Calcol/Chalcol and KRKR

 There are thousands of extrabiblical literary and archeological corroborations of the Bible. New evidences of persons and places mentioned in the Bible continue to be discovered every year.

There have been suggestions that Chalcol/Calcol, one of David’s wise men mentioned in the Bible, and Kerker (KRKR), who is mentioned in the Megiddo Ivories, may be connected. KRKR can be transliterated as Kulkul.

Calcol/Chalcol was one of David’s wise men and was a brother of Heman, a wise man and musician who was the king’s “seer in the words of God to lift up the horn.” Because Chalcol/Calcol was a brother of Heman, many believe that he was also a musician. David appointed more than 4000 Levite royal musicians and singers.

Artifact A22269 is an Egyptian-style ivory plaque from the Megiddo ivories collection, featuring hieroglyphic inscriptions with prayers for an Egyptian singer named Kerker. This is one of the almost 400 ivories discovered at the site in the 1930’s.

A22269 features Egyptian hieroglyphs with a prayer reading: “[… for the spirit of the singer of] Ptah, south of his wall, [Lord of] 'The Life of Two Lands,' Kerker, the justified”. Kerker appears to have been a female singer who worked in the Temple of the Egyptian deity, Ptah, during the time period of ca 1350-1150 BC/BCE. Her name is spelled out phonetically as KRKR with the symbols for k and r. KRKR can be transliterated as Kulkul.

The plaque was found at the Megiddo archeological site in modern Israel during excavations of the treasury room of a Late Bronze Age palace, from the 12^th Century BC/BCE.

https://isac-idb.uchicago.edu/id/af86a18e-7b0c-40c6-bec4-43f513b7f052 shows an image and description of the plaque. You can click on the image to enlarge it. The plaque is held in the collection of the University of Chicago Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures.

Because of the similarity of the pronunciations of the names of Chalcol/Calcol and KRKR some have suggested that there may have been some sort of familial connection with Chalcol/Calcol being an honorific, serving in a similar way to a modern surname. There are problems with this idea and most commenters believe that there is no connection other than similar sounding names and being therefore totally coincidental.

1. 1. KRKR was a female pagan singer in the Temple of Ptah while Chalcol/Calcol was a male member of the tribe of Judah.

2. 2. KRKR lived in the ca 1350-ca 1150 BC/BCE time period, while Chalcol/Calcol served during the lifetime of King David ca 1000-931 BC/BCE.

1 Chronicles 2:6, 6:33, chapter 25, especially verse 5; 1 Kings 4:31; Psalm 88.

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 1500 BC/BCE: 1. Chinese mathematicians work on permutations and probability theory.

            2. Hindu writers mention ants being attracted to a patient’s urine as a symptom of diabetes.

Ca 1550 BC: 1. In Myanmar/Burma, copper is made into bronze.

            2. An Egyptian physician, Hesy-Ra, mentions frequent urination as a symptom of diabetes.

Ca 1750 BC/BCE:  Babylon: square and cube roots, linear and quadratic equations, Pythagorean Theorem.

Ca 1800 BC/BCE: 1. Bronze is in use in China.

            2. The Berlin Papyrus 6619, found in Egypt, describes algebra.

Ca 1890 BC/BCE: The Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, found in Egypt, speaks of applied mathematics: ship construction, beer concentrations, worker efficiency, Pythagorean triples, etc.

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 

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

Modern Names of Places Mentioned in the Bible

 

Assos                           Acts 20:30                   Behramkale, Turkiye

Berea                          Acts 17:10-13              Veria, Greece

Cauda                         Acts 27:16                   Gavdos, Greece

Erech                          Genesis 10:10             Uruk, Iraq

Iron                             Joshua 19:38               Yaroun, Lebanon

Joppa                          Jonah 1:3                    Jaffa, Israel

Myra                           Acts 27:5                     Demre, Turkiye

Philadelphia               Revelation 3:7             Alasehir, Turkiye

Rabbah                      Amos 1:14                   Amman, Jordan

Tahpanhes                  Jeremiah 44:1             Tell Defenneh, Egypt

Modern Names of Places Mentioned in the Bible

 

