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Modern Names of Places Mentioned in the Bible

 

First or representative mention.

Ammon                         Jordan                       Genesis 19:37-38                   

Arabia                          Arabia                       1 Kings 10:15; 2 Chronicles 1:14

Aram, Aramiyim         Syria                         1Chronicles 19:6; 2 Samuel 10:6-8                       

Assur/Asshur               Iran, Iraq                   Numerous mentions

Babylon                       Iraq                            Numerous mentions

Canaan                        Gaza Strip, Israel, Lebanon, West Bank   Numerous mentions

Damascus                    Syria                          Genesis 14:15

Ethiopia                       Ethiopia, Sudan         Genesis 2:13

Media                          Iran                             2 Kings 17:6

Pekod, Peqod             Iraq                             Jeremiah 50:21; Ezekiel 23:23

Togarmah                    Armenia, Turkiye, Turkestan  Ezekiel 38:6

Science in Antiquity: Part 1

 

Many modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was actually not true. What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.

The ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust.

By the end of the 19^th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.

 

185 AD/CE: Chinese astronomers report a bright star which faded away after eight months. This is Supernova SN 185 which occurred 8200 years ago in the Centaurus constellation.

Ca 140 AD/CE:  A Chinese surgeon, Hua Tuo, is the first recorded to use anesthesia during surgery.

78-139 AD/CE: Zhang Heng, a Han polymath, works in seismology, hydraulics, astronomy, cartography, poetry, and politics. He invents a functional water clock.

100 AD/CE: 1.  The mathematician Theon of Smyrna says that the Earth is a sphere.

Ca 20 AD/CE:1.  Birth of the Greek scientist, Hero of Alexandria, who did work in theoretical mathematics, mechanics, and physics.  He studied the science of light reflection and invented a rotary steam engine and several pneumatic devices.

              2. Geminus of Rhodes studies astronomy and writes The Theory of Mathematics.

8 AD/CE: Chinese astronomer Liu Xin calculates the solar year as 365.25016 days. He calculates pi as 3.154

Breaking the Fourth Wall

 

            In film-making, there is a concept called breaking the fourth wall in which one or several characters acknowledge the existence of the viewing audience and address the viewers as if they are participants in the ongoing events.

            The first, second, and third walls are like a box around a stage set: the back wall and the two side walls. The fourth wall is the wall visible to the characters in the play but totally transparent to the people watching the events as they occur. Traditionally, the actors and narrators are assumed to be unaware that they are being watched by the audience.

            Breaking the fourth wall occurs when a character in the play or film glances at the audience or camera, makes movements like a wink or a knowing smile which betray a knowledge of the existence of the audience, or actually speaks directly to the viewers. Occasionally, the narrative itself becomes self-aware. Examples of this phenomenon occur in the films, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the Marvel Deadpool films, and The Neverending Story, which can be seen to exhibit as many as seven levels of fourth wall breaking.  

            What does this have to do with this Christian blog? Well, this is in reference to the Bible itself. The Bible is holy, but as an object it is just a book, ink on sheets of paper, or, in our current modern days, the arrangement of millions of pixels on your cellphone screen.

            There are widely varying levels of reverence for the physical book itself, with some actually bordering on idolatry, but the physical book is just that, a book.

            Two ways of understanding the Bible are as a tool or as a weapon. Both understandings can be biblically supported.

            So, back to the subject of this post. Sitting on a shelf or lying on a desk the Bible is just a book. The thing which only Christians can understand is that once it is picked up and opened, the Bible is itself indwelled by the Holy Spirit, the same person who inhabits each of us. Just as we can use the Bible, so can he. It is one of the many ways he can speak directly to us.

            The Holy Spirit is aware as we read the biblical text and he guides us to new insights, the meat of the gospel, new levels of understanding which we as believers can gradually comprehend as we mature. How do we know this? The Bible tells us so.

            One of the activities of the Holy Spirit is the Reminding Ministry. He will guide you in the Bible to the answers or understandings which you need to further mature as a Christian.

