Biblical Heritage Center Blog

The man and his woman were both ARUMIYM , and they had not been shamed. The serpent was more ARUM than any beast of the field which Yahweh the god had made. (Genesis 2:25-3:1a) English translations and the insertion of chapter and verse markers have made it impossible for readers of those translations today to read the original story. Let’s begin with the two underlined words above. They are transliterations of Hebrew words that mean the same thing – ARUM is the singular form and ARUMIYM is the plural . They have the following meanings : subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning. ● The man and his woman were both subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning. ● The serpent was more subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning than any animal. ● Which will be the most subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning – the two humans acting together or one wild animal? Find out at -- https://mailchi.mp/01a3cc3b672f/round-1-of-the-conflict-between-the-ma...

A lawyer asked Jesus “which is the great commandment of the law?” The answer Jesus gave the lawyer is found in Deuteronomy 6:5, but with one little change. Many Christians have never heard Jesus’s answer. Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/12ae7069b495/this-is-what-jesus-taught-on-how-to-love-god This is what Jesus taught on how to love God. This is one of the most important teachings of Yeshua, the Jewish Jesus . A lawyer decided to test by asking, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Torah?” Jesus said to the lawyer, “‘You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all of the Torah and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40) Why did a lawyer ask Jesus a question about the law? In English translations you usually find something like this...

Many years ago, I took a course in Alternative Medicine and the instructor used the example below to explain how our immune system works . The moment the immune system becomes aware of the presence of an unknown it immediately dispatches T-cells to search for it and intercept it. When they find it they ask one question – Are you me? If the answer is “ yes ,” they turn around and leave. If the answer is “ no ” they try to destroy it.   We are genetically hardwired with this immune system and it is following instructions that are part of our DNA code . Without a successfully functioning immune system, our chances of survival without modern healthcare would be “ zero .” We are also genetically hardwired to create belief models that function like an “ immune system ” too. Read more at -- https://mailchi.mp/99ceab590145/are-you-me-the-question-your-brain-asks-every-day-without-you-knowing-it

Let’s begin by looking at key points of the original version of the ancient story. And the snake/serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which Yahweh the god had made . (Genesis 3:1) ● In the First Story animals were made before the First ADAM by the unnamed Creator . The First ADAM is a man and woman .   ● In the Second Story , the Second ADAM was formed by Yahweh the god before animals were made. The Second ADAM is a man without a mate . And Yahweh the god said, “ It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him .” Out of the ground Yahweh the god formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would name them and whatever the man named each living creature -- that was its name. (Genesis 2:18-19) The snake/serpent is a beast of the field that Yahweh made and brought to the man. That was the first time the man and the sn...

The ideas, principles and values upon which Lives 1 st Living is based are found in Genesis and Declaration of Independence . Lives 1 st Living requires “ holding human lives sacred .” But it is important to understand that “ sacred ” has two meanings -- religious and secular . For most of history, “ sacred ” has been linked to the religious meaning – specifically sacredness as defined in the Bible . But the Declaration of Independence introduced a “ secular model ” and that made the United States of America ground zero as the place where people with religious and secular beliefs must intertwine, interact and work together to create the successfully functioning democracy envisioned by the Founding Father of a new nation. Read more at -- https://mailchi.mp/8f742078941b/lives-1st-living-is-about-holding-human-lives-sacred

And Yahweh the god planted a garden in Eden, to the east, and there he put the ADAM whom he had formed. (Genesis 2:8) How long did it take for you to read that sentence? One of the very important skills required for accurately understanding the words written in the biblical text is this: “ After you read a sentence or portion pause and consider how much time passed in the lives of people mentioned in those words and what they must have experienced .” An easy example to understand what I am talking about is found a few chapters later (modern translation). “ And Adam had sex with Eve, his wife. She became pregnant and bore Cain .” They didn’t have sex, and then a few minutes later, she gave birth to a baby. Read the rest of the article at -- https://mailchi.mp/8f1fd7590ef8/aloneness-is-not-good-and-do-not-ask-why

