WWJD Movie Trailer

WWJD is a must-see for all true born-again Christians, because the lessons that can be learned from the unfolding of this wonderful story will help bring the passion back into each individual Christian’s intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and our fellow man. Remember, Jesus said “Follow me” more than once, more than twice, but throughout the Gospels to follow Him. Jesus lived His life as setting an example of how every person choosing to follow Him (Jesus) should live their own life.

When was the last time any of us walked by a hungry person and offered to buy them a meal? Or, offered to help out a homeless person with a place to stay? Or, if having a business, opened our doors to give a jobless person an opportunity to earn a honest day’s wage? Or, opened a door for someone that needed a hand? Or, quickly forgave someone that had done us wrong, instead of lashing back at them in the same way they had done to us? Or, treated a person with love instead of hate? Or, shared the Gospel message, the GOOD NEWS of JESUS CHRIST to the very people that treat us with contempt?

When was the last time that love trumped hate in our life? When was the last time we just found a quite place and gave our time to reading the entire Bible (GOD’S WORD) from cover-to-cover, and then prayed in the Spirit and meditated on the lessons that our HEAVENLY FATHER is teaching our hearts to accept and live by in our daily lives?

When was the last time we asked “What Would Jesus Do” in whatsoever situation or choice that we are making in life? If we as individual believers and followers of JESUS CHRIST are truly walking in the WAY of GOD, then we are also to live in TRUTH and share the LOVE of GOD with everyone no matter the costs to us personally and help point the lost of this dying world to eternal life, which is only found in the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Share the GOSPEL Message, the GOOD NEWS of Salvation and Eternal Life in the LORD JESUS CHRIST with someone today.

Share a hot meal with a stranger. Share this movie with a friend now and pray that he or she will become a brother or a sister in JESUS CHRIST our LORD by the end.

WWJD is highly recommended for the whole family. There is no cussing, sex scenes, graphic violence or hateful messaging that you would see in a secular film. This is a Christian movie that delivers an awesome message of hope, love, peace and joy to all who choose to take the time to watch. Don’t forget to watch the movie trailer up above to learn more about this amazing grace family movie.

In Mark 8 we read the following: “22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23  And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. 24  And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25  After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.”

That puzzled me when I read it for the first time. After all, Christ is God. Could He not have done this in one attempt?

I later learned that though He was God veiled in flesh, He chose not to use His prerogatives of deity but chose to be like us while remaining God veiled in flesh (Philippians 2:5-11). Thus, He had some of the restrictions we do.

While the above passage does not state precisely why Christ had to pray twice, we can surmise something by looking at His initial act of bringing the man out of the city. Based on a previous situation recorded in Mark 6:5-6, there might have been a lack of faith in that area. The need to pray twice does not mean there was a deficiency in Christ. It was more likely a a case of spiritual warfare where the lack of faith of the city had affected the man or / and created a negative spiritual climate for the miraculous to occur. For a positive example of group faith, please read my article, “Investigating The Miraculous: God Miraculously Heals Son Accidently Ran Over by His Dad.” It contains a link to a re-enactment of the accident.

Christ very well knew that we would be serving Him in a sin ladened world that had little faith. The point of the passage in Mark is to show us we need to remove the spiritual needy from the realm of disbelief, pray, and keep praying. This harmonizes with the literal rendering of Matthew 7:7 (Williams), “Keep on asking, and the gift will be given you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and the door will open to you.”

So, be faithful in prayer, keeping in mind we must receive in meekness however and whenever He answers.

Note: 

God willing this shall be part of my Bible GemLight series as turquoise011.

It was the early 2000s that I became a news reporter which would last until 2006. During those three years one of my “beats” was local government. The elected officials of one council were hard workers. An aged member among them impressed me.

Like the others, when he sat behind that desk to make decisions, you could tell that he had “done his homework.” He kept accurate records. He faithfully read and studied the information given to him, even bringing documents to bed with him. This was before computers were furnished for those council members. He did not want the computer at first, but soon adapted to it and appreciated it.

Each time I saw him he was in fairly good health and quite alert. That is why I was surprised to discover he had suddenly died. Other council members told me of this while I was covering another news event.

He inspired me to stay busy for Christ until I leave this world one way or another. As this aged man was busy with earthly government, I want to be busy in the Kingdom of God. And I have much to do, so much that one of my pet projects, developing a computerized series of lessons on basic Christianity for new converts, has been on the “back burner” for about two years.