            Isaiah 11:2; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:1-4, 6:19-20; Hebrews 5:12-13; John 14:17,26, 16:13; Romans 8:9; Colossians 1:27; 1 John 4:15.

The First Three Letters of the Bible

 

In Genesis 1:1, the first word of the Bible, in Hebrew, is בְּרֵאשִׁית which is transliterated as bare sit or b'rei-sheeth.  The first letter is ב (bet), the second letter is ר (resh), and the third letter is א (alef). The English-language name of the book is Genesis, from its Greek name, Γένεσις. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, Bereshit, “in beginning.”

Some Christian commentators have noticed and commented on this as a statement of the Trinity in the first word of the Bible. Others see it as merely an interesting coincidence.

            בן         Ben (son)

            רִיחַ       Ruach (spirit, breath, wind)

            אֱלֹהִ֑ים    Elohim (God, a name in plural form)

            Religious Jews reject this understanding as heretical, believing that the very essence of their religion is monotheistic; God is one, not plural. They understand the plural name of God, Elohim, as expressing the majesty of God, as in the phrase "holy, holy, holy," with each "holy" adding to the emphasis or strength of the word.

            An objection to the idea of Jesus or the Trinity being mentioned in the Old Testament is seen here:  https://gsgriffin.com/2017/07/29/the-bereshit-jesus-in-genesis-argument-has-no-merit/#:~:text=Both%20assert%20the%20following%20meanings,covenant%2C%20mark%2C%20cross)

by writer Garrett S. Griffin. Griffin is a Democratic Socialist activist and political writer.

Science in Antiquity: Part 12

 Many modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was actually not true. What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.

The ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust. By the end of the 19^th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.

 

Ca 1950 BC/BCE: Quadratic equations are solved by Babylonian mathematicians.

Ca 2000 BC/BCE: In India, fouled water is purified by boiling and subsequent filtration through

charcoal.

Ca 22 Oct. 2137 BC/BCE: A solar eclipse is recorded and described by Chinese officials.

9 May 2138 BC/BCE: Solar eclipse visible over Babylon.

24 May 2138 BC/BCE: Lunar eclipse visible over Babylon.

Science in Antiquity: Part 10

 Many modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was actually not true. What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.

The ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust.

By the end of the 19^th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.

 

Ca 805 BC/BCE: In India, Baudhayana calculates square roots and quadratic equations.

Ca 1000 BC/BCE: Egyptian mathematicians use simple fractions.

11^th Century BC/BCE: Chinese scholars describe algebra, geometry, and trigonometry.

27 December 1192 BC/BCE: A Chinese oracle bone has been found inscribed with a description of a lunar eclipse occurring between 2148 (9:48 PM) and 2330 (11:30 PM). The lunar eclipse has been confirmed by NASA to have happened on that date and time.

Ca 1486 BC/BCE: Chinese astronomers see a ten-tailed comet.

You are in our thoughts and prayers

             When you say, "You are in our thoughts and prayers," or, " I will pray for you," be sure that these statements are true. Otherwise, you are taking the Name of the Lord God in vain. Don't just blab out pious phrases: words really do have meaning.  

Modern Names of Places Mentioned in the Bible

 

First or representative biblical mention.

Assyria                         Iraq                                                 Numerous mentions

Chaldea                       Iraq, Kuwait                                    Jeremiah 50:10; Ezekiel 11:24

Cush/Kush                  Ethiopia and Sudan                         Genesis 2:13

Edom                           Jordan                                             Genesis 25:30

Midian                         Jordan                                             Genesis 25:12-18

Mitzraim/Mizraim     Egypt                                              Genesis 12:10. Mitzraim  מִצְרַיִם is the Hebrew                                      word for Egypt. The English language word Egypt is derived from its Greek                                                 name aiγuptos. The modern Arabic name for the country is Misr مصر. 