Antipatris                   Acts 23:31                   Rosh HaAyin, Israel

Cuthah                       2 Kings 17:24              Tell, Ibrahim, Iraq

Dedan                         Ezekiel 8:13                 Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia

Elim                            Exodus 16:1                Wadi Gharandel, Egypt

Hamath                      2 Samuel 8:9               Hama, Syria

Medeba                      Numbers 21:30            Madaba, Jordan

                                    Joshua 13:9

Noph                           Isaiah 19:13                Memphis, Egypt

Qiryat Arba               Joshua 14:15               Hebron, West Bank

Rhegium                     Acts 28:13                   Reggio Calabria, Italy

Syene                          Ezekiel 29:10, 30:6     Aswan, Egypt

Cleopatra is almost modern

I am not sure who first noticed this so I cannot give attribution. The situation points to an important and seemingly contradictory fact. Though the events related in the Bible  seem to have taken place in great antiquity they can also be seen as having been quite recent,

Think about this set of facts. From the creation of the Great Pyramid of Giza to the life of Cleopatra VII there is a time span of roughly 2520 years. From the lifetime of Cleopatra until the invention of the i-phone is a span of about 2063 years.

Neither Khufu (aka: Cheops, ruled 2589 - 2566 BC), who built the Great Pyramid, or Cleopatra VII Philopator (ruled 51 - 30 BC) is mentioned in the Bible but they are not irrelevant to Bible history.  The Egyptians are prominent in the history of Israel and Cleopatra and her lovers were important in the military battles and intrigues which  led to their enemy, Gaius  Octavius (aka: Octavian),  becoming the first Emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus.

Emperor Augustus seems to have unknowingly set into motion the events which led  to Jesus being born (Luke 2: 1-5}  in Bethlehem (Beit Lahm, West Bank)  rather than his hometown of Nazareth
(Natzrat, Israel).  Many Christians believe that this  was in fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy given in Micah 5:2.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Cleopatra's great-great-great-great-great grandmother, also named Cleopatra,  is mentioned in 1 Maccabees 10:57-58,  part of the Apocrypha, which is not given biblical status by Protestants.

Religious Place Names

Lalibela, Ethiopia: This historical site is named for an Ethiopian Orthodox saint, King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela (ruled ca 1181 + 1221). The buildings are laid out to represent Jerusalem and each of the eleven churches is carved from a single rock.

Remlap, State of Alabama, United States: This community is named for a local family. Since there was already an existing community named "Palmer," the name was reversed to spell "Remlap."
The surname is of Old French ("paume" = "palm tree") by way of the Latin word "palmifer" which means a "palm bearer" or a "pilgrim." and the suffix "erius" which means "descendant of." This is in reference to a pilgrim to the Holy Lands who returned, bringing back palm branches.

Bubastis, Egypt: aka: Tell - Basta; Per-Bast; Pi-Beseth . This city is mentioned in Ezekiel 30:17 as Pi-Beseth. It was a center of worship for the feline Egyptian goddess named Bast or Bastet, Numerous mummies of cats have been found at the site.

Touba, Senegal: "Tuba" is the Arabic word for "felicity" or "bliss." This is in reference to the sweet pleasures of eternal life in the Islamic afterlife paradise. The word also refers to closeness to Allah.

Nymph, State of Alabama, United States: Nymph is an unincorporated community in Conecuh County. In classical mythology, a nymph was an animating or maintaining nature spirit who appeared as a beautiful maiden and lived in the woods and rivers.

Why Isaiah Preached in the Nude for Three Years

Isaiah 20:1-4  “In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet." And he did so, going naked and barefoot. And the LORD said, "Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.” (The year spoken of in verse one is 711 BC.)

The Israelites feared attack by the mighty Assyrian Empire led by King Sargon and allied themselves with Egypt and Ethiopia instead of depending on God for their protection. For three years* Isaiah preached in a completely naked state to show to the Israelites that the Egyptians and Ethiopians would be carried away naked and barefoot by the Assyrians. They would be utterly humiliated and unable to defend themselves or Israel. 