Through a parable in Luke 19, at verse 13 Christ indicated that we should stay busy for Him until He comes. I view that coming as either one’s death or the going to be with Him in the rapture. If you honestly adhere to the Name of Christ there is always something to do for His kingdom. Our lives must not be self-centered, but be Christ-centered. Even if you are physically weak you can always intercede through prayer as directed by the Holy Spirit for others.

However, we must be very careful that we do not become so busy doing things for Him that we neglect our primary office: to worship God, an expression of our love to Him. Note the admonition to the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:4-5), “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”

Spending quality time in His  presence is one of the best things we can do for His Kingdom, for in His presence we gain the authority and power to continue to minister.

I encourage all who call on Christ to disregard the idea that some in society present regarding becoming older and keep busy for Christ.

Note:

God willing this shall be part of my Bible GemLight series as tanzanite003.

I feel impelled to place the adjective “Holy” in front of the word “Bible” because the term “bible” in itself is not sufficient. The word “bible” is derived from the Greek word “biblia” which means “scrolls.”{1} So the term “bible” essentially means a collection of books – holy or not.

Naturally as other followers of Christ I would readily say the collection of books that are from Genesis to The Revelation that we reverently read, study, and teach from are certainly holy. And they are not holy because of some church decree, but they are inherently holy. Though God used men to write it, its precious content is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:15-17, Young’s Literal Translation):  “and because from a babe the Holy Writings thou hast known, which are able to make thee wise — to salvation, through faith that is in Christ Jesus; 16  every Writing is God-breathed, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for setting aright, for instruction that is in righteousness, 17  that the man of God may be fitted — for every good work having been completed.” I purposely used Young’s Literal Translation to show that the Greek means more than human inspiration, such as when a poet is inspired. Instead, the Holy Spirit moved upon holy men to write the holy collection of books.

Additionally, we often hear of works like a fisherman’s or photographer’s bible, handbooks that some depend upon. Too bad the term “bible” could not be reserved for the sacred text that spiritually feeds us, for such social use of the term causes some to think of the Holy Bible as a work of man and not of God.

Based on these things, and other reasons, I feel true Christians should unashamedly use the term “Holy” before the word “Bible” when referring to the sacred texts that God has entrusted to us. We should not bow to any complaint that we are offending other faiths-that is NOT the type of offense the Holy Bible tells us to avoid.

There are many more reasons why the term “Holy” should appear before “Bible” when speaking of the truly God given works from Genesis to The Revelation which, God, willing, we shall explore in upcoming articles.

Notes:

{1} Unger, Merrill F.: Unger’s Bible Handbook (Moody Press: Chicago, 1967)  p2

God willing, this shall be part of my Bible GemLight series as pearl019.

In my blog, I argue that it was the rejection of that love that brought separation between God and mankind. And this in turn gave birth to religion as means to reconnect with Him, but it could not accomplish that because as all human inventions religion is tainted by imperfection. Relationship simply cannot be replaced by rules and rituals. Religion is a double edged sword. It can be a source of limited good and unspeakable evil. The word “religion” itself is taken from a Latin word “religio” which means “to bind.” All religion can do is to bind us. It can succeed in restraining evil tendencies, but it can never change human sin tainted nature because of which it is easier for us to to do evil than to do good.

The message of Dalai Lama’s book by the same title has a totally different message. This message is that all mankind with or without religion can gradually save itself from evil by our own efforts. And because it is an underlying foundation of every religion or ethical system, it is essentially a religion by another secular name called “ethics” and “common moral values.”

Dalai Lama believes that every human has natural inclinations to do good, but what we can see in reality is just the opposite. As every parent on the planet can testify from experience, it is way easier for a child to develop bad habits that to learn good ones. For example, you have to teach your two year old to share his toys because to keep them for himself or to take them away from other kids comes to him rather naturally.

He also argues in his book that cultivating more control over your mind and emotions, and choosing more positive mindset as well as actions is spirituality, but I think that this while productive does not reach to the level of spirit realm at all. This is all yet another attempt to have back the benefits of our lost relationship with God without God. It is putting our own self in place of God. It is still the very same thing that is causing all our problems both on an individual and global level in the first place.

