New film: “Exodus: Patterns of Evidence”

Dear friends:

I am very excited to find a new film “Exodus: Patterns of Evidence” that documents many Archaeology discoveries.  We surely should ask the following question.( Keeping in mind "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" in Archaeology discoveries; there are still lots more to be dug out, and there are certainly lots of evidences long gone too.)

Does it matter whether or not the Exodus of Moses actually took place? 

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/february-web-only/why-it-matters-that-exodus-really-happened.html

,,,In a 2011 interview with Columbia Journalism Review, celebrated filmmaker Errol Morris (The Fog of War) says that the documentarian’s task is to help audiences “rediscover reality.” He observed:

Someone comes up to you and they say, “Well, I’m a postmodernist. I really don’t care about truth, truth is subjective, or there are all kinds of different versions of truth: your truth, my truth, someone else’s truth.” And then so you say to them, “Well, then it doesn’t matter to you who pulled the trigger? It doesn’t matter to you whether someone committed murder or not or someone in jail is innocent or not? That’s just a matter of personal opinion?”

Truth matters. People want to know the answers: the who, the what, the when, the how, and the why. And without providing those little truths, they may never learn of the ultimate Truth behind them. 

(Click the following link for more about this new film.)

https://www.facebook.com/PatternsofEvidence

You never know where a crisis of faith will lead you.

http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5424#

What is the validity of history found in the Bible? Is it fact or fiction? What does the hard evidence really have to say about the fundational story of the Old Testament: the Exodus out of Egypt? An in-depth investigation by documentary filmmaker Tim Mahoney searches for answers to these questions amid startling new finds that may change traditional views of history and the Bible.

For more than 50 years, the vast majority of the world’s most prominent archaeologists and historians have proclaimed that there is no hard evidence to support the Exodus story found in the Bible. In fact, they say that the archaeological record is completely opposed to the Bible’s account. This view of extreme skepticism has spread from academia to the world. The case against the Exodus appears to be so strong that even some religious leaders are labeling this ancient account as historical fiction.

Filmmaker Tim Mahoney begins with the question, “Is the Bible just a myth, or did the archaeologists get it wrong?” He decides to tackle this issue with a deliberate scientific approach. After examining the details in the biblical text, he journeys across the globe to search for patterns of evidence firsthand. The result is the most in-depth archaeological investigation into the Exodus from Egypt ever captured on film.

JANUARY 29, 2015, 12:19 PM EDT

Jews & Christians praise new Exodus movie as antidote to Biblical illiteracy

Filmmaker Tim Mahoney’s new documentary “Exodus: Patterns of Evidence” was shown Jan 29th in Manhattan, Queens and New Jersey.

Movie Review: Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus | Answers in Genesis

Archaeologists have for decades been looking for evidence of a Hebrew presence and escape from Egypt in the New Kingdom city of Ramses on the Nile delta. After all, Joseph’s family settled in the “land of Rameses” (Genesis 47:11), the slaves built the cities Pithom and Rameses (Exodus 1:11), and the children of Israel departed from Rameses” (Numbers 33:3). But the film points out, quite correctly, that this region was referred to as the “land of Rameses” in biblical texts like Genesis 47:11 that refer to events such as the arrival of Joseph’s family in Egypt long before the time of Ramses the Great no matter how the dates are calculated.11

The film suggests the biblical text included these geographical references so that readers would know the land of Goshen where the Hebrews lived was at the city of Avaris, which is near the city of Ramses. Because Ramses—meaning “the Egyptian god Ra gave birth to him”—was a very common name to honor pharaohs, it may have become associated with property in this region long before any of eleven pharaohs known as Ramses or the Ramses the Great became specifically associated with the land. In any case, when archaeologists look in the region of the New Kingdom city of Ramses in deeper layers associated with the older “Middle Kingdom,” they find a wealth of archaeological and textual support for the historicity of the Exodus just as the Bible records it.