*The number three occurs 467 times in the Bible. This number is believed by many Christians to be a reference to the Trinity. Three is the number of perfection or completion. To  repeat a word or idea sequentially is to emphasize it. In Isaiah 6:3 the Lord God Almighty is praised as “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Religious Place Names

Glennahaglish, Ireland: This place incorporates the Irish word “eaglais” which translates as “church.”

Saqqara, Egypt: This place name reflects the name of the ancient Egyptian hawk-headed god of death, Sokar or Seker. HIs name is believed to be derived from the ancient Egyptian phrase “sy-k-ri,” which means “hurry to me.”

Pihana - a- ka -lani, Hawaii State, United States of America: The Hawaiian word “lani” translates as “heaven,” “sky,” or “king” and “pihana” means “a gathering place.”  Pihana was used as a temple site for the sacrifice of war captives to the king’s Hawaiian deities. It was a “gathering place of the supernatural.”

Braganca, Portugal: Walled settlements began to appear in this area in about 1000 to 700 BCE, Brigantia, “the elevated one,” was a Celtic goddess whose name is believed to have come from the Proto-Indo-European words “bhrg hnti” meaning “high,” “lofty,” or “elevated.”

Luang Prabang, Laos: The Lao words “Phra Bang” translate as “royal Buddha image.” The city-state already existed when it entered history in 698 CE when it was conquered by a Tai prince.

Religious Place Names

Zell am See, Austria: Zell mean "monastic cell" in German, so this id "Cell on the sea."

Mughar an-nasara, Jordan: This is an archeological site near the ancient Nabataean stone carved city of Petra. "Nasara" (a reference to "Nazarene") means "Christians" in Arabic, so this is the "Caves of the Christians."

el-Kab, Egypt: Nekhbet was the ancient Egyptian vulture goddess and the town named for her wss Nekheb. The name survives as el-Kab.

Gaya, Bihar State, India: Gayasura is the Sanskrit name of a Hindu demon.

Vestavia Hills, Alabama State, United States of America: Vesta is the Latin name of the Roman goddess of the hearth.

Place Names with Religious Origins

Mokapu Beach, Maui, Hawaii (USA): The Hawaiian word “kapu” means “forbidden” or “sacred,” the same meaning as the Polynesian word "tabu" or "taboo."  Mokapu beach was forbidden because it was for held for used only by the Hawaiian kings and their servants.

Damanhur, Egypt: The ancient Egyptian name of this city was Timenhor (in ancient Egyptian: Dmi-n-Hr, the “city of Horus”), derived from the name of the Egyptian deity, Horus. The Greeks called the city Hermopolis Mikra or Hermopolis Parva (from the Roman god Hermes.)

Izamal, Mexico: Itzamma was the supreme god the ancient Mayans. Most of the buildings in modern Izamal are painted yellow and it is popularly known as the Yellow City.  Settlement of the site predates the 15th century.

Ani, Turkey: The name of the ancient Persian goddess, Anahid or Anahit, survives in the name of the ruins of this medieval Armenian city. Anahit was the mother protector of the Armenian people.  She was the goddess of fertility, healing, wisdom, and water. 

The city is first mentioned in 5th century documents and flourished between 961 and 1045 as the “City of 1001 Churches.” It was sacked by the Mongols in 1236 and further damaged by an earthquake in 1319.

Omkareshwar, India: “Om” is the Sanskrit word which represents the “holy sound” used in Hindu  meditation practices. Omkareshwar is a  temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. The temple is on an island in the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh State.

Magic

After you read this post go back and watch this and this. You did not see what you thought you saw. Both are illusions. The first video is essentially an advertisement for a magic company's Floating Card Trick which they sell, with instructions, to stage magicians. The second is a video of illusionist Criss Angel.  I have no idea how he does this but it is an illusion and is not real supernatural magic.

The Egyptian priests in Exodus 7:8 - 8:7 were able to duplicate the miracles performed by Moses using what the Bible calls their "secret arts." Whether or not they actually performed supernatural acts or were merely skilled illusionists, we do not know. The effect, though, was to cause haughty unbelief in Pharaoh's heart. Because he did not believe, God hardened Pharaoh's unbelief.