The only truly spiritual leader that ever walked this earth and brought a solution to it is Jesus of Nazareth also called Christ. He did not come to earth to establish yet another religion because there were already plenty of them before that, which includes Dalai Lamas own Buddhism. No, He came to do what is necessary to reconnect us to God. Through Him every single human being can be spiritually reborn. When you receive Jesus as your personal Saviour and believe that He is truly the only begotten Son of God who died for your sins and rose again from the dead, your very nature will change.

It is so sad to see how so many people both in the past and now reduced Christianity to just one more religion and Jesus to another religious leader, and His wisdom to the set of religious rules to be observed by self effort. Jesus is above and beyond any religion. He is really The Way, The Truth, and The Life.

He is the creator of this very universe of ours who became one of us. In Him there is rest from our own works because it is He who changes us from inside out. My prayer and hope is that as many people as possible would experience this transformation and have part in a new, better world that is awaiting human race in the eternal future.

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Beyond Religion

Ayyappa, the presiding deity at Sabarimala, is considered Hariharaputra – the son of two male deities, Hari or Vishnu who assumes the form of an enchantress (’Mohini‘), and Hara or Shiva, whose mission was to destroy the evil demoness Mahishi (buffalo-faced demon). But Ayyappa was also the adopted son of the King of Pandalam in the present day Kerala. Thus these legends have history and mythology entwined, making it a kind of folk tale.

The Story of Mahishasura

Mahishasura was a demon (’asura’ means demon) born to demon Rambha and his buffalo-faced wife. Rambha had obtained a boon for a son who would not be killed by gods or demons. Mahishasura also propitiated Brahma and obtained the boon that only a woman could kill him, gloating in his mind such an event was impossible.

Mahishasura meditaing on Brahma

With this boon in tow, Mahishasura became hungry for power and began expanding his kingdom. He chased away the gods from the heaven. The exiled gods appealed to the female Trinity of Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Parvathi. Through their combined power, they created Durga who killed Mahishasura in a fierce battle.

Now, Rambha had a brother called Karamba who had a buffalo-faced (’Mahishi’) daughter called Leela. Infuriated by the death of her cousin Mahisha, Leela Mahishi obtained a boon from Lord Brahma that she could only be killed by the hands of one born of Hari and Hara (Vishnu and Shiva) and who had spent twelve years in the service of a mortal.

Fortressed thus, Leela Mahishi began persecuting the gods and they turn to Siva for a solution. It was clear only an offspring born of the union of Shiva and Vishnu could save them.

To make this possible, Lord Vishnu assumed the alluring form of a damsel called Mohini. There are three occasions when the services of Vishnu as a seductress are required.

Bhasmasura and Mohini

First, the story about Mohini and Bhasmasura, the demon to kill whom Lord Vishnu turns a temptress. I love this tale, as it tells us what happens when immense power comes to people not worthy of it.

Up in the icy Himalayas, a demon named Bhasmasura sat in meditation. Bhasmasura wanted to be invincible and defeat Devas or gods in every battle. Driven by the mad desire of annihilating the gods, he fixed his mind on Shiva and started chanting the mantras. Unmindful of the frigid winds, he moved not from his seat, even as hundreds of years passed by.

Finally, Shiva appeared before him. Bhasmasura asked the Lord to grant him immortality, but this boon, being against Nature, could not be given. 

“Lord, whosoever’s head I touch with my hand should turn to ashes,” beseeched Bhasmasura.

Even though he was apprehensive of the demon’s intentions, Shiva had no choice but grant the demon his wish, Every penance or hard work had to have its fruit.

Bhasmasura was elated with the power he had acquired. He told Shiva he would like to test the boon on him first.

Shiva ran for his life, with Bhasmasura chasing him.

Shiva reached Vaikunta where Vishnu lived. In a trice, Vishnu transformed himself into a sensuous damsel. Bhasmasura forgot why he had come there. He begged the bewitching beauty to marry him.

Mohini posed a condition now. She said she wanted to marry a man who could dance like her and copy every of her moves.

Intoxicated by Mohini’s beauty, Bhasmasura agreed. By now, he had forgotten his ambition. As Mohini danced, Bhasmasura enacted her moves deftly. He was less guarded and more confident now, and his mind clamored for more.

In a dexterous move, Mohini adopted a pose in which she touched her head lightly with one hand.