This illustration from the book Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus is similar to those in the film. Here the upper wall of time shows the traditional view of Egyptian chronology and the “late Exodus” view, which places the Exodus at about 1250 BC, during the reign of Ramses the Great. (The reign of Ramses the Great, who built many monuments, is indicated in the 1200s BC by a graphic “monument city” on the wall.) The colored blocks indicate events such as the arrival of Joseph’s family in Egypt, their multiplication and enslavement, the events directly related to the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan. Archaeological evidence for these events is not found when the search is made for it in material related to that timeframe of history, but if the timeframe is shifted backward (white arrow) about two centuries toward Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, and the Exodus is placed around 1450 BC, archaeology tells another story. This is shown in the lower illustration. Image courtesy of Timothy Mahoney, Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus.

Timely Note

Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus uses an appropriately monumental display to visualize the timeline of Egyptian and biblical history—a wall stretching back through antiquity with pillars dividing it into thousand-year segments. The various positions—biblical and otherwise—on the timing of the Exodus are superimposed on this wall of time to illustrate the debate over whether it occurred in Egypt’s “New Kingdom” or “Middle Kingdom.”

The narrator describes this timeline as “a wall of time stretching back to the earliest moments of civilization.” We should note here that the visual timeline does appear to stretch back to an antiquity too old to be compatible with the chronology calculated from the Bible. From the Bible, we know Earth is only around 6,000 years old, and the global Flood of Noah would be dated in the 2300s BC.12 Therefore, the suggestion of dates prior to this time, such as the beginning of Egypt’s Old Kingdom in the mid-2600s BC, reflect secular assumptions and even some incorrect assumptions related to biblical history. You can read more about these assumptions and the jumbled mess of Egyptian chronology in “Doesn’t Egyptian Chronology Prove That the Bible Is Unreliable?” and Unwrapping the Pharaohs.

Is It Time to Throw Away Your Bible?

Is It Time to Throw Away Your Bible?
A Roundtable Discussion: "Don't We Just Need 'Faith'?"

Please click the link below for more.

Is It Time to Throw Away Your Bible? A Roundtable Discussion: "Don't We Just Need 'Faith'?"

EXCERPT We presently live in a culture of great skepticism and confusion. Many scholars, scientists, historians and forces within culture believe the Bible is an outdated, irrelevant book, filled with fables, stories, and mythological constructs that are not based on reality. Members of the ABR staff gathered together in a roundtable discussion to talk about some of the criticisms presently being leveled against the Bible. In this 11 part series (on a 2 DVD set), find out why you can trust the Bible.

Did the Exodus Happen?

Dear friend:

Have you ever doubted if the Exodus really happened? Click the link for the whole article.

Did the Exodus happen? | Dennis Prager | Jewish Journal

...Apparently God (or, if you prefer, whoever gave the Ten Commandments) thought the Exodus significant enough to open the Ten Commandments with reference to one event — the Exodus: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt.” Even one who doesn’t believe that God gave the Ten Commandments would have to explain why reference to something that never happened would so move the ancient Israelites. In addition, the two versions of the Ten Commandments — the one from God in Exodus and the one from Moses in Deuteronomy — differ with regard to the reason for Shabbat. The first version’s reason is the Creation (by keeping the Shabbat, we reaffirm weekly that God created the world); the second version’s reason is the Exodus (“You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt” — and only free people can have a day of rest each week).

Third, if the Exodus never happened, what biblical story did? Did Abraham live? Did Moses? Was there a revelation at Mount Sinai? Did the Jews enter the Promised Land? Did King David live? According to scholars such as Niels Peter Lemche, an internationally recognized biblical scholar at the University of Copenhagen, “The David of the Bible, David the king, is not a historical figure.”

Are they all fables? If so, it’s really hard to make the case for taking the Bible particularly seriously, let alone base one’s identity and values on it.