Philistia                       Palestine                                         Joshua 13:3; Judges 16:5

Put                              Libya, North Africa, Egypt             Nahum 3:9

Rosh                           southern Russia                               Ezekiel 38:2,8

Scythia                       southern Russia, Ukraine                Ezekiel 38:1 

Render Unto Caesar What Belongs to Caesar: Christian Citizen Involvement

 

Most of us read Jesus’ comment, “Render unto Caesar…” as a negative but it clearly is not. Jesus turned the Pharisees’ hostile trap question back on them and they walked away humiliated. The point of what Jesus said is that the commandments of God supersede or override those of any government whenever there is a conflict between the two. His comment acknowledges that the government can make legitimate claims on us. Remember that all governments are in place only with his consent.

Our compliance with and assistance to government can take many forms, including jury duty, military service, running for a place on the local school board, and paying required taxes. I know, I hate them too, but Jesus himself paid taxes.

There are many avenues for Christians to faithfully serve their government. For Americans with an interest in history, there is one very intriguing option. (I am not sure if this is restricted only to American citizens, but other countries may also have programs such as this for their own documents.)

The vast majority of the millions of original documents from the 17^th to 19^th centuries and many from the early 20th still exist only in handwritten form. These include military records, land transaction and dispute records, supply requisitions, court records, official correspondence, census books, tax records, government pension applications, and various miscellaneous documents. The United States National Archives is seeking unpaid volunteers who are able to read cursive handwriting and especially the handwriting of the 17^th to 19^th centuries. The needed skill is called paleography: the science or skill of transcribing ancient or historical documents.

The Archives need this because people have shifted through the years from handwriting, to type-setting, to typewriters, then word processors, then texting, and many now almost exclusively use talk-to-text technology. Some even tell an artificial intelligence program what they want to be in a document and then allow the AI to compose it. These people will look at the English-language handwriting of the 18^th and 19^th centuries and may be as confused as if it were written in Chinese or Arabic.

The handwriting of prior centuries is very different from what is now considered to be standard. The forms of letters are different, the language can sound stilted, flowery, or obscure, the letters may be written very close together to get more writing on one page (paper was expensive), unfamiliar or archaic words may be used, and the spelling is often very fluid, even in the same document.

The difficulties are compounded by the fact that in some modern school systems, cursive handwriting is no longer even taught. My granddaughter went to one such school and had to ask me to teach her how to read and write cursive.

Volunteers for the National Archives program may sign up online and pick any one of the over 300,000,000 currently digitized but still un-transcribed documents. There is no specified number or type of documents which the volunteer must process and no time limitations. Those who are uncomfortable reading older forms of cursive can still volunteer their efforts since the documents transcribed by others also need to “tagged” by mentioned subjects and names to make them easier to search. Information about this program can be viewed here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2025/01/15/national-archives-is-seeking-citizen-archivists-who-can-read-cursive/77717797007/ and the government website is here: https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/missions/revolutionary-war-pension-files

Matthew 17: 24-27, 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17: Luke 20:20-26; Romans 13:1-7.

Koko’s Message for Us

 

People have questioned the exact nature of animal intelligence. Some wonder if their beloved pets have souls and will be in Heaven with them. While many have very firm opinions on the matter, the hard answer is that no one knows for sure. The Bible does not speak on the issue in any clear way.

Modern science asserts that animals have some sort of intelligence and personal identities. The level of intelligence varies depending on the type of animal, but some animals clearly exhibit emotions, social structures, teamwork, wars, use of simple tools, recognize themselves in mirrors or photographs, long-term memory, play video games, food preferences, manipulative behaviors, favorite toys, and the choosing of a favorite person.

Koko was a lowland gorilla who lived at The Gorilla Foundation in California (USA). Obviously, it is anatomically impossible for gorillas to speak in a human manner, but an attempt was made to teach Koko some simple manual sign language. She learned over 2000 signs and was able to carry on what appear to have been intelligent conversations with people.

https://www.google.com/search?q=koko+the+gorilla&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS864US864&oq=koko+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCggCEAAYsQMYgAQyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg7MgoIAhAAGLEDGIAEMgoIAxAuGLEDGIAEMgoIBBAuGLEDGIAEMg0IBRAuGIMBGLEDGIAEMgcIBhAAGIAEMhMIBxAuGIMBGK8BGMcBGLEDGIAEMhAICBAAGIMBGLEDGIAEGIoFMgoICRAuGLEDGIAE0gEJMTAxOTlqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Koko had a pet cat which she named All-Ball and she babied and pampered it as if it were her child. When the cat died, Koko went through a grieving period.

