Biblical Heritage Center Blog

The internationally recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance Day corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. It marks the anniversary of the   Warsaw ghetto uprising . In Hebrew, Holocaust Remembrance Day is called Yom Hashoah .  This year it begins at sundown Sunday, April 27 th . Never forget the Holocaust . The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community. [i] Never forget the role that religion played in the creation of and the failure to stop the Holocaust . In 1933, the   Jewish population of Europe stood at over nine million. Most Eu...

For many years, my religion provided me with a “ticket to Heaven.” It looked like this Ticket . It admits “believer’s only” into Heaven, where they will live a life of bliss without any pain or problems for eternity. How did I get my ticket? I received it when I was “saved.” Not only did I obtain my Ticket to Heaven , all of my sins were forgiven – past present and future . And, not only did I receive the ticket – I will never lose it no matter what I do! Our church had a doctrine called “ once saved always saved ,” which meant that our tickets to Heaven can never be cancelled. Once you were “saved” and received “the” ticket, that was it – you were set for eternity . Who wouldn’t go for a deal like that? Read the complete article at -- http://biblicalheritage.org/DTB/0414_DTB_Ticket_to_Heaven.pdf

Back in the late 1980s, after participating in discussions that took place in our Bible studies and meetings in which endless arguments and debates flared up over the interpretations of verses or religious doctrines, I created the BHC Bible Study Guideline. Our Belief Systems must be large enough to include all the Facts; Open enough to be tested; and, Flexible enough to change when errors or new Facts are discovered! It was amazing to witness the transformation that took place when the participants focused on identifying or finding the facts and then comparing them to their beliefs – especially when hardcore fundamentalists were involved. It didn’t take long for participants to realize that – people who ignore the Facts, refuse to be tested, and cling to errors – are living lives & making important decisions based on illusions – not truths – and that doesn’t really make any sense! If the BHC Bible Study Guideline has benefited your life – or if its new ...

In this study, Cain is burning with anger against his brother Abel. God had just provided Cain with the wisdom, that if Cain did it, would have given him power over his anger and revealed the image of God through his actions. But, the Bible has also revealed prior to this account, that through man’s freewill, he has the power to act like a wild predatory animal. In the scene below, Cain comes face-to-face with his brother Abel. What will he do? Read the study at -- http://bhcbiblestudies.blogspot.com/2014/04/am-i-my-brothers-keeper.html

Prime Minister David Cameron is clearly positioning himself among vague, ambiguous Anglicans -- the Christian nature of the country is indisputable. In the last census   59% of people still self-identified as Christian.   "I am a member of the Church of England," he wrote, "and, I suspect, a rather classic one: not that regular in attendance, and a bit vague on some of the more difficult parts of the faith." He went on to add: "I am not one for doctrinal purity, and I don't believe it is essential for evangelism about the Church's role in our society or its importance." "The role that faith can play in helping people to have a moral code", only to immediately accept that "Of course, faith is neither necessary nor sufficient for morality." "The importance of Christianity in our country" when "the Christian values of responsibility, hard work, charity, compassion, humility, and love are shared by people...

From the writing of the New Testament to the filming of The Da Vinci Code, her image has been repeatedly conscripted, contorted and contradicted . The whole history of western civilization is epitomized in the cult of Mary Magdalene. For many centuries the most obsessively revered of saints, this woman became the embodiment of Christian devotion, which was defined as repentance. Yet she was only elusively identified in Scripture, and has thus served as a scrim onto which a succession of fantasies has been projected. In one age after another her image was reinvented, from prostitute to sibyl to mystic to celibate nun to passive helpmeet to feminist icon to the matriarch of divinity’s secret dynasty. How the past is remembered, how sexual desire is domesticated, how men and women negotiate their separate impulses; how power inevitably seeks sanctification, how tradition becomes authoritative, how revolutions are co-opted; how fallibility is reckoned with, and how sweet devotion can be m...

