A
new section you will find on the new BHC website is called “Biblical Heritages.”
An important feature of that section is “Belief Systems.” In it you will find
the chronological appearance of beliefs in Jewish and Christian Belief Systems.
This will be an ever expanding database, but a preview of what to expect is now
online. The second century CE was a period in which the central figure of a
growing number of new sects in the Gentile world was Christ. People from
Gentile cultures struggled as they dealt with a belief that was completely foreign
to them – monotheism – and how and
where the Christ figure fit into it. In addition, in this period Jewish
scriptures were also introduced to Gentiles and they struggled with how to fit
Gentiles into writings in which they were not “God’s chosen people.” Check it
out at -- http://www.biblicalheritage.org/individual-beliefs.html
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
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