Bhasmasura followed suit, and… true to Shiva’s boon, he turned into ash. The gods became jubilant.

Mohini Helps Gods Get Immortalizing Elixir From The Churning of Cosmic Milk Ocean

Constant wars between the gods and demons and a curse from Sage Durvaasa left gods emaciated, and they consulted Vishnu about how to obtain the life-giving elixir called Amrita.

Vishnu suggested that gods seek the help of demons to churn the milk of ocean from which the Amrita would emerge. Demons agreed, thinking in their minds they would outwit the gods and usurp the elixir for themselves.

But Vishnu had other plans. The ocean was churned; the demons held the tail of Vasuki, the king of serpents, that was curled around the huge mountain Mandara, and the gods held serpent’s body close to the thousand hoods. Vishnu, incarnated in the form of a great turtle, supported the mountain on his back.

The churning went on for thousands of years. First, the ocean spewed out poison that was so deadly that it could burn the world. Lord Shiva swallowed and trapped it in his neck and kept it out of harm. Numerous opulent items were thrown out next, including the wish-fulfilling cow called Kamadhenu. Finally the divine physician called Dhanvantari appeared, carrying the pot of Amrita. Everybody clamored for their share of the elixir.

Source

At this momentous time, Vishnu appeared as the enchantingly beautiful Mohini. With her seductive moves, she made the demons gawk at her, while she went around distributing the Amrita to the gods, and denying the demons their share.

Ayyappa, the Son of Vishnu – the Mohini, and Shiva

Her mission accomplished,  Mohini returned to Lord Siva with the victorious news. But on setting his eyes on Mohini’s intoxicating beauty, Lord Siva himself got enticed and succumbed to her charm. The result was the birth of “Ayyappa” (on January 13th).            

The child was left by the river Pampa where the childless Rajasekhara, the King of Panthalam in Kerala, came on his hunting trip. The king and his queen had been constantly praying to Shiva for a male heir. Seeing the crying baby, the king became happy that this child was sent by gods as a reward for his prayers, yet he also wondered who could have left the baby. A sage then came along and reassured the king he should bring up the child as his own, and the mystery over the origin of the baby would be revealed when the child turned twelve.

The baby was named Manikanta. Soon the queen had her own child. As the children grew up, young Manikanta was loved and admired by all, and the queen started feeling jealous and wanted her own child to ascend to the throne.

One of the ministers in the king’s court was a close confidante of the queen. He poisoned queen’s mind with the fear that unless Ayyappa was got rid of, her own child could never claim the throne after the king. The queen feigned illness and the physician prescribed the tigress’s milk.

Only Manikanta was deemed strong enough for the job, and he agreed whole-heartedly.

To reach the forest where tigers lived, Manikanta had to fight Leela Mahishi. Being adept in martial arts, Manikanta was able to slay her.

Manikanta was able to tame a milch tigress. Soon a pack of tigers followed Ayyappa sitting on a tigress and they entered the city, with frightened citizens running helter-skelter.

This astounding feat made every one realize the divinity in Mankanta. The queen and her minister admitted to their evil scheme and asked for forgiveness.

Manikanta told the King that he need not punish the minister or the queen and all had happened only through the will of God. He was twelve, and the mission for which he had taken birth was now complete. It was the right time for him to go away. Immediately, King Rajasekara asked Manikanta to suggest a suitable place where he could raise a temple in his memory. Manikanta aimed an arrow which fell at a place called Sabari, where in Lord Rama’s era an ascetic called Sabari had observed penances. Lord Manikanta told the King to build the temple in that place and then he disappeared.

Manikanta had proclaimed he would grace only those devotees who visited him after observing a “Vrata” for forty-one days, leading a celibate life during the period of penance, and keeping themselves pure in thought and deeds.

Philosophical Significance of Mahishi’s story

Killing of the Mahishi is the killing of the Ego. The moment the veil of Ego is removed, the inner light of Consciousness is realized. We understand our True Self to be Consciousness and not the Ego, body or mind.

King Rajasekara Builds The Temple

As directed by Manikanta, King Rajasekara completed building of the temple with eighteen steps to reach it. 

The temple of Sabarimala and the deity of Ayyappa have always been regarded as the Pandalam Raja’s very own. So permission from the King has to be attained before proceeding to the temple. To make it easy for pilgrims to obtain the necessary permission, a representative of the king sits with all the royal insignia, and the pilgrims offer a token amount (not obligatory, though) to the royal representative, and receive holy ash from him.