Fourth, that we cannot prove that the Jews were in Egypt means little to me. Many biblical stories that were once dismissed as fables were later shown to have a historical basis. Therefore, my belief in the Exodus story does not depend on archaeologists telling me whether they have concluded that Jews were enslaved in and later left Egypt. In any event, what archaeological evidence can one expect to find? The Egyptians didn’t record defeats. And the Jews were in the desert/wilderness with temporary dwellings that would hardly leave traces after 3,000 years.

Logic, however, does strongly argue for the historicity of the Exodus story. What people ever made up as ignoble a past as the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible relate about the Jews? Every other people in the world made up a grand and powerful history for themselves. They were all mighty and courageous. We Jews, on the other hand, were slaves, idol worshipers, rebels and ingrates. Why make that up? And why make up that so many non-Jews were heroes — such as the daughter of Pharaoh, the Egyptian midwives and the pagan priest Jethro? Why make up that Moses was raised an Egyptian? Why credit God for the Exodus rather than bold Israelites?

At the Passover seder, you have good reason to believe avadim hayeenu b’eretz mitzrayim, “we were slaves in the land of Egypt.” Recite it with conviction.

(*Shabbat (Hebrew: שַׁבָּת‎, "rest" or "cessation") or Shabbos (Yiddish: שאבּעס) (English: Sabbath) is the Jewish day of rest and seventh day of the week, on which religious Jews remember the Biblical creation of the heavens and the earth and the Exodus of the Hebrews)

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Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host (AM 870 in Los Angeles) and founder of PragerUniversity.com. His latest book is the New York Times best-seller “Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph” (HarperCollins, 2012).

Can Criminals Go to Heaven?

"Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" 

Dear friends:

Below is an email debate between me and a far away friend T to share with you. The light purple fonts are my reply.

T:No spear can pierce through a certain shield (nobody can comprehend God's will) 

Me: However, if God reveals His will to us then we can comprehend; in another word, we can only comprehend God's will as much as He reveals to us. And God has revealed His wills in the Bible, so if we study Bible, we certainly can understand His main wills. Still there are mysteries of God like Trinity which is beyond our comprehension at this side of Heaven.

 T: But I am trying to design a spear that can (But Christians are trying to comprehend God's will) 

Me:Yes, as much as we can about God's revealed will. Many times, God's sovereign will, we may not comprehend though.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Christians should love our neighbors, the Bible teaches. 

  Criminals have harmed the society and their neighbors.

  T:But as long as criminals believe in the Bible, they can enter the gate of heaven.

Me:Nope! Believing in Bible is not sufficient; the criminals need to truly repent and turn around from their sinful behaviors; they should turn around to love God and love their neighbors as proof of their truly repentance.

  Conclusion: The heaven's gate is opened for those who have not cared about their neighbors, but have only cared about living an eternally happy life. 

Heaven's gate is open to anyone who truly repents and accepts Jesus' offer for salvation, not as narrow conclusion as you have above.( the rare case of your conclusion perhaps deriving from the thief on the cross because he repented last minute of his life, he didn't have chance to love his neighbors; wait a minute, he did love his neighbor who was crucified on the other side of Jesus by pointing out to him that Jesus is sinless ( God) and both he and the other thief are guilty deserving the punishments.He scolded the other thief with love, right?)

  Perhaps this conclusion is the primary reason why Christians, relatively, are in-compassionate. Compassion is not an if-and-only-if (sufficient and necessary) condition for deceased people to enter the gate of heaven. 

Do you like that compassion is " if and only if " condition of entering Heaven's gate? If so, then nobody can enter there because none of us are compassionate enough to qualify to go to Heaven.We all need Jesus' salvation.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  The two ironies above are my interpretation of God's will. you, of course, will jump to defend them. When you defends God's will, you think that you comprehend God's will better than your debating opponents do. 