Koko’s daily routines included watching television. Her favorite program was Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. When Fred Rogers came to visit her, she was delighted and, after she hugged him, she took off his sweater and shoes, just as he did in every episode of his program.

https://www.koko.org/research-care/796/kokos-farewell-to-mister-rogers/

Another of her television favorites was the comedian, Robin Williams. When Williams came to visit, the pair hugged and laughed repeatedly. They played Tickles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9I_QvEXDv0

Listen to what Koko said to us at the age of 44. She died at the age of 46.:

“I am nature. I am flower, animals. I am nature. Man Koko love. Earth Koko love. But Man stupid. Koko sorry. Koko cry. Time hurry. Fix Earth. Help Earth. Hurry. Nature see you. Thank you.”

https://au.news.yahoo.com/gorilla-uses-sign-language-voice-035805465.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIvldsBZX40yfisATqjYKZzeG7_iCd1n-_DDWeMVkzuXHtHAxFZ6C-EgXiKbtMnI9KcnSHRYfCGkND3T_IBQrNKhaXzgGCGnDPEwXhW6FBdj4tLsNDC0RVcyUlNZw3dE1saGbR1Xg_WIerPKhvgFI7q6retmf_7UHbs2a-GG54Xg

and

https://www.the-independent.com/climate-change/news/koko-gorilla-cop21-environment-message-noe-video-a6800761.html#:~:text=The%20Gorilla%20Foundation%2C%20which%20looks,'%20and%20fix%20the%20problem.%22

Isaiah was of Royal Descent

 

When King Amaziah died , his son, Uzziah/Azariah became king of Judah. The prophet Isaiah was the son of Amoz, who was possibly a brother of King Amaziah, so, Isaiah was of royal descent. 2 Kings 14: 19-22; 2 Chronicles 25-27.

Modern Names of Places Mentioned in the Bible

 

Caphtor                      Amos 9:7; Jeremiah 47:9               Greece

Cushan                       Habakkuk 3:7                                Jordan

Gomer                        Ezekiel 38:6                                   Possibly Ukraine

Moab                          Numbers 22-24                              Jordan

Persia                          Numerous mentions                      Iran

Phoenicia                    Numerous mentions                      Lebanon

Sidon                          Genesis 10:15                                Lebanon

Tadmor                      2 Chronicles 8:4                            Palmyra, Syria

Tyre                            Isaiah 23:2,12                                Lebanon

Uz                               Job 1:1                                           Jordan and Lebanon

Book Comment: The 50 Most Important Teachings of the Bible

 

In his book, The 50 Most Important Teachings of the Bible, Jim George presents a Conservative Protestant Evangelical interpretation of fifty of the important doctrines of Christianity. When I first read it, I wrote on the title page: “The whole book quivers with the evangelistic impulse.”

As with most books such as this, what you get from the book depends on what you bring with you. You may not agree with everything George says. His stated purpose: “My goal for this book about what the Bible teaches is to help give you a better understanding of the key teachings that are critical for your growth as a Christian.”

Some of the topics discussed in this book:

God is both three, and one.

Satan is not as powerful as you think, but you ignore him at your own risk.

Look at Jesus to see what God is like.

How much water is enough?

Angels are not just something you put on the top of your Christmas tree.

You cannot surprise God

Information you will need to search for this book: George, Jim, The 50 Most Important Teachings of the Bible. What They Mean for You (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2015)

___________________________________________________________________

A general caution: books may give you wonderful new insights and explanations of subjects, but you should never base your Christian beliefs on any one book or the teachings of one person, no matter who they are. All teachings must be consistent with scripture. Read as the Bereans did, with discernment. “… for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11 NASB

Any doctrines must be consistent with the historical full body of Christian thought. Doctrines or teachings inconsistent with scripture in any way must be rejected. You would not eat cheese which had a fuzzy fungus growing on it.