Jesus does not appear to have been particularly impressed with His own supernatural powers. He expected belief because of who he was, not because he did "magic." He remarked that if the people did not believe Moses, why would they believe him? And he seems to have had what on the surface appears to have been a rather harsh attitude toward unbelief. Harsh unless he was who he clearly said he was.

“And he could do no miracle there except that he laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Mark 6:5 NASB®

"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” Matthew 7:6 NASB®

"Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.” Matthew 10:14 NASB®

"And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” Luke 9:5 NASB®

There is no biblical record that Jesus ever returned to Nazareth after that day.

These two sites discuss whether or not the unbelief in Nazareth actually limited Jesus' ability to perform miracles.

https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/872-was-christs-power-limited-by-mans-faith

http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/qjesusmiracles.html

ESCHATOLOGY SERIES, POST #2: ESCHATOLOGIES FROM VARIOUS CULTURES

Eschatology is theology concerned with the final events of history. The word is derived from the Greek words  ἐσχάτος  eschatos ("last") and λόγος logos ("word"). Eschatology is therefore the study of “last things.” The focus of eschatology is usually on reality as a whole rather than on the individual. The word eschatology first appeared in the English language about 1550. 

In most known cultures, including the most primitive, there has been a belief in some sort of existence of the individual after death. Some held that the afterlife would be a dull and dreary thing., others that only the good would survive into an afterlife.  Some felt that the afterlife would be largely an extension of this one, perhaps on a more exalted plane as reward for bravery or great skill.  Many held that the retribution for an evil life was annihilation.

The Babylonians and Assyrians felt that retribution for evil came largely in this life as did the divine rewards of long life, strength, prosperity, and many children. The ghost of the individual existed in the underworld with the other dead. Demons ran around in the underworld inflicting punishment for sins committed during life.

In the ancient Egyptian religion, the good individual could hope for unending life with Osiris, the sun god. The existence was in some ways physical and this is the reason for mummification of the body. In the afterlife the actions of the deceased during life are weighed and judged. The dead face several trials and are subject to a second death if they fail.

Ancient Persian (Persia, modern Iran) religion (Mazdaism, Zoroastrianism, Parseeism, etc) was dualistic with a conflict between equally powerful good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Ahriman) deities. The two deities were co-creators of the universe. The evil deity will, in the end, be vanquished and a judgement of people based on their life's deeds will occur. Those with evil deeds will be purified by fire, Hell will be purged, and the earth will be renewed by a purifying fire.

The ancient Greeks believed that life on Earth was the highest good for man. After death, the soul survived in a dull attenuated existence with little emphasis on retributive justice for life's misdeeds. A few very evil individuals would receive eternal punishment in Tartarus and a few favorites of the gods
would exist in eternal bliss in the Elysian Fields.  

Recently, there was much popular discussion of "2012." This was based on Aztec mythology which predicted the end of our current cycle of time on 21 December 2012. The Aztec mythology describes several cycles ruled by deities who are destroyed at the end of each cycle along with all the humans living during that cycle. The sun is the deity of the current cycle.

The human sacrifices regularly performed by the ancient Aztecs had a specific purpose. The blood and the extracted human hearts were seen as the food or fuel which maintained the ability of the Sun god to function. The stability of the universe depended upon regular human sacrifices.

Norse (Scandinavian) eschatology is presented in the story of Ragnarok, the climactic battle of the  cyclical Old Norse mythology. Nearing the end of the cycle, people, and the Gods themselves, will become increasingly corrupt, not honorable, dissipated, apathetic, and nihilistic. The Frost Giants, led by the renegade god Loki, will come and the battle will begin, accompanied by natural disasters. Most of the Norse gods will be killed and the world will eventually be dead and silent, covered with water and in total silence. After a time, fertile land will emerge from the water and the few gods who survived the battle will gather. A new first couple of humans will repopulate the new clean earth and the gods will celebrate.

In some religious/philosophical systems, such as Baha’ism and Jainism, there is neither a beginning nor an end.  Baha’is believe that reality consists of a series of progressive revelations by prophets. The coming of each new prophet is the judgement of the previous religion., with the prophet Bahaullah having brought the ultimate revelation.