Don’t bother shopping for bargains on Queen St West

Bargain hunters shouldn’t waste their time in trendy Queen St West thrift stores, or in Kensington Market’s fashionable shops; they are too expensive now. Rather they should seek out the most unfashionable streets and especially those which are relatively close to high income residential neighborhoods.

Think about it. Its the rich people that donate the best merchandise and their only criteria is convenience. So it stands to reason that the best places to shop for used goods, are the ones with busy donation centers that exist closest to the luxury houses of the city’s most affluent families.

Antique pickers in Toronto follow my route

The list published here is my own route. These are my own pictures. I start in the Beaches area and work my way west, up to St Clair Ave near Forest Hill, west to High Park, and end my day’s pickings in Parkdale. My name is Rob Campbell and I write the Antique pickers blog, Dumpdiggers The stores listed below are the six best places to find really cheap, and really awesome stuff.

Salvation army, Value Village and Goodwill are each very different businesses.

The best stores are Salvation Army, Value Village and Goodwill because stuff is being donated fresh every day, and the people who work there don’t have a clue about antiques and collectibles. It seems to me that in such places the shelves are absolutely filled with opportunities to turn a profit – for many people its a big game to connect the collectibles with the collector.

Here are the six best second hand stores in Toronto, listed in no particular order,

1. Salvation Army Parliament Thrift Store, 252 Parliament Street between Shuter and Dundas St E.

Located near the trendy Riverdale area, this store has a terrific selection of used clothes and clothing accessories. In particular, there is always a good selection of dress shirts in this location and in many cases they come complete with designer labels and paper tags from much more expensive clothing stores in nearby shopping malls. Somebody bought the clothes and didnt like the items, or didnt like how they fit and for whatever reason they couldnt or didnt return the goods. This store has a lot of that. The aisles are well organized and well maintained by staff. The venue is bright and sunny with huge front windows complimented by rows of opulent oevrhead lighting and the music is Golden Oldies and classic rock.

2. Salvation Army St. Clair West Thrift Store, 665 St. Clair Ave. West @ Wychwood
Among other things, this store specializes in factory second mattresses and bed frames. Almost all of the mattresses found here are still in their orginal plastic packaging, and so they are safe to buy. Toronto has recently had a bed bug infestation, and so its important to double check all uncovered mattresses for any sign of the insects. The store also has a wide sel;ection of bedding, and again most of the pillows are still in their original plastic wrappers.

The book depository is really terrific here and offers a wide selection of financial industry textbooks. It was in here that I found good books on early Canadian pioneers of industry – Massey who was the quintessential early Canadian industrialist and property owner (and sharehold of the Toronto City Dairy) , and George Gooderham, who was a distiller and banker and an early bankruptcy trustee back when debt was often punished with jail sentences. Gooderham started the TD Bank. The book section in this location is really terrific and I find myself loitering here for hours…

3 Salvation Army Parkdale Thrift Store, 1447 Queen St. W

This store is located in the heart of Parkdale, which is one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Toronto, and yet there is where I have found some of the very best stuff. Don’t be fooled here – there is real wealth here just a few blocks away on King Street, and west of Roncesvalles in High Park. There’s a large Polish and Ukrainian community down here too. Sometimes you find good stuff that has obviously been donated from these Eastern European households, and in many cases the entire estates of widows and grandmothers has been unceremoniously donated here. It was from one of these families that I found a spoon rack that still had six or eight specimens from Europe . One spoon from Hungary was silver with gold inlay in the handle, and I bought the entire rack for about twelve dollars and sold that particular spoon to a gold buyer in Ottawa for almost $70. That’s a good days work.

4. Goodwill Store, 28 Roncesvalles Ave. @ Queen St. W

Another busy spot for donations, Goodwill has different organization and business management consulting practice that leads me to believe this is perhaps not the best place to donate goods, but that’s another article. This retail chain is still a great place to shop for used goods. But you should know, while front line employees make $15/hr, the manager here makes almost $70K year, while the president and CEO of Goodwill earn over $300K a year salary. These individuals are well paid to be charitable and help the poor.

