Biblical Heritage Center Blog

Genesis 1:6-8 The light of the first cycle of light called Day One is fading away and the evening of Day Two has begun. The time of darkness has begun, but this time there is the surety that light will return again. On the first day the god chose to use its creative power to change darkness. Today it chooses to change the deep waters. And the god said: “Let there be a RAQIYA – a solid dome-like structure – in the middle of the deep waters that separates the waters beneath it from the waters above it.” And the god made the RAQIYA . Click here to read the rest of the story

I call the first story in the Bible “ The Story of the Kingdom of Life ” (Genesis 1:1-2:4a). Because of the powerful religious institutions that have been guardians of Jewish and Christian Scriptures, translations reflect the linguistic structures of the scribes that copied the ancient manuscripts and the authoritarian institutions in charge of the translators. This is a very ancient story , but it contains universal truths . This is my version of the biblical story written for 21 st century Americans without any distracting footnotes. Listen to your feeling, before you try to analyze the words. Your feelings and emotions will alert you to the presence ancient treasures embedded in the text – wisdom principles, values, morals and ideas related to life . I will upload a BHC Explorers Version of this story soon with footnotes for those who want to dig deeper into the ancient Hebrew text behind my version. Bookmark the “ Wisdom Page ” because that will be where you find them....

Unto the woman God said . . . your husband shall rule over you. (Genesis 3:16) Words of the Bible affect people’s lives in many ways. The eleven words above have affected the lives of hundreds of millions of women over the past 2,000 years. Right now these words may be affecting your life or the lives of your wife, your mother, your daughter or the lives of other women you know. We learned something very important about the stories in the first ten chapters of Genesis by using our Linguistic Models and Guidelines many years ago. All of the stories after the first story must be viewed in light of the first story. The first story reveals The Wisdom of the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth . Bible readers must be familiar the wisdom principles revealed in the first story before they will be able to understand the lessons taught in the other stories. The principles of the first story that are related to the verse above are these. Continue reading at - https:/...

“ God created man in His image ” is one of the most well-known biblical phrases in the world. So, what does that phrase mean? That question has been debated for many centuries in Judaism and Christianity. We use a linguistic method for Bible study and what we discovered answered a lot of questions for us. Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/9200605152c4/an-individual-cannot-be-the-image-of-god

Thomas Jefferson once said, “ A moral sense is as much a part of man as his leg or arm .” Genetics has discovered that Jefferson was right! Every part of our bodies exist because of the four letter DNA alphabet -- A , T , G & C ( a denine , t hymine , g uanine and   c ytosine ) . Along with instructions for creating, arms, legs, eyes, ears, stomachs, brains, etc. – those instructions give every human a sense of right and wrong, an appreciation of justice and fairness, gut feelings that are triggered by kindness and cruelty, compassion and empathy. Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/fe3893b8cfd6/we-are-born-with-a-standard-for-judging-human-actions

This is a great example of why key biblical words cannot be accurately translated by one English word. Two of the most important Hebrew words in the Bible are TOV (sounds like “ toe-v ”) and RA ( rah ) – translated “ good ” and “ evil .” But the words “ good ” and “ evil ” do not communicate the same meanings as TOV and RA . Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/d54eb3d2bbee/can-we-agree-on-the-meanings-of-two-words-it-could-change-our-lives

I have been tied up updating the Biblical Heritage Center website and I think you will find it easier to use to explore biblical heritages. Today I created the Institutions Page , a hub for information about central institutions of Judaism and Christianity from the Tabernacle of Moses in the 13 th century BCE to Protestantism in the 16 th century CE. They all played important roles in the evolution of our biblical heritages. As you read each one, think about what you now about it. If you go to the BHC website ( CLICK HERE ) you will find links to much more information about each one. Jewish Institutions ● Tabernacle of Moses ● The United Kingdom ● First Temple in Jerusalem ● The Divided Kingdom ​ ● Tel Motza Temple ● Temple at Elephantine ● Second Temple in Jerusalem ● Temple at Leontopolis ● Jewish Sects ​ ● Destruction of the Second Temple ● Rabbinic Judaism ​ ● Humanistic Judaism Christianity ● Yeshua Movement (fits i...

