Nationalities of Biblical Persons if They Were Born Today

 

Ben-Hadad                         Syrian

Judas Iscariot                    Israeli

Herod the Great                Jordanian

Darius the Mede               Kurdish

Queen of Sheba                Possibly Saudi Arabian

Nebuchadnezzar              Iraqi

Gallio                                Spanish

Luke                                 Syrian

Timothy                           Turkish

Solomon                           Israeli

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Isidore of Seville: (b. ca 560, Spain – d. 636: aka: Saint Isidore of Seville, San Isidro de Sevilla, San Isidoro de Sevilla) Archbishop of Seville, historian, encyclopedist. Brother of Leander, Florentina, and Fulgentius. He has been called “the last scholar of the ancient world.” Roman Catholic.

Leander of Seville: (b. ca 534, Spain – d. 600/601; aka: Saint Leander of Seville, San Leandro de Sevilla) Bishop of Seville. Brother of Isidore, Florentina, and Fulgentius. Leander was instrumental in the the conversion of the Visigothic kings Hermengild and Recared.  Roman Catholic.

Florentina: (6^th century, Spain; aka: Saint Florentina) Abbess over 40 convents and over 1000 nuns. Sister of Leander, Isidore, and Fulgentius. Roman Catholic.

Fulgentius: (6^th century, Spain; aka: St. Fulgentius) Bishop of Ecija. Brother of Leander, Florentina, and Isidore. Roman Catholic.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Dinesh D’Souza: (b. 1961, India) American author and public speaker, political commentator.  Roman Catholic.

Abundias: (b. Spain - d. 854) Martyr. Roman Catholic parish priest in the village of Ananelos, Spain, near Cordoba.  He was beheaded and his body was thrown to hungry dogs.

Nicola Gruevski: (b. 1970, Macedonia) Banker, elected Prime Minister of Macedonia in 2006. Macedonian Orthodox.

Hassan Sharif Lubenga (b. ca 1958, Uganda) Former Muslim extremist who converted to Christianity after having dreams and visions of Jesus.  He fled to Kenya for his personal safety. He was a sheikh of Buk Haram, a violent group similar to the Nigerian Boko Haram (Hausa = “western education is sinful”).

Isidora Barankis (d. ca. 369, Egypt) One of the first “holy fools.”  A nun at the convent in Tabenissi (on the upper Nile River) in Egypt.  She lived a life of absolute humility and pretended to be insane.  Eventually she left the convent to live in the desert. Eastern Orthodox.

Portrait of Jesus Damaged in Spain

An 80 year old woman in Spain was just trying to help when she "restored"a twentieth-century painting of Jesus in Borja, Spain.  She was known as a local artist but she horribly disfigured the painting, possibly totally ruining it if the paint cannot be removed.  No one believes that she intentionally destroyed the painting.

Baby Jumping

I have to admit that I do not understand this at all.  It is the festival of El Salto del Colacho (“the devil’s jump”) in Castrillo de Murcia , a village near Burgos, Spain.  The festival has been held annually since 1620 and is said to cleanse the babies of original sin and to guard them against illness and evil spirits.  The babies are all less than one year old.

Pope Benedict XVI has asked priests to distance themselves from the festival.

(Some videos will not play properly when you click on the triangle.  Instead,  click on the title line in the picture and the video will begin .  When the video is completed, close the You Tube pop-up window to return to this blog.)

Film Comment: Un Chien Andalou

I have written before about the modern relativistic idea that there is no absolute truth, that even the idea of truth itself is meaningless.  This anti-intellectual philosophy is rapidly becoming the predominant view in much of modern Western civilization.  The statement that all philosophies are true actually means that none are true.  There is no basis for determining what is right or wrong.  What you declare to be evil, another person might declare to be good, and you both have no valid reason for your claim.  Everything is subjective, based only on opinion.  There is no universal logic, There is no universal sense.  There are no universal ethics. There is no universal meaning.

This idea has begun to become mainstream, but it is not new. “Pilate said unto him, What is truth?”  John 18:38

In the most studied short film in history, Un chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog, 1928), director Luis Bunuel (1900, Spain – 1983) and surrealistic painter Salvador Dali  (1904, Spain – 1989) collaborated in coming up with totally unrelated scenes that they patched together in no particular order.  Their intent was to offend the society they despised.   Bunuel said, “No idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted. … Nothing, in the film, symbolizes anything.”

Bunuel and Dali wrote the film together, with Bunuel directing.  There is no plot or continuity of ideas, just one shocking image after another.  The image almost universally recognized as the most shocking is the one in which a woman’s eyeball is sliced with a shaving razor.  Many have tried to interpret the film along preconceived philosophical lines, but all have ultimately failed because the message is that there is no meaning.

Christians utterly reject this world view because we know that absolute truth does exist.  Jesus is The Truth.

