I am really interested in seeing some clear, legible, pictures of Greek manuscripts from the First and Second centuries that are about the Bible. So far no one has been willing to post links to such things. I am still hoping someone will be kind enough to do it.
To me they show the dedication and love given by those that value the heritage received from Jesus. That in itself is quite a testimony.
Well.. 36 pages of explaining away one of the most astounding scientific evidence of Christ and His ascension to Heaven helps me understand those Hebrews, wandering in the desert, explaining away the parting of the Sea. (they must of said.. it was just a big long wind!)
They are supposed to prove nothing I just wanted to post them so you'll know where the 'vaults' are. It's where you'll find the oldest manuscripts other than in Mt. Sinai. I'm posting the following from Wikipedia. If you are a Muslim with a different dating system and a different historical background, then I want you to know that BC means before Christ, and AD means after Christ. In other words the Greek alphabet was used from the 9th century BC so it would be almost 3,000 years old, not 1,000 years old. The Eucleidean form with 24 letters from alpha to omega which was adapted at the end of the 4th century BC and is still being used today would be 2,400 years old, not 1,600 years old. Wikipedia: The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late ninth or early eighth century BC. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the first alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants. In Archaic and early Classical times, the Greek alphabet existed in many different local variants, but, by the end of the fourth century BC, the Eucleidean alphabet, with twenty-four letters, ordered from alpha to omega, had become standard and it is this version that is still used to write Greek today. These twenty-four letters are: Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ/ς, Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, and Ω ω. https://www.bing.com/search?q=greek...ae6e944a582e432ddaa585c79&cc=US&setlang=en-US
Here's aphoto (picture) of one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Just .. you know... a little piece of evidence to the providence of the Bible in general.
What I gather from my own experiences, is that there are many dimensions or 'existences' outside of our own. Certainly satan can't live within God's love since he would be a negation of God's Creativity and Love. Wouldn't he consist then of hatred and a destruction of everything God created?
Mummies had special things done to preserve them, I think. And then locked away in dark caves/pyramids, or something. Care was taken at the time of preparation to preserve them. So what special treatment did this shroud receive? How was it preserved?
I don't think so. In fact he was this god's top being. From what I have been taught. And are you implying, Satan can never get on god's good side for the rest of eternity?
You're not interested in seeing clear and legible pictures of Greek manuscripts from that era, because the writings hadn't been compiled yet into a book, and even if they had been they wouldn't have survived. Let me explain something. Christianity is not, nor has it ever been based on a book. We are not Muslims. Our Bible is to facilitate people in their faith, it is not the reason for their faith. Christianity is based on the Revelation of God through the Holy Spirit and His workings of our hearts and souls. Had it not been so, there wouldn't have been massive conversions before the compilation of the Bible by the Fathers/Saints of the Church. Christians were being burned alive as a spectacle by the Emperors and being thrown to the lions for not sacrificing to the gods - and yet with all the persecution, when Constantine became Emperor and made Christianity the official religion, most of the people had already converted.
From what I read Satan can get on God's good side if he wanted to. Some Saints were so overwhelmed with compassion even for demons, that they prayed for them. Anyway pride was Lucifer's undoing. He saw himself as equal to God - as many people do today when they revel in man's secular works and their own gains. This is why humility is a perquisite in Christianity.
Why would the Shroud decay, when the bodies of Saints do not decay as a sign by God of their sanctity? Many times they exude the scent of myrrh and sometimes the caskets might even ooze myrrh - as did Saint Elizabeth's when carried from China to Jerusalem by her sister. Elizabeth was a German princess and the sister in law of Tsar Nicholas II and Queen Victoria's granddaughter. She had opened a Monastery and hospital with her massive fortune in Moscow after her husband's death, and even tended to the worse cases herself. Her clothes usually had to be burned from the smell of gangrene. I know in Mount Athos they will dig up a body in three years to see if they had decayed or not. Then they are reburied and after so many years they will dig them up again to verify their sanctity. Of course this is not the only test of sanctity, there are other means as well such as intercessory prayer.
Wyrd - When I said that Christianity is the Revelation of God in our hearts and soul, I meant that one person could read the Bible and gain nothing and another could read it and gain everything. The same when visiting a shrine, one could gain nothing spiritually, and another gain everything.
Something new is revealed every time I read the Bible; making it, from even a purely academic point of view, the most fascinating Book you could ever read.
Yes....special things were done to mummies because their bodies contained a lot of moisture which causes decay. The shroud does not contain moisture other than the blood and serum stains which dried out rather quickly. Jesus was only in that shroud a couple days. Only those that revered Jesus as Lord had access to the shroud and they definitely would have cared for it out of respect. As long as it was kept dry and out of direct sunlight....how was it to deteriorate? Honstly I don't know aside from that, if the ancients did anything to preserve it. Here is some information as to the testing that was done on the Shroud. http://www.shroudencounter.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/WebFact-Sheet-Revised-2014.pdf
It is easy to delude yourself to believe what you want to believe. 2 Thessalonians 2:11 (NKJV) = And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
Which bible, which translation? Haven’t you noticed over the centuries Rome and others have distorted, miss-translated and removed and added large chunks from the collection of books claimed by some to be ‘The Word of God’? Maybe however you want to claim the Holy Ghost has stepped in on your behalf and granted you ‘true understanding’? Can I suggest you acquint yourself with the last several centuries of academic biblical studies? Who knows, such an effort might even take you closer to what Jesus was actually trying to tell us?
John 19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. In other words, Jesus body was wrapped or mummified as was the custom that Jews learned from Africans who were their slave masters for generations. The language of the Bible clearly shows he was NOT veiled but bandaged. Thus, the Shroud of Turin is fake. Perhaps well intended but fake.
If manufacturing fake relics in order to boost the income of a particular religious institution is well intended.