At the time of Yahweh the god ’s making of earth and heaven, no bush of the field was yet on earth, no plant of the field had yet sprung up, because Yahweh the god had not sent rain upon the earth; and there was not an ADAM to till the ADAMAH (ground). (Genesis 2:4b-5) In this story Yahweh the god is doing everything – not the unnamed god . This is first appearance of Yahweh in the Hebrew Scriptures . The focus is on the lack of bushes and plants on the earth. There were no bushes and plants because of two reasons: ● Yahweh the god had not sent rain upon the earth. ● There was no ADAM to till the ADAMAH (ground). This provides us with two clues that the Second ADAM was created for a very different purpose that the First ADAM . 1. This ADAM ’s identity is linked to the ADAMAH ( ground ), not “ the image of Creator ”). 2. He was created to till the ADAMAH ( ground ), not be “ the Creator’s Co-Shepherd over all living things on earth .” ...

We think of color as a fundamental quality of the world around us. But in the outside world, color doesn’t actually exist. When electromagnetic radiation hits an object, some of it bounces off and is captured by our eyes. We can distinguish between millions of combinations of wavelengths — but it is only inside our heads that any of this becomes color. Color is an interpretation of wavelengths, one that only exists internally. And it gets stranger, because the wavelengths we’re talking about involve only what we call “ visible light ,” a spectrum of wavelengths that runs from red to violet . But visible light constitutes only a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum — less than one ten-trillionth of it . Continue reading at – https://mailchi.mp/28ae6e8d00b4/trapped-in-our-thin-slice-of-reality

Let me tell you a story. There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes "What the hell is water?"* The point of the fish story is this: The most obvious and important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about. However, the fact is that in the day to day trenches of adult existence, those realities can have a life or death importance . Let me tell you another story to help you understand what this means. Continue reading at – https://mailchi.mp/ff705fed62d3/do-you-believe-that-god-and-rattlesnakes-exist

The key to discovering the ancient wisdom embedded in the words of the Hebrew Bible is identifying differences between stories – especially differences that are undeniable and obvious . ● The first story is about an unnamed god , while the second story is about a god named Yahweh . ● The first story is about the creation of the “heaven and earth” , while second is about the making of the “earth and heaven.” ● The first story is about the creation of the entire cosmos ; while second about planting a Garden in a place called Eden . ● In the first story the problem is too much water , while in the second story the problem is not enough water . Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/f1803473d264/the-keys-to-rediscovering-the-ancient-wisdom-embedded-in-the-garden-in-eden

I recommend that everyone use the BHC Bible Study Guideline below in all areas of their life, not just when they study the Bible. My beliefs will be large enough to include all of the facts, open enough to be examined and questioned, and flexible enough to change when errors or new facts are discovered . Compare them to your beliefs and see how they measure up. 1. His name was Yeshua not Jesus . Christ was not his last name . . . . 2. His “ religion ” was not modern Rabbinic Judaism which came into being in the 6 th century CE . . . .   Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/3743de14d164/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-yeshua-the-jewish-jesus

How could the Co-Shepherding Model be incorporated in lives today? Consider potential impacts on individual lives as well as on the society. Continue reading at – https://mailchi.mp/3ab37968c3dc/what-if-power-positions-in-nations-corporations-political-organizations-and-religions-were-held-by-male-and-female-co-shepherds

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (1769 King James Version Genesis 1:28) The English word “ dominion ” is associated with two other meanings -- “ to tread on ” and “ to rule .” All three English words are “ power ” words.   The Creator empowered the two humans to have power over every living thing that moves on the earth . But, The Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Volume 3 (p. 1190) contains a very important note about the Hebrew word translated “ dominion ”: The basic meaning of the verb is not to rule; the word actually denotes the traveling around of the shepherd with his flock . Read the rest of this educational email at -- https://mailchi.mp/2d33c476ac93/humans-created-to-have-dominion-by-acting-together-to-do-good