“. . . the earth was shaken, and the rocks were split,  a nd the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;   and coming forth out of the tombs, after his raising, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matthew 27:50-53) There is more revealed in Matthew’s account than just a group of resurrected people walking into Jerusalem. Read the complete article at -- http://biblicalheritage.org/DTB/0314_DTB_They_Came_out_of_Their_Graves.pdf

There’s now a new translation of an ancient Egyptian monument known as a “Stela” that has just been published in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies by Professors Robert Ritner and Nadine Moeller, of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The translation basically links Pharaoh Ahmose (18th Dynasty/New Kingdom)with the eruption of the Thera/Santorini volcano. In the past, scholars argued that Ahmose and Thera were divided by more than a century. The new translation proves that they were contemporaneous i.e., Ahmose witnessed the effects of one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in human history. This goes a long way towards linking Thera, Ahmose and the Biblical Exodus. Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/13517/proof-biblical-exodus/?utm_source=FB.LIBI

Israel is a small country, only 263 miles long and from 7 1 to 9.3 miles wide, and is surrounded by many enemies. What does this mean in concrete terms? Who are the people and organizations threatening the sovereignty of Israel and from where do they act? Use this map to understand all of the different challenges that we face. These threats are real, and the IDF is forced to act on all fronts, more often than you might think. See map by clicking here -- http://www.idfblog.com/2014/04/16/one-map-understand-threats-facing-israel/

Three years ago archaeologists surveying Piazza Venezia in the center of Rome for a much-needed third subway line   found the remains of an athenaeum built by the emperor Hadrian   in the second century A.D. The brick manufacturers’ stamps confirmed that the arts center was built in 123 A.D., 12 years earlier than first suggested based on ancient documentary sources. See picture of t he slow burial of Hadrian's Atheneaum over the centuries at -- http://www.thehistoryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Hadrian-atheneaum.gif Read complete article at -- http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/22476

Is not greater knowledge with mortality more valuable than ignorant immortality? . . . It is the knowledge of mortality – the realization that life could end at any moment – that requires constant choices. . . In the absence of death, moral choices may be postponed forever. ( The Genesis of Justice by Alan M. Dershowitz)

Pesach (Passover) begins tonight at sundown. Here is a fun video (4 min.) that provides a lot of insights about Pesach today and the Seder Services that are held in Jewish homes around the world – http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYgGXklXoCU  

Denise Schmandt-Besserat, bold French archaeologist, was a generous scholarship from a legendary American and well-endowed universities across the Atlantic. The intent of the scholarship was to investigate the origin of writing. It was assumed that the origin was in the Middle East, some of the broad river basins of the Euphrates and Tigris, three or four thousand years B.C. The writing was half as effective in conveying information that his appearance revolutionized our understanding of history. In this lies the importance of this archaeological research. Schmandt-Besserat visited the lands of present Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Israel towards the sixties and seventies, and worked hard. It is known that the alphabetic writing, point to point, is a belated writing of some 1,500 to 1,000 years B.C. Before this we find a syllabic script and even earlier, a write-drawing, called ideographic, because it reduced to a graphic image, more or less stylized, an idea or like-minded. T...

Dear Supreme Court justices: When I heard about the McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission ruling, it made me plotz. I’m a rabbi, so I know much more about the Talmud than about torts. But if there’s any group that can compete with scholars of constitutional law, it’s rabbis. Your recent decision was all about the First Amendment and free speech. As I understand it, legal scholars have interpreted that word “speech” to include “political expression.” So far, I’m with you. I think the freedom of being able to talk politics without fear of reprisal, whether you are a mighty politician or a lowly voter, is A-OK. But when you said that political expression is the same as a campaign contribution, you lost me. The First Amendment protects the right of every citizen to speak freely. It does not protect the right to give money to politics. Money is not the same as speech. If you want to equate money with something, consider equating it with influence, not speech. Read Rabbi J ustus Bai...