5. Value Village at 924 Queen St. E. at Logan

This Value Village is probably the most over-shopped in the city, and everytime I visit I see atleast one squad of Queen St hipsters and Urban Warrior types in here rooting through the leather jackets and boots. The floor to ceiling clothing racks really cut the light from the windows, and the effect is a rather dark store that’s lit entirely by ugly florescent fixtures that line the ceiling. So the mood is sombre and there’s no music here. The principles of super – retailing are lost on this organization.

6. Value village – 1319 Bloor ST W, Toronto – at Bloor and Lansdowne.

Unlike the east end Value Village, the west end destination is twice as large and better maintained. There is music here and an ocean of kitchenware. There are lots and lots of artist supplies here – everything from pictures frames to used canvasses, brushs, palettes and paints. The business must have inherited the contents of a failed art supply store for there are a great many products that are still in the original packaging. There is a strip joint right across the street and a crossbow / archery range on the other side of the store.

Old stuff is not junk. High technology items like IBM personal computers, solar panels and stainless steel vacuum seal food containers can be found inside almost all of these clearing houses.

John Buchan was quoted as saying that an atheist does not have the invisible support that believers relish and the way he says suggests that the difference of support depends only on what we are able to perceive visually. If the atheist thinks about the statement it would come down to both sides believing in the existence of some entity which has to be visible and recognizable for the non-believer in order to be satisfied.

At night every atheist is supposed to be closer to believing in an almighty creator. Edward Young was quoted as saying that  “by night an atheist half believes” in the holy spirit and this makes one think of the moments when solitude surrounds us and we are alone with our thoughts enough to consider some invisible involvement in the way the world is run.

Bertrand Russell was quoted to have said that if there were an almighty he doubted whether this power would be so vain as to discredit people for not believing. It does take a lot of will apparently for non-spiritualists to acquire a taste of an invisible, all-knowing entity they can be comfortable with. This philosopher seems to capture the moment that characterized an era where belief in God was cardinal and one would have offended religious views that maintained an acceptance of God as being essential.

That disbelief could not be as heinous as religion itself came through other quotes like that of  Gulian Buzila in his statement that no other cause has caused so much death in the world than the word of god. Of course critics can blame religious zealots over this and the focus of the beliefs but still if one to consider atheism as a threat to believing, consider that the spread and imposition of religious doctrine over the centuries has caused needless deaths and it still goes on.

 The facts are that what they call “Jesus Tomb” is really a burial site of evidently Christian Jewish family who lived in the times of Jesus and saw Him teach, preach, heal and later witnessed His crucifixion and as the symbols on their ossuaries reveal, who firmly believed in His resurrection and their own on account of their faith in Him. The rest as we shall see later on in this article is a pure speculation layered with many inconsistencies.

 There were 10 ossuaries found in this tomb discovered during construction work in 1981 in East Talpiot, a suburb of Jerusalem about two miles south of the Old City.  Six of them contained inscriptions, one in Greek and the rest in Aramaic, which read translated into English:  Jesus son of Joseph, Mariam called Mara, Joses, Judah son of Jesus, Matthew, and Maria.

 Based on the account of four gospels of New Testament as well as much later texts called Gnostic Gospels that tell the names of Jesus’ family members as well as His closest disciples, they claim that “Jesus son of Joseph” belongs to Jesus of Nazareth, Mariam called Mara is Mary Magdalene, and “Judah son of Jesus” is their son. The other Maria might possibly be Jesus’ mother.

 However, “Jesus Tomb” was not the only first century tomb they have discovered in the area. About 200 meters from it, they found another one that has never been opened or explored. In it the authors found via camera lowered in there through the small holes they got permit to drill into it, six ossuaries that have provided some context into a nearby “Jesus Tomb” discovery.

 The ossuary that they interpreted as belonging to father of the house because of its position in a tomb was a simple one with engravings of biblical Jonah being spat out of the great fish, which was to early Christians based on the teaching of Jesus Himself a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Another one was inscribed with a feminine version of the title “Lord” which is “Mara” and translates simply as the Lady. And yet another one had an inscription in Aramaic that means “The Wondrous Jehovah Raises Up.”

 Tabor and Jacobovici use the New Testament gospel accounts to make the case that this could be the family tomb of Joseph of Arimathea who was rich and influential enough to secure the body of Jesus from Pontius Pilate following His death on the cross. They argue that perhaps this Joseph took Jesus’ body from the garden tomb and gave Him and his family a permanent burial on his own land and close to his own family tomb near Jerusalem and that is why these tombs were found in such a close proximity to one another.

