Biblical Heritage Center Blog

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There is still time to help BHC by making a “ tax deductible donation in 2018 .” Your donation will help fund all of the things the Biblical Heritage Center distributes in print and online – website, blogs, Facebook and Twitter – plus all of The Real Yeshua Project’s information . Your donation is appreciated and will help. http://www.biblicalheritage.org/donate.html

My name is Jim Myers. It was close to the end of 1990, a few months after my first grandson was born, I was sitting in my study flipping through a magazine when the picture above appeared.  My eyes immediately locked on the soles of two little shoes --  on the feet of a dead child laying between two adults which I assumed were its parents .   As I looked at those little shoes, I wondered if that the little child had a grandfather somewhere and if he cared as much for him as I did about my grandson. As I read the story and pondered how that could have happened to that little child, one question popped into my mind. Read the complete story at -- http://www.biblicalheritage.org/the-little-shoes.html

Genesis 1:6-7 And elohiym said: “Let there be a RAQIYA in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”   And elohiym made the RAQIYA , and divided the waters which were under the RAQIYA from the waters which were above the RAQIYA ; and it was so . Does that sound like the first two verses of Genesis in your Bible? If not, then you don’t know the ancient story the author intended you to hear. Read the complete blog at -- http://www.tovcenter.org/tov-stories.html

Genesis 1:1-2 When an elohiym began changing things that existed to make the Heavens and the Earth the Earth did not exists, darkness was over the surface of deep waters and the presence of elohiym hovered over the surface of the waters. Does that sound like the first two verses of Genesis in your Bible? If not, then you don’t know the ancient story the author intended you to hear. Read the complete blog at -- http://www.tovcenter.org/tov-stories.html

The “ G-word ” is everywhere today. People from very different religions, no religions, and atheists use it every day – as if they are all talking about the same god . Even people that self-identify with the same religion aren’t always talking about the same god. How important is it for us to know which god we are talking about? Read the complete blog at -- https://lives1st.blogspot.com/2018/12/which-god.html

The brain is especially plastic (changeable) and sensitive to the environment and experiences rapid, formative growth during critical periods. The critical period for teaching infants how to control their emotions is 10 to 18 month old. Read complete blog at -- https://lives1st.blogspot.com/2018/12/critical-period-for-teaching-10-to-18.html

This is the fourth and final part of the “What Happened in a Garden in Eden” discussion between Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and Jim Myers. This video is about the first demonstration of divine justice. God does not curse the man and woman and neither does he “punish the woman by telling her the man will rule over her.” This account reaffirms the establishment of gender equality in all things that the first creation account revealed. If you have a daughter, be sure she understands the wisdom principles of this account. This video covers Genesis 3:8 to 3:23 (26:11 minutes). This video was originally part of a Facebook Live broadcast and it is posted on Facebook. You do not have to be a Facebook member or sign into Facebook to view it. When you click on the link below, if a "Sign Up" screen pops up, just click on the "Not Now" option to immediately view the video . We hope you will find the video entertaining and informative. https://www.facebook.com/100011127369862/...

This is the third part of the “What Happened in a Garden in Eden” discussion between Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and Jim Myers. This video contains the discussion between the serpent and the two humans. This is the first account of the power of persuasion in the Bible. It is also the first opportunity for one human to protect another human. This video covers Genesis 3:1b to 3:7b (11:41 minutes). This video was originally part of a Facebook Live broadcast and it is posted on Facebook. You do not have to be a Facebook member or sign into Facebook to view it. When you click on the link below, if a "Sign Up" screen pops up, just click on the "Not Now" option to immediately view the video . We hope you will find the video entertaining and informative. https://www.facebook.com/100011127369862/videos/710740465973526/?l=6406524282342416647 ______________________________________________ Did you like this video? If you did let us know by “ Liking ” the TOV Center’s...

This is the second part of the “What Happened in a Garden in Eden” discussion between Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and Jim Myers. In this video, God decides the man by himself is not “TOV,” so God decides to create a mate for him. The first thing God creates to fill that role is a wild predatory animal ! What was God thinking? This sets the stage for one of the most important events in the Scriptures of Judaism and Christianity . As a matter of fact, the Garden of Eden story was reinterpreted by Augustine in the 5 th century CE and his new interpretation laid the theological foundation upon which modern Christianity now stands. The verses discussed in this video set up the first confrontation in the Bible -- “ Two Humans vs. a Walking Talking Religious Snake .” The questions raised in the minds of the ancient Hebrew audience were these: ● Will the two humans act together and be “the image of God”? ● Or will the two humans act as individuals and be “images of a wild predator...

What is the first thing on the Creator’s list of human empowerments? – “Have sex!” And the second is “fill the earth,” which means a lot more than “making babies.” A lot of people treat sex as a “recreational activity” today, but “filling the earth” is a very serious responsibility for the people that “make a baby.” This is the second video of the “Humans from the Creator’s Perspective. https://lives1st.blogspot.com/2018/11/what-do-gods-image-having-sex-and.html

In his 1523 pamphlet “ Jesus Christ Is the Born Jew ,” Luther argued that since Christianity had been freed of its papal chains, there was no reason for Jews not to convert en masse. The Jews did not quite see it that way. They argued that the Talmud was a truer version of the Bible than Luther’s and suggested that perhaps he might convert to Judaism. Increasingly frustrated by their obstinacy, Luther turned on the Jews with a vengeance. In 1543, he published “ On the Jews and Their Lies ,” a 65,000-word treatise more elaborately angry than anything any pope or church doctor had written in the last fifteen centuries. Below are quotes from Martin Luther’s book: ● Therefore be on your guard against the Jews, knowing that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils in which sheer self­glory, conceit, lies,  blasphemy , and defaming of God and men are practiced most maliciously and veheming his eyes on them. ● First to set fire to their ...

