old Testament to many) as well as the Christian Greek Scriptures ( the New Testament in some Bibles) has been preserved through the efforts of skilled professional and amateur copyists over the centuries since their original inspire writing by Moses and other writers.

It is true that the original papyrus and parchments copies disintegrated centuries ago but accurate copies of the original text have being preserved through the efforts of the ancient copyists who went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the accuracy of their copy work. They checked their copies word for word against first the original text written by Moses and other inspired writers and then carefully reproduced copies over the following centuries.

The Sopherim were the first professional copyists who reproduced high- quality copies of the Hebrew Scriptures for public and private worship. Tthey were especially active during and after the Jewish captivity in Babylon during the Sixth and Fifth centuries (B.C.E.) Before our Common Era.

Between the Seventh and Tenth centuries of our Common Era (C.E.) the Masoretes took over this task. These too were dedicated professional scribes who worked only from properly authenticated copies of the Hebrew Scriptures. They copied nothing from memory and like their predecessors, the Sopherim, checked each letter before copying it.

According to Professor Norman K. Gotwald in his book A Light to the Nations these scribes meticulously proofread each copy and discarded flawed ones.

Yes some mistakes did creep in but the differences in wording between the original writers and the copyists" is really insignificant. The discovery and checking of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 proved that. And the editors of the Books of The Old Testament confirms this assuring us that, "that we need have no serious doubt...as to the validity of the message that the Old Testament has to give us."

Christian Greek Scriptures Just As Accurate

It is true that the copyists of the Christian Greek Scriptures or New Testament were gifted amateurs rather than professionals like the Sopherim and Masoretic scribes, but they were just as dedicated and when their work is compared with earlier copies of the Christian Greek Scriptures it is vindicated.

In the opinion of researchers like archaeologist Sir Frederic Kenyon our copies of the Christian Greek Scriptures today are authentic copies with no disagreement in meaning between our copies and the originals of Mathew and other inspired Christian writers

So erase any worries you have about the authenticity of what you are reading despite what some critics might claim in their efforts to gain their 15 minutes of fame.

 

 

 

 

Creative Days Dispute Resolved

There is no real dispute between the Bible and scientists when speaking about the age of the earth and the creation account – only between science and so-called creationists and Christian Fundamentalists who claim that the universe and earth were created in literal 24-hour days.

There is nothing in the Bible to support such an idea. It belongs in some cartoon panel along with the idea that Noah's Ark was a cute little double-bowed vessel with a little cabin on top.

To start with , look carefully at the Biblical account in Genesis 1: 1. It is clear that the universe, including the sun, moon, and our earth where created at some indefinite time before the start of the creative days described in the first chapter of Genesis. Scientists claim that the universe, including the earth are not some six-thousand or years old as Creationists claim, but billions of year old and that is very realistic.

It is not just realistic from a scientific point of view but also from the Bible's perspective both because obviously some time lapsed between the original creation of the Universe and the final preparation of the earth for life on it and also because the creative days described by Moses do not have to be a literal 24-hour period of Creationists claim; they could comprise a much longer period as shown by the Bible's use of the term day to refer to period of up to a thousand year and indefinite periods of time. Moses description of all of the creative days together making up one day at Genesis 2:4 is good example of this.

Some persons might object to this reasoning claiming that most of the time the Bible speaks of a day it means one literal 24-hour day. And this is true. But it does not always do this.

Moreover while the Bible speaks of the start of the Seventh Day it says that this day started immediately at the conclusion of the Sixth Day – but nowhere in the Bible does it says that this day ended – so it is still going on –well over 6,000 years since its beginning.

So it becomes clear from the facts that there was obviously two stages (mentioned) to the creation of the universe and our earth, and the final six creative days were not a literal 24 hour period that there is not conflict between science and the Bible about the creation of our Earth.

Ancient City of Nineveh Builds Bible Credibility

 

The ancient peoples of the Middle city of Nineveh would one day become nothing more than a memory. It was an awesome city -- a 200 square mile metropolis surrounded by formidable walls that for 15 centuries made it impregnable.

But during the height of its power Zephaniah made a prophecy that it would become a desolate waste – on which nothing but droves of sheep would find pasturage.

This seemed a ridiculous prediction – even by Nineveh's enemies. None of them ever thought anybody would be able to breach the city's 100 foot stone walls which had 20 story towers in each of its corners so invading armies could be tracked by the city's defenders while they were still miles away.
And even when they did reach the city its defenders could easily drive t hem away by firing down on them from the towering walls and towers. But another prophet, Nahum, predicted that much of these walls would be destroyed by rising
flood waters.

And this is exactly happened 20 years later. A flood washed out large sections of the walls in 632 B.C.E. and Babylonian and Median soldiers raced through the washed out sections and razed the city – in fulfilment of Zephaniah's prophecy as well.

This destruction was so great that even its ruins disappeared over the centuries. Nobody knew exactly where the site of ancient Nineveh was until modern archaeologists discovered it buried under 40 feet of debris and earth – on top of which shepherds were grazing their sheep – in fulfilment of Zephaniah's prophecy.