From the story of Adam and Eve (the Second ADAM ) to Noah and the Flood, we encounter universal problems linked to " human nature " -- the problematic character of human reason, speech, freedom, earthly desires, shame, guilt, anger, and peer pressure . The stories focus on the complex relations between man and woman, husband and wife, parents and children, brother and brother, families and their descendants, tribal members and strangers – stories not so much about what happened as what always happens when humans are involved! But the first story in Genesis is completely different . It is about what could happen if humans lived according to the Creator’s “new way for humankind” – the way the Creator envisioned the First ADAM would live. Read the complete educational email at – https://mailchi.mp/5ef6d2b0b416/the-creation-of-a-kingdom-of-couples-the-first-adam

Most English translations have the ending of the first story and the beginning of the second in the wrong place. ● This is the last sentence of the first story (Genesis 1:1-2:4a) -- These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created . “ Heaven ” was the name of a “ solid dome-like structure ” and “ earth ” was the name of the “ dry ground beneath the dome .” The earth could not exist without the dome being in place first . ● This is the first sentence of the second story (Genesis 2:4b-3:24) -- In the day that Yahweh the god made the earth and the heavens . Here the “ earth ” is made first and then the “ heavens .” That sequence would have been impossible in the first story – and after that nothing else is said about the earth and the heavens . There are no references to Yahweh creating either of them in this story. Continue reading about other differences at – https://mailchi.mp/95ab732dbce5/have-you-noticed-that-the-first-two-stories-in-gen...

If you live in the DFW area you have probably heard the news report about two adults who got into an argument over a stuffed animal at a “family friendly restaurant.” One of them pulled out a gun and started shooting – wounding a doctor who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time . I have no information about the crime other than what the media has reported, but things like this happen so often they have become the norm. Just in the DFW area over the past few weeks people have been shot because of road rage, teens getting into arguments, a man killing his girlfriend and her sister (and wounding an infant) on a college campus, etc. I am pretty sure that any of you can google “shootings” in your area and will find similar stories. Why are these things happening? Without going into how things have changed in America since the end of World War II, I will simply tell you our conclusion. The standards people use to govern their lives have changed! Today the top sta...

Below is the first verse in the 1769 Edition of the King James Version of Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth . Take a moment to think about what the underlined words mean to you. Below are the meanings I learned in Sunday School at a Baptist church when I was child. 1. heaven – The abode of God where all saved people go when they die. 2. earth – The planet we live on that orbits around the sun. My preacher and Sunday School teachers would hold the King James Version of the Bible and tell us that it is “ The Word of God ” -- it contains words that came straight from God . Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/8e64777f7c95/your-meanings-of-two-very-important-words-in-the-bible-are-probably-wrong-take-a-quick-test-and-find-out

When it comes to “ religious stories ,” gods or other supernatural creatures are usually part of the story. It is from those types of stories Belief Models about gods emerge. Always being aware that “ conceptions of a god ” are actually “ Belief Models of a god ” -- not the god (himself or herself) is an essential skill we must learn . Viewing Belief Models like they are the god is like viewing “the map of a territory as if it is the territory itself .” Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/16f5b11eceaa/learning-the-story-behind-the-stories-of-belief-models-will-change-global-realities

In the last email I told the first part of a story about Eric and his girlfriend. Everything was going great until she put up a Christmas tree in their apartment. What happened next sounds a little crazy: A verbal fight between a Jewish man with no religion and a woman who was a lapsed Christian over a religious thing! Take a moment cogitate on that! Read the whole story at -- https://mailchi.mp/3d31232105f7/unknown-beliefs-models-that-can-destroy-relationships

Feelings of repugnance; a desire to avoid or turn way from someone or something; or a general feeling of dislike; or the desire to extinguish the behavior . That is the meaning of “ aversion .” Simply read posts on social media, watch TV news programs -- “Aversion” seems to describe “the new American reality!” Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/4cde7981e44c/living-in-an-epidemic-of-aversion