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and Jim Myers talk more about their journey and one of the early shocking discoveries that challenged their BS (Belief Systems) -- https://lives1st.blogspot.com/2018/11/what-existed-before-god-began-creating.html

This is the seventh blog in the series on The Lord’s Prayer . Jesus was not talking about protection from a personified form of evil called “ Satan .” “Protect us from all evil” is a request to “protect us from the evil acts done by other people ” and “protect us from evil acts done by me .” Read the complete blog at -- https://therealyesua.blogspot.com/2018/11/protect-us-from-all-evil.html

This is the sixth blog in the series on The Lord’s Prayer . Most English translations have – “lead us not into temptation,” but the Hebrew words Jesus spoke actually mean – “do not bring us into the hands of a test. ” This concept first appears in Proverbs in a little known prayer. Read the complete blog on this line of The Lord’s Prayer at -- https://therealyesua.blogspot.com/2018/11/do-not-bring-us-into-hands-of-test.html

Hope is distinct from optimism or idealism. It has nothing to do with wishing. It references reality at every turn and reveres truth. It lives open eyed and wholehearted with the darkness that is woven ineluctably into the light of life and sometimes seems to overcome it. Hope, like every virtue, is a choice that becomes a practice that becomes spiritual muscle memory. It’s a renewable resource for moving through life as it is, not as we wish it to be. ( Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippett; p. 233.)

“ In the image of God ” is a central belief of Christianity and Judaism. But what does “ humans being created in the image of God ” mean to groups that have very different beliefs about “who” that God is? Does the ancient Hebrew text support the Jewish or Christian view? Listen to Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and Jim Myers as they allow the ancient Hebrew text answer those questions in two short videos. The videos were originally Facebook Live broadcasts and they are posted on Facebook, but you do not have to be a Facebook member or sign in to Facebook to view them. When you click on the links below, if a "Sign Up" screen pops up, just click on the " Not Now " option to view the video. The Image of God – Part #1 (6:41 minutes) The Image of God – Part #2 (6:31 minutes) ______________________________________________ If you like the videos, please let us know by “Liking” the TOV Center’s Lives 1 st Facebook Page _____________________________________...

The Seventh Day of Creation reveals a mystery that very few people have ever heard. It received the Third Blessing of the Creator, a blessing that is not recorded in the Hebrew text. The first two blessings were for creatures with living souls. The blessings empower those creatures to fulfill the words of the blessings in their lives. However, in light of the first two blessings, the third raises some very important questions. (1) Does the Seventh Day have a living soul too? (2) What did the third blessing empower the Seventh Day to do? (3) What relationship does the Seventh Day have to humans? Listen to Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and Jim Myers discuss the Mystery of the Seventh Day on the two short videos that were broadcast on Facebook Live. The videos are posted on Facebook, but you do not have to be a Facebook member or sign in to Facebook to view them. When you click on the links below, if a "Sign Up" screen will pop up, just click on the "Not No...

This is the fifth blog in the series on  The Lord’s Prayer . The previous blogs are  Rediscovering the Power of The Lord’s Prayer ,  Our Father in Heaven ,  May Your Name Be Sanctified ,  May your Kingdom come Your Will Be Done , and  Give Us Our Daily Bread . Now we will continue to the fifth line of the prayer: Forgive us the debt of our sins as we forgive the debt of those who sin against us . Comments and Cultural Insights 1.  When a person sinned against another person, the damage he or she caused was viewed in way that we view “debt.” 2.  The sinner must pay the person they harmed restitution and/or repair the damage they had done. 3.   The sinner could not receive forgiveness from God until that “debt” has been paid to the one harmed. 4.  Jesus taught the same principle in his lesson about anger in Matthew 5:23-26. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that  your...

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor and former pastor Jim Myers have been on a journey together for over a quarter of a century now. They talked about how two guys with mutually exclusive monotheistic belief systems brought transparency to their discussions learned to cooperate instead of argue about their belief conflicts. Watch their entertaining and informative discussion at https://www.facebook.com/100011127369862/videos/710682599312646/?l=5085125354997611633

Rabbi Leynor and I will be on Facebook Live in the morning November 15 th  about 11:15 am. We will be discussing the Garden in Eden and its gold mine of wisdom principles. Links to videos will be posted later.By the way, the Hebrew text doesn't say "the man shall rule over the woman." “Like” our “Lives 1 st  Facebook Page” to receive notifications of when we are live on Facebook --  https://www.facebook.com/lives1st/

This is the fourth blog in the series on The Lord’s Prayer . The previous blog are Rediscovering the Power of The Lord’s Prayer , Our Father in Heaven , May Your Name Be Sanctified and May your Kingdom come Your Will Be Done . Now we will continue to the fourth line of the prayer: Give us our daily bread . Comments and Cultural Insights 1. In ancient Hebrew, the word for “ bread ” ( lechem ) actually signified one’s “ basic food substance .” 2. To farmers lechem meant the grain that was made into bread, to shepherds it was “ meat ,” and to fishermen it meant “ fish .” 3. People of that time period understood in a very real and tangible way that their survival depended on God sending the rains and providing good weather for the crops to grow and be harvested. 4. They understood their roles in the process – from preparing the land to getting food to the poorest members of society. 5. There little doubt that Jews around the world prayed words very similar ...