What I found very curious though in this line of reasoning is how these authors accept the New Testament as reliable historical source regarding the circumstances of Jesus’ death and burial, but dismiss other important details that do not fit their scenario as unreliable, such as account of the disciples seeing Jesus physically alive after His resurrection doing the same thing with other sources, which at times clearly contradicted each other. For example they used some Gnostic materials found in Egypt that date to second or even as late as the fourth century AD to make a case for Mary Magdalene as the early Christian church leader as “intimate companion” of Jesus and Peter’s animosity towards her, while later using text that puts James the brother of Jesus in that position.

 They also confuse James the bother of Jesus with James who was one of the twelve apostles as well as Mary Magdalene with Mary the sister of Martha from Bethany. I also found it inconsistent to picture apostle Paul as almost heretical departing from the original gospel message of Jerusalem Church and prejudiced against women in the Church, while using his teaching about the nature of the resurrected body (taken out of context) as back up for their argument of early Christians’ faith in “spiritual” resurrection as opposed to the literal resurrection of the body.

 The authors also have been able to order DNA tests of the two individuals bone remains they believe to have belonged to Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene, which confirmed that they were not related by blood and therefore are husband and wife. But I wonder why they did not think that if this is indeed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea that  “Jesus son of Joseph” could as well have been his son  as the name Yeshua was very popular among Jewish people of the period, and the woman this another Jesus’ wife and Judah their son. It would make much more sense in my opinion or maybe they are not willing to explore such possibility for ideological reasons, I don’t know.

 Whatever the case is, the discovery does not prove that it was indeed Jesus of Nazareth’s final resting place, but it does prove that He did exist and that the people who witnessed His death also believed in His resurrection. It remains to be seen what other studies on this subject will show. I just hope that this so called “Jesus Discovery” will not lead to some form of false Christianity and a false messiah claiming some kind of DNA link to this “Jesus”, or worse still to the cloning of this individual and claim that he is the messiah who “returned” from the dead. In this world of ours were everything is being turned up side down and history rewritten on regular basis anything is possible.

Essentially there are three Greek words(1) that can be translated as offense (also spelled “offence”), one of which is actually translated “occasion for offense.” That word, proskope, and its “near kin” proskomma generally means “stumbling block.” The other word is skandalon from which the English word “scandal” is derived(2).

Given that brief overview it can be readily seen that the Holy Scriptures are not directing us to be concerned about getting someone angry over everything we might do or not do. Being “all things to all men” when taken in context (1 Corinthians 8 and 9) does not mean multiple and varied attempts to accommodate each person we meet in all aspects of our life, and it certainly does not mean bowing to sin. For an example of the former, if I would try to please everyone I would have a mustache one moment and be without one the next. For the latter, I would be greatly offending Christ if I decided not to offend a friend and get drunk with them.

In fact, taking a stand for Christ and for what the written Word states often does get some people angry. And, indeed, the Gospel of Christ is a stumbling block to some (Romans 9:32-33). If you are truly like Christ, there will be times that Christ within you will trouble another.

What we are not to do is sin, and therefor encourage another to sin. This principle holds true for where skandalon occurs in the Holy Scriptures. However, in performing our duty to point out sin (Ephesians 5:11), either directly or indirectly by just living righteous, there will be offense to others.

Christ Himself offended many in this manner:

Matthew 13:57 “And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, ‘A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.’”

Matthew 15:12 “Then came his disciples, and said unto him, ‘Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?’”

Matthew 26:31 “Then saith Jesus unto them, ‘All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.’”

John 6:61 “When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, ‘Doth this offend you?’”

As you can see, to be like Jesus does not mean we will make everyone happy.

In addition to all of this, we are in the end times for the Church Age and many of the unsaved have become bizarre and overly critical regarding the lives of true Christians. We must remember that they do not set the standards–God does. We are to listen to God and not bow at every whim of man. Let us determine to be truly led by the Spirit of God, and not by the whim of man.

Notes:

(1) Vine, W. E.: An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words; Flemming H. Revell Company, Old Tappan, NJ, 1966; Vol. 3. p129.

(2) Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Springfield, MA 1970, p. 768

God willing, this shall be part of my Bible GemLight series as jade004.