The fact is simple because you don't want to read Bible so you are less familiar with God's revealed wills, however, God has given us built in conscience that is your 老天爺，so we basically know when we are guilty and offending our Creator God. So there is no excuse in not knowing God's will for us to love our neighbors. Agree?

(Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!" 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 "And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." 42 And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" 43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.")

  

How Could Jesus be God and Son of God?

JESUS THE "SON" OF GOD

by Silas

http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/son2.htm

Jesus Son of God

NOTE:  Many of the themes in this article were taken from John Gilchrist's "The Christian Witness to the Muslim".

INTRODUCTION

           Jesus called Himself the "Son of God" throughout the Gospels, (John 3:16-18), and the disciples also identified Him as the Son of God in their writings, (Rom 1:3).

Further, Jesus identified Himself as God revealed in the flesh, (John 8:58), and His disciples identified Him as God, (John 1:1, Phil 2:5-11).  How could Jesus be The Son of God, and God at the same time?  What does this term - "Son of God" mean?  And if Jesus is the Son, in what way is Jesus God's Son?  Did God have physical relations with Mary and get her pregnant?

           Many Muslims do not understand what this term, according to Christian theology, actually means.  They have asked me these or similar questions.  This paper focuses on what the term "Son of God" signifies in Christian theology with respect to Muslim understanding.

MUSLIMS AND THE SON OF GOD

           Muhammad, the founder of Islam, misunderstood what the term "Son of God" meant with respect to Christianity.  He thought of it only in terms of sexual reproduction, i.e. that God fathered a child through sexual intercourse with Mary.  Therefore he spoke out against it.

           Christians also reject that God had physical intercourse with Mary, but we understand Christ being God's Son as an analogical term.  We believe that the eternal Son of God, one with the Father from all eternity, united to Him in one Spirit, "became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14), and took "the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7).  We believe in the incarnation of the Son of God.

           Muhammad did hear the Christians proclaim Jesus the Messiah as God's Son, but understanding or not, he specifically denied that Jesus was the Son of God.  He said in the Quran,

Sura 2:116 -            "They say:  "God has begotten a son".   Glory be to Him.  No, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth:  everything renders worship to Him."

and,

Sura 9:30 -            "The Christians say the Messiah is the Son of God, that is a saying from their mouths."

           Muhammad was unable to distinguish between the Christian belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the Arab Pagan belief in idols as offspring of God, i.e., Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat, (these were idols worshipped around Mecca as daughters of the supreme God - or Allah).   Muhammad misunderstood that Christians in no way consider Jesus - the Son of God, in the same way the Arab Pagans understood their idols.

           Muhammad's misconception of the Sonship of Christ is another proof that the Quran was not revealed to him by God, but rather it was built upon Muhammad's own concepts and ideology.

           Because of Muhammad's misunderstanding, Islam places limits on God's power.  In view of this, a Christian writer commented that "to assert that God has no Son because He has no wife is like saying that God is not living because He does not draw breath." Daniel, "Islam and the West, p.182.

WHAT THE TERM "SON OF GOD" SIGNIFIES

           The expression "Son of God", is an analogical term.  It indicates origin, a close association, or identification.  In Christian theology it describes the relationship of two persons of the triune God.  It expresses an intimate relationship between two persons:  God the Father, and God the Son - Jesus the Messiah.

Here are several scriptures illustrating this facet of their relationship:

John 17:5 - "And now Father, glorify me in Your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."

Here Jesus stated that He was with the Father before the world began.

Colossians 1:13-20            "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

Here, we see the term "Son of God", brought to light:  "the image of the invisible God".

Hebrews 1:1-3          "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son whom He appointed heir of all things and through whom He made the universe.  The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.  After he had provided purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."

Again, we see the relationship between the Father and the Son disclosed, "the exact representation of His being".

John 1:1-3, 10, 14, 18                    "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made; without Him, nothing was made that has been made......(10)  He was in the world and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him....(14)  The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth......(18) No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side has made Him known."