The most severe forms of Buddhism deny even this. Within each moment in time, both birth and death are present. As each moment is born, the previous moment dies. The only reality is the present moment. There is no reward or punishment and no God. Individual existence with its cravings and desires is the ultimate evil.  Salvation is the extinction of every type of desire, even the desire for existence.

Hinduism sees reality and time as a series of repeating cycles as Shiva destroys and regenerates the universe repeatedly. The individual is part of this cyclical nature and ultimately will come to realize that individuality is an illusion. The individual consciousness is in actuality part of the Ultimate Reality and its ultimate destiny is absorption back into the Whole. All reality will contract into a singularity which will then begin again to expand.

Islamic eschatology points toward a Day of Judgement in which each persons good deeds will be balanced against their evil deeds. The sayings of the Prophet Muhammad give many signs which will indicate the approach of the Day of Judgement.

Judaism is most concerned with life now, in the present time, and is more corporate than individual. The concept is that the important thing is observance of the Law in order to prepare ourselves and the world for the coming of God's kingdom on Earth. The religion is absolutely monotheistic and God is absolute in His control of the universe. Man is intended to live in friendship with God during this life. There is very little discussion of retributive justice in the afterlife. 

Jewish eschatology is based on the Nation of Israel as a whole, not on the individual. The promises of the Old Testament are to the nation, the people of the land Am ha'aretz (עם הארץ), not the individual. The hope is for the establishment of a theocratic Messianic kingdom, based in Jerusalem, which will rule the world with justice and peace. 

An introduction to Christian eschatology will be presented in the next post.

What They Think of Us: The Blasphemy Board Game

Board games are known to have existed since at least 3500 BC/BCE.  The first known was Senet in ancient Egypt.

Board games most often involve flat board surfaces marked with paths, trails, or countries and have a predetermined set of game play rules.  Game pieces are moved along the paths on the board toward a set goal.  Many board games involve the idea of battle and are played based on strategy or chance (often the roll of a set of dice) or a combination of the two.

Modern board games include Checkers, Chess, Parchisi, Risk, Candy Land, Go, Stratego, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Battleship, Monopoly, Rummikub, Jenga, Mouse Trap, Gnip Gnop, Scrabble, Sorry!, Twister, and many others.  There seems to be a board game for almost every taste. Here is one for people who think that Christianity is a joke.

The Blasphemy Board Game

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/33125/blasphemy

Each of the game pieces is a different colored Jesus.  The first Jesus to get himself killed wins the game.  Images of the game pieces:

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/275830/blasphemy

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1193364/blasphemy

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/696983/blasphemy

Christian Heresies: In a book titled The Word's Way

I frequent used bookshops and one of my favorites is the enormous warehouse-sized 2^nd and Charles, the used book outlet for Books-a-Million.  I find many excellent older Christian books there in their religion section.  This is a secular national bookstore chain and they sell books.  Since the chain has no religious orientation or affiliation they do not screen the books they sell.  As they said in Latin, “Caveat emptor!”  (“Let the buyer beware!”)

I, for one, do not think there should be official censorship except for pornographic books and books which explicitly advocate pedophilia, and political or sexual violence (yes, books such as this exist).  Sometimes, you can learn things from people with whom you totally disagree.

In the bookstores, there are “Christian” books which cause me to raise a skeptical eyebrow.  Some of the books advocate ideas like the heretical Prosperity Gospel, reincarnation, social justice as the meaning of the Gospel, viewing a religious group’s founder as a near deity, and even Marxist interpretations of Christian theology.

The Word’s Way, by Victor Paul Wierwille, published in 1971 by the American Christian Press, is one book which orthodox Christians should anathematize. ἀνάθεμα is a Greek word meaning “cursed” or “rejected.” A book which is anathematized can be read and understood but should never be the basis for any formulation about doctrinal matters.

You will not get far into The Word’s Way before you will see why this book is to be rejected.  On pages 26 and 28, this appears,

“God is eternal whereas Jesus was born. …How was Jesus with God in the beginning?  In the same way that the written Word was with Him – in God’s foreknowledge.  God knew that Jesus Christ would be born and that He would redeem man.”