Relatives of Jesus

 

9 December 598 BC/BCE: Death of Jehoiakim/Eliakim (608-598 BC/BCE), ascension of his son, Jehoiachin/Jeconiah (ruled 597 BC/BCE), as King of Judah (for a three-month and ten-day reign). Jehoiachin is held captive in Babylon for 37 years. The Sheshbazzar, “prince of Judah,” mentioned in Ezra is believed to have been Shenazzar, a son of Jehoiakin. This man would have been the uncle of  Zerubbabel, an ancestor of Jesus.  Ezra 1:8ff, 5:1-2,14, 2:63; 1 Chronicles 3:18; 2 Kings 23: 1-24:16.

Book Comment: The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?

 

Almost everyone acknowledges that the original text documents of the New Testament have been lost. The originals were written on perishable materials and were hand copied onto other perishable materials to be distributed among the churches. Constant use, environmental factors, and sheer age led to the degradation of the documents which had to be recopied repeatedly. What we now have has been reconstructed from thousands of early textual fragments and the earliest known full copies of the books.

In the 120 pages of his book, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, F.F. Bruce presents a detailed but highly readable statement about the proofs that the modern New Testament as it stands represents as much as a 99.9 percent recovery of the original documents. Through the comparison of numerous copies, scribal errors and intentional editing can be detected and rejected. The oldest copies and those with the hardest to accept meaning (and therefore most likely to be "corrected" by the scribe) are favored.

Comparing the extant New Testament documents to those of secular antiquity, Bruce shows that the texts of the Christian scriptures are actually far better attested than those of universally accepted secular books.

                            ______________________________

F.F. Bruce, who died in 1990, was a highly influential British conservative evangelical biblical scholar and university professor. He wrote numerous books and articles.  https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802867230/f-f-bruce/

Information you will need to search for this book: Bruce, F.F., The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (Downer’s Grove, Ill: Inter-Varsity Press, 5^th ed., 1960).

A similar book with a very apologetic bent is:

Sala, Harold J., Why You Can Have Confidence in the Bible (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2008).  (This is an apologetics book comparing the extant biblical documentation to that of classical documents from antiquity.)

___________________________________________________________________

A general caution: books may give you wonderful new insights and explanations of subjects, but you should never base your Christian beliefs on any one book or the teachings of one person, no matter who they are. All teachings must be consistent with scripture. Read as the Bereans did, with discernment. “… for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11 NASB

Any doctrines must be consistent with the historical full body of Christian thought. Doctrines or teachings inconsistent with scripture in any way must be rejected. You would not eat cheese which had a fuzzy fungus growing on it.

Not the Real Thing

 

Free over the air television in the United States is advertiser supported.

During the United States NCAA National Basketball Tournament (we call it “March Madness”), the television viewership numbers are enormous. As a result, companies pay large sums of money to run 30 second commercials for their products during the broadcasts. The link below is one of the commercials: for AT&T, American Telephone and Telegraph.

At every game during the tournament, vendors gather to sell memorabilia relating to the participating college teams: hats, caps, shirts, jerseys, sweatsuits, flags, banners, magazines, figurines, toys, and other doodads. Doodads, that is a good slang word meaning little ephemeral items that your children will insist that they must have but which they will discard, break, or lose as soon as they get home. In the South, we also call them doohickeys or whatchamacallits. Merriam-Webster https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doodad defines doodad as “an often small article whose common name is unknown or forgotten: gadget.”

In the commercial in the link below, the vendor is obviously trying to avoid the cost of paying royalty licensing fees to the universities. He is selling counterfeit items. His main problem is that his counterfeits are glaringly obvious. The university names are spelled incorrectly, or the colors on the items are not the colors associated with the university. His counterfeits include: Unsee instead of UNC (The University of North Carolina), Gonzaza instead of Gonzaga University, Markett instead of Marquette University, Oregano instead of The University of Oregon, and Dook instead of Duke University.   