John 14:8, 10              "Don't you know me Phillip, even after I have been among you such a long time?  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, "Show us the Father"?  Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?"

Jesus plainly told Phillip, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father".

           From these verses we see that in Christ, the invisible God is revealed.  Jesus was with the Father before the world began. Christ, as God the Son, is the Creator of all things.  God in all His fullness, dwelt in Christ, reconciling the world.  We see that Christ, as the Son of God - God's representation, is God manifest and revealed to the world.  Angels, prophets, and things can reveal to us something about God.  But God alone can reveal God.  It takes God to reveal Himself to mankind.  What better way for the eternal Revealer to be revealed to mankind on earth than by clothing His self-expresion in human form?

JESUS AS THE WORD OF GOD

           ...Can the uncreated Word of God be revealed as a human, if God willed it? That God has willed this is revealed in the testimony of the Gospels - God's eternal self-expression, His Word, His Son, has entered human form as Jesus the Messiah.

           God the Father and God the Son are both God, but they are different persons.  They are equal in essence, indeed of one essence, yet one is subject to the other's authority.  The human analogy goes no further than this - an earthly father and his son are both human to the full, yet the second must bow to the authority of the first.  Jesus is subject to the Father's authority.  When He came to earth He came as the Father's ambassador to redeem men from sin and, being found in human form, took His subjection to the Father's authority to the point of a son to a father's relationship.

           As the Son of God, Christ, the second person of the Trinity, possesses the same essence as the Father, yet is subject to the Father as an earthly son is subject to his father.  Jesus is not the Son of God because of His mighty works and miracles, but He did those works because He is the Son of God.

           The prime duty of a son is to honor and obey his father, to serve him freely and fully.  The ideas of being a servant and a son are found throughout the Bible.  Jesus as God the Son, served God the Father not out of compulsion but because of His unity with the Father, served out of love.
...

Philipians 2:5 Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:]

6 Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [[a]possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not [b]think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped [c]or retained,

7 But stripped Himself [of all privileges and [d]rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.

8 And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!

           Here Christ emptied Himself.  The Sonship of Christ is revealed in this:  He was revealed as God in the flesh, and yet submitted to God the Father.  He was limited as a man, and He glorified God the Father.  The analogical term "Son" best describes Christ's relationship with God the Father.

           Christ's exalted relationship is even seen in the very verse Muslims choose to attack His Sonship... In Mark 13:32 Christ says, "But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."  Here, Jesus places Himself above men, and above the angels.  Jesus describes Himself alone in a category in  relation to God.

           Likewise, Christ when saying that He does nothing of His own accord, states that "whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise."  Christ establishes His Sonship and puts Himself in perfect harmony with God.  Even Muhammad is declared in the Quran as a sinner in Sura 48:2, but Christ walked in perfect harmony with the Father.

           As Muhammad failed to understand what "Son of God" signified, so today, many Muslims continue to misunderstand. The term "Son of God" does not mean that God had intercourse with Mary, or created sons for Himself, but that Jesus, as God, is the image of God, made manifest to men. Jesus is eternal, uncreated, and is the Living Word of God in physical living form.

CONCLUSION

           Jesus manifested His eternal abiding glory to John - as opposed to the veiled form of a humble servant He had while He walked this earth - while John was imprisoned on the isle of Patmos, revealing Himself as what He truly was and will forever be, God Almighty -

Revelation 1:8       "I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

Revelation 22:13, 16. "I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.".....(16)  I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.

           Jesus is the Son of God.  This means that He is God, revealed to man.  The term "Son of God" is an analogy, describing the relationship between two persons of God.  Christ is the image of God to mankind.  God - omnipotent, revealed Himself to mankind, in Christ.

Jesus is Lord.  Amen, come Lord Jesus.

Click the links below for more reading.

• Interesting Analogy of Trinity
• Self-disclosure of God Through Prophecies