This is classical Araianism.  Arius (ca 250 -336) was a Christian bishop in Alexandria, Egypt who denied the deity of Jesus.  He declared that Jesus was a created being (”born”) and not of the same nature and substance as the father.  Arius was excommunicated by his fellow bishops but had many followers and the doctrine he advocated was widely accepted by many for many years.  The controversy was one of the factors which led to the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity.  Roman Catholic Church councils rejected the doctrine of Arianism in 325, 360, and 431. In other Councils, they rejected other heterodox ideas about the nature of the relationship between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.   Protestants do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity solely on the authority of the bishop’s councils, but we do agree with their decisions about the nature of the Trinity.  We believe that the doctrine of the Trinity is clearly taught in Scripture. 

Female Images of God: Hosea 13:4-8

Loving mothers are known to be fierce in protecting their children.  Imagine facing an angry mother bear. 

“Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.” Hosea 13:4-8

Religious Place Names

Ibadan, Nigeria: From the Arabic word “ibada,” meaning “divine service.”

Menehune Ditch, Hawaii, USA: The menehune are little fairy-like supernatural people from Hawaiian mythology.

Islamabad, Pakistan: Islam is the Arabic word for “submission (to God).”

Saint-Isidore, Quebec, Canada: From “Isis,” the Greek form of the name of the ancient Egyptian goddess (probably “Aset” in ancient Egyptian), plus the Greek word “doron,” meaning “gift.”

Guwahati, India:  This city has had several names over its history, including Durjaya (Sanskrit = “impregnable”), and Pragyostishpur, from “pragyotish,” the Sanskrit word for “astrology.” The modern name of Guwahati is more mundane.  It comes from two Assamese words; “guwa” (“azeca nut”) and “haat” (“marketplace”).

How Biblical Dates Have Been Determined

How do archeologists and historians know that the reign of Sennacherib of Assyria ran from 705 to 681 BC/BCE since the BC/BCE (Before Christ/Before the Common Era) system dates from the birth of Jesus?  The Assyrians used a totally different dating system, as did the Persians, the Jews, the Romans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians, the Muslims, the Hindus, and the Mayans.  Some of the calendars were based on lunar cycles, some on solar cycles, others on a combination of the two.  Some calendars were based on arithmetic calculations.  How could anyone find a unified, understandable, and universally agreed upon date for an ancient event occurring before the modern dating system?

First, we have to acknowledge that our modern dating system is in error by about 6 years.  It is now recognized that the biblical events surrounding the birth of Jesus (such as the fact that Herod died in 4 BC/BCE) require that Jesus’ birth occurred about 6 BC/BCE.  The calculations by Dionysius Exiguus in the sixth century were in error, not the Bible.

The dating of biblical and other ancient events has been established in much the same way as modern science has advanced: one little step at a time, putting a piece here and another piece there until finally a recognizable pattern emerges.  Just like a jigsaw puzzle.

One of the first types of information which was used was lists of officials.  Roman consuls served for one year and a list of those men who served from 509 BC/BCE to 541 AD/CE exits.  If only one man can be locked into a specific year, then the entire list is locked.  Obviously then, an event known to have occurred during the reign of one of these men is also locked.  Such lists have been found in the records of numerous ancient cultures.

King lists have been found all over the world.  Events were often reckoned as having happened in the “third year of “ this or that king.  The second century Egyptian, Claudius Ptolmaeus, accurately compiled a list of the kings of Egypt, Persia, and Bablylonia from the eighth century BC/BCE forward.   The third century Egyptian priest Manetho divided Egyptian history into thirty dynasties.

Anchor events of known and provable date can often be tied to individuals and events spoken of in histories and lists.  There were solar eclipses on 6 April 648 BC/BCE and 15 June 763 BC/BCE and a lunar eclipse on 27 August 413 BC/BCE.

One piece of information by itself may be just a piece of information.  Put together with hundreds of other facts, there may suddenly be an “Aha!, there it is!”

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.