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Catherine of Vadstena: (b. ca. 1331, Sweden - d.1381, aka: Catherine of Sweden) Abbess of Vadstena. Daughter of Bridgit of Sweden.  Catherine and her husband lived an ascetic, celibate life.  Returned her mother’s body to Sweden from Rome.

Dismas: (aka: The Good Thief) While hanging on his own cross as punishment for robbery, he asked Jesus to remember him in heaven and Jesus said he would be in paradise that day. (Luke 23:42-43) 

Ludger of Munster: (b. ca. 742, Germany - d.809, aka: Liuger)  Bishop of Munster.  Evangelis in Westphalia and Eastphalia. He built churches and founded a Benedictine monastery on his family estate.  He is considered to be the patron saint of Munster.

Isidore the Farmer: (b. ca. 1080, Spain – d.1130) . Peasant farm laborer. He is considered to be the patron saint of Madrid. Canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 1622.

Mary Margaret d’Youville (b. 1701, Canada – d. 1771; aka: Marie-Marguerite d”Youville; Marguerite Dufroste de Lajemmerais) First native-born Canadian Roman Catholic saint. She was the widow of Francois d-Youville, a bootlegger.  Founded the Sisters of Charity of the General Hospital (the Grey Nuns).  The Grey Nuns care for poor, sick, aged women, prisoners, mentally ill, and prostitutes.  “Go to the Grey Nuns, they never refused anybody, or any honest work.”  She was canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 1990.  Patron saint of widows and difficult marriages.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Jeremy Shu-How Lin: (b.1988, California, USA) Professional NBA basketball player.  Lin is the first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese dexcent in the history of the National Basketball Association.

Mahalia Jacson: (b. 1911, Louisiana, USA – d. 1972; aka: Mahala Jackson; Halie Jackson; “the Queen of Gospel”) Gospel Music singer, civil rights activist.  Louisiana Music Hall of Fasme (2008), Gospe; Music Hall of Fame (1978), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1997), Grammy Hall of Fame (1973).  Baptist.

John Ambrose Fleming: (b. 1849, England – d. 1945) Electrical engineer, physicist, photographer, philanthropist, anti-evolutionist.  Fleming invented the first vacuum tube.  Congregationalist.

Catherine of Aragon: (b. 1485, Spain – d. 1536) Youngest daughter of King Ferdinand and his wife, Queen Isabella.  Bethrothed at age three to Arthur, the Prince of Wales (aged two), a son of King Henry VII of England.  After Arthur and Catherine were married in 1501, he died six months later.  She was then betrothed to marry Arthur’s brother, the future King Henry VIII.  She became the first of his six wives.  Roman Catholic.

Pam Bondi: (b. 1965, Florida, USA) In 2010, Pam Bondi was elected as the Attorney General of the State of Florida (USA).

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Lisa Diane Whelchel: (b. 1963, Texas, USA) Actress, singer, writer.  From 1977-1978 she was a Mouseketeer on The New Mickey Mouse Club.

James Spann: (b. 1986, Alabama, USA) Television meteorologist.

Solomon Halevi: (b. ca 1350, Spain - d.1435; aka: Pablo de Santa Maria) HaLevi was the Rabbi of Burgos, Spain, theologian, bishop.  In 1391, he converted to Christianity and claimed to be a descendant of the line of Mary.   He became the Bishop of Burgos and the Chancellor of the King of Castille.  Jewish tradition vilifies him as an apostate.

Diego Sarmiento de Valladares: (b.1615,Spain – d 1695) Roman Catholic Bishop, Grand Inquisitor of Spain (1669-1695).  In 1681, he declared that the Spanish nobility could not hire Jewish converts to Christianity to act as wet nurses for their infants because their milk would ruin the children.

Edward Drinker Cope: (b. 1840, USA – d. 1897) Paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and zoologist.  He published over 1400 scientific papers and discovered, described, and named over 1000 vertebrate species.  Quaker.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Trophimus: A Gentile traveling companion of Paul.  In Jerusalem, the local Jews thought that Paul had allowed Trophimus to enter the Temple. (Acts 21:29)  Paul left him behind to  recuperate in Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20) after he became ill.  The ruins of Miletus are found at Milet, Tukey.

Craig Groeschel: (b. 1967, Texas, USA) Pastor, writer, founder of LifeChurch.tv, a Christian church with fourteen locations in five US states.  LifeChurch.tv is based in Edmund, Oklahoma (USA).

Perfectus: (b. Spain – d. 850, aka: Saint Perfectus, Santo Perfecto)  Roman catholic monk and ordained priest in Moorish Cordoba.  When asked, under promise of non-repisal, who was greater, Jesus or Muhammad, he replied in Arabic that Muhammad was a false prophet.  Other men, who had not promised protection to Perfectus, captured him and he was beheaded by the order of an Islamic court.