Not all counterfeits are as obvious as these and, sadly, they also occur in spiritual matters. There are spiritual counterfeits which have arisen from well-intentioned ignorance and stupidity, or from peculiar mis-readings of the biblical texts, or from secular concerns being forced into the scriptural interpretation (eisegesis).

            Eisegesis is reading a pre-held belief or agenda into the scriptural text rather than determining doctrine from the text outwards (exegesis). Theologically orthodox and conservative theologians reject this since it imposes ideas on the scriptures, rather than seeking to understand their original meaning. Eisegesis is usually well-intentioned.

            There are also more sinister counterfeits, sometimes resulting in enormous profits for the perpetrators. Some want to tap in to the eager Christian market without any actual personal input, no real study, no real discipline, no real cost to themselves. This is a form of the sin of simony. The results can be very doctrinally suspect and doctrine does matter.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usN32eMIc6k

            or, https://www.ispot.tv/ad/TGQy/at-and-t-inc-march-madness-jersey

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Holy Smoke!

Pope Francis has died and the process of selecting a new pope has begun. Today, the puffs of smoke from the Vatican chimney were black.  The Conclave’s first vote to elect the next pope did not produce enough votes for a single individual to be selected. Traditionally, black smoke from the chimney means that the Cardinals must take at least one more vote, and probably more than that. White smoke means, “We have a Pope!”

Many people believe that this is the origin of the English-language idiomatic expression of surprise, Holy Smoke! Surprisingly, this does not seem to be the case.

Holy Smoke! is a minced oath.  (I will talk about minced oaths in another post). The fact-checking website Snopes.com (I will talk about Snopes.com in another post) says that the belief mentioned above is false. Snopes.com/fact-check/holy-smoke/

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known written mention of holy smoke was in The Epiphany, a 1627 poem written by Sir J. Beaumont and it references the burning of incense. The earliest known use of holy smoke as an exclamation or expletive was in 1892, by Rudyard Kipling in his The Naulahka.

            The expression may, ultimately, have been derived from the Roman Catholic practice but there is no known documentary proof of this.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Update: On 8 May 2025, white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was selected as the next Pope. He chose as his regnal name Pope Leo XIV.  

Modern Names of Places Mentioned in the Bible

 

Attalia                            Acts 14:25                Antalya, Turkiye

Cenchrae                       Romans 16:1            Kechries, Greece

Harosheth Haggoyim  Judges 4:13               El-Ahwar, Israel

Kir of Moab                 Isaiah 15:1                Al Karak, Jordan                    

Laish/Leshem              Judges 18:29             Tel Dan, Israel

                                      Joshua 19:47

No-Amon/Thebes        Ezekiel 30:16            Luxor/Al Uxxor, Egypt          

                                      Nahum 3:8

On/Awen                      Genesis 46:20           Heliopolis, Egypt

Pi-beseth/Bubastis       Ezekiel 30:17            Tell Basta, Egypt

Sarepta                         1 Kings 17:9              Sarafand, Lebanon

                                      Obadiah 20

Sin/Pelusium                Ezekiel 30:15            Tell el-Farama,Egypt

Follow the Finger

 

Apologetics, derived from the Greek word, ἀπολογία, translated in English as "defense," consists of logical arguments and the presentation of provable facts which are intended to explain or justify religious doctrines and is aimed at defusing objections to the faith. This occurs in every religious tradition but, for our purposes, refers to Christian Apologetics.
            

It is difficult to understand how people can ignore or entirely discount some of the facts brought to light by Christian Apologetics, but some always do, sometimes vehemently. Some will insist that apologeticists are misinterpreting facts or taking them out of their proper context. Others outright reject any supernatural interpretations of any facts.

One can easily get bogged down in all the arguments, but I believe that the point of apologetics can be summed up by a line from the Jean-Pierre Jeunet film masterpiece, Amelie: “When the finger’s pointing at the sky, only a fool looks at the finger.” 

            Amelie is a quirky, but beautiful, French-language comedy and is not a Christian film. I, admittedly, am quoting the film totally out of context. The quote is a perfect fit for the point I am making in this post.