Wigstan: (d. 849, Mercia, a part of modern great Britain, aka: Wistan, Saint Wystan) Wigstan was a grandson of King Ceolwulf I of Mercia and was probably the ealdorman of the Hwicce tribe.

John Eliot: (b. 1604, England – d. 1690, aka: “the Indian Apostle”)  Puritan missionary to the native Americans in Massachusetts.  Eliot translated the Bible into the local Native American language (Massachusett) and published it in 1663.  He also wrote and published a Massachusett grammar in 1666.  He was the co-editor of the Bay Psalm Book, the first book published in the British North American colonies.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

John Croyle: (b. USA) Former University of Alabama football player who turned down a National Football League (NFL) contract to found (1974) The Big Oak Ranch, a home for boys from troubled and abusive families in Alabama.  In 1988, he and his wife, Tee added The Girl’s Ranch.  He needed $30,000 as a down payment on the original parcel of land for the ranch: Croyle’s teammate and fellow Christian, John Hannah, donated his $30,000 NFL signing bonus to make the payment.  Croyle is the father of NFL quarterback, Brodie Croyle.

http://www.bigoak.org 

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Bringing-Out-the-Winner-In-Your-Child/John-Croyle/e/9781581823516 

John Brodie Croyle: (b. 1983, Alabama, USA) Son of Big Oak Ranch founder, John Croyle.  University of Alabama college football player, professional football quarterback.

Hermann of Reichenau: (b. 1013, Swabia (Germany) – d. 1054: aka> Hermannus Contractus, Hermannus Augiensis, Herman the Cripple) Son of the Duke of Altshausen.  Benedictine monk, scholar, composer, music theorist, mathematician, astronomer, poet, beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1863.  He is probably the first to make a numerical-chronological listing of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church.  He was crippled from birth, born apparently with cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and possibly spina bifida; he went blind as an adult.

Giovanni Battista Cybo: (b. 1432, Republic of Genoa (Italy) – d. 1492; aka. Pope Innocent VIII) Roman Catholic Pope 1484-1492. An opponent of witchcraft and of the Waldensians.  He appointed (1487) Tomas de Torquemada as Grand Inquisitor of Spain.

Hubert Ira Davis: (b. 1970, North Carolina, USA) Professional basketball (NBA) player, ESPN college basketball analyst.  He is the nephew of former professional basketball (NBA) player, Walter Davis.

The Saddest Day in Jewish History

When Moses sent the twelve spies into Canaan, only two, Joshua and Caleb, came back with a positive report.  God declared that that present generation would not enter the Promised Land and that the day, the ninth of Av, would become one of crying for their descendents. (Numbers 13 and 14.)

The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC/BCE occurred on Tisha b'av, the ninth day of the month of Av (Hebrew Calendar).

The destruction of the Second Jewish Temple by Rome in 70 AD/CE occurred on the ninth of Av.

The Romans put down the Bar Kochba Revolt and destroyed the city of Betar in 132 AD/CE, on the ninth of Av.  Over 100,000 Jews were killed.

In 133 AD/CE, on the ninth of Av, the Roman commander Turnus Rufus plowed the site of the Temple.

The expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290 and from Spain in 1492 by King Ferdinand, the declaration of the First Crusade, the outbreak of World War I, and the deportation of Warsaw's Jews to the Treblinka Death Camp are all sometimes associated with the 9th of Av but did not occur on that day.  The Warsaw deportation is the closest to the correct date, beginning as it did on the 10th of Av.

Tisha B'Av is an annual fast day in Judaism.  Observant Jews do not eat, drink, work, bathe, wear leather shoes, or have sex on this day because it is a day of mourning.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Juan de Zumarraga: (b. 1468, Spain – d. 1548) Spanish Basque Franciscan and the first Bishop of Mexico. Protector of the Indians. In 1531, peasant Juan Diego had a vision of the Virgin Mary at Tepeyec and an image of Mary appeared on his cloak.  Bishop  Zumarraga oversaw the building of the Basilica of Guadalupe, which, because of Juan Diego’s cloak, has become the most visited Roman Catholic shrine in the world.  By 1536, the number of baptized Indians in Mexico was estimated to be five million.

Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun: (b, 1944, Laos) Roman Catholic bishop of the Vicariate Apostolic of Pakse.

Sokhom So: Vice president of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, a group of anti-Communist militants. He became a convert to Christian Evangelicalism in 1997.  He is now a jewelry executive in the State of Virginia (USA).

Simeon: (aka: Niger) A Christian leader in the church at Antioch (Syria).  Acts 13:1,2.

Stephen Edwin King: (b. 1947, Maine, USA, aka: Richard Bachman; John Swithen) Novelist, short story writer, comic book writer (horror, suspense, science fiction, fantasy).  His forty-nine (as of 2010) novels have sold over 350,000,000 copies and have spawned numerous films. Methodist.