Adam and Eve (not their names in the ancient Hebrew texts) are the 3 rd and 4 th humans to appear in the Bible. They are in the second story in Genesis. The 1 st and 2 nd humans appeared in the first story, but they weren’t named and they didn’t say or do anything. In that story, an unnamed god created them both at the same time in its image, and gave them instructions on how to live the perfect lives. Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/ce18d3903b72/some-quick-lessons-about-life-from-adam-and-eve

Time Tested for 30 Years   I created this Guideline to resolve conflicts and disagreements that were disrupting Bible studies when I introduced new information that challenged doctrines of our denomination . It transformed those situations into educational opportunities and created a " team mentality ." It established the value of facts, gave everyone permission to question each other, and defined the goal of removing errors from our belief systems. We use it in our educational emails too. I encourage you to adopt and promote it in your Bible studies too. By the way, it also works on Political and Economic Belief Systems too! See Other BHC Models by Clicking Here I hope you enjoyed this and found it informative. Please share and discuss it with others -- and thank you for reading it . May Your Life be Blessed with Health, Safety, Completeness and Friends, Jim Myers ☼ Your help would be greatly appreciated! Click Here ...

The human brain operates on two very different levels – conscious and subconscious . The subconscious level, as an information processor, is one million times faster than the conscious level. Unless you get the conscious level more involved, the subconscious will absolutely control your life. Continue reading at -- https://mailchi.mp/ba9d378893da/six-steps-that-help-your-brain-function-better-and-control-your-elephant

When you are reading the Jewish Scriptures ( Christian Old Testament ), if you notice a word that appears seven times , pay close attention to it. Ancient scribes did it to highlight very important words – it was like placing a red flag in the text so readers wouldn’t miss them . But many translators did miss it in this verse “ Behold, the man has become like MIMENU ! ” They said “Us,” but they are wrong. Read more at - https://mailchi.mp/2edcd81ccae6/did-you-know-adam-could-have-lived-forever-after-he-sinned

The Parable of the Lost Coin is found in Luke 15.8-10. Or what woman, having ten drachmas, if she would lose one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek resolutely until she finds? Our previous study was about a man that owned 100 sheep, not a poor shepherd. This parable is about a woman who has ten drachmas (silver coins) – she is by no means a marginal, outcast, or poor woman . She’s not only relatively well-off, she has a house. Luke 15 confirms what we know from other sources: women in Judea have access to their own funds – they are hardly the poorest of the poor . All four Gospels , in various ways, describe interactions Yeshua, the Jewish Jesus , had with women. So, a parable about a woman would have appealed to his female followers. Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/5d167f8aef1f/the-parable-of-the-lost-coin

Lives 1 st Living is about placing Life 1 st in your life , however you have many other options about what to place 1 st : ● your life 1 st ● gods 1 st ● money 1 st ● power 1 st Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/07253845c7ae/lives-1st-living-or-living-something-else-1st-and-why-you-need-to-know-the-facts

Have I ever told you how I met Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor? I had been doing research on the Jewish Jesus for about five years, when one day I realized that I did not personally know a Jewish person. I had never asked a Jewish person what they thought about the Jewish Jesus! Most of my information sources about the Jewish Jesus were Christians and they were either ministers or members of churches. That just struck me as odd that day. My wife worked for a Jewish organization so I asked her for suggestions about how I could meet a Jewish person and she suggested that I enroll in a course at the Dallas Jewish Community Center – so I did and guess who was teaching a class? If you guessed “Rabbi Leynor,” you are right! It was a course on the “Prophets” and I learned a lot. But, something happened in one of those classes that really affected my life. Continue reading at https://mailchi.mp/251e6deaf38e/how-could-your-beliefs-affect-other-lives

“Which person among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one out of them . . .” Let me put his words in a 21 st century American context: “Which person among you, having a million dollars . . .” Most of people reading either Yeshua’s words or mine would have answered: “ Not I .” People back then and today would be impressed by two things – being asked if they are that wealthy and thinking they would lose part of it . In Yeshua’s world, a peasant might own five sheep, so noticing that only four were grazing on a hillside would be easy. However, one sheep missing from a flock of a hundred sheep would be easy to overlook. But this owner did notice it and immediately took whatever steps were needed to make the flock whole again. Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/4d21675b1356/the-parable-of-the-lost-sheep

Back in 2008 the American public was blindsided by the Great Recession . Guess what? We have been blindsided again. I call these “ blindside events ” - “ cycles of chaos .” Chaos is a state of extreme confusion and disorder. Putting a dozen dogs and a dozen cats in the same room, or a dozen Republicans and a dozen Democrats on the same committee, would probably lead to utter chaos. So what can we, the people whose lives are directly affected, do to end or weaken the cycles of chaos? Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/92339fb2487c/ending-the-cycles-of-chaos-that-are-destroying-our-society

What is your philosophy of life? You may not be able to explain it, but you have one. Your life experiences have produced beliefs about who and what you are, beliefs about how to have different types of relationships (with your spouse/partner, children, extended family, circles of friends and strangers), beliefs about how you spend your time, beliefs about what you value and what you don’t, and beliefs that are the standards you use to judge your actions and the actions of others. You may not be able to clearly and concisely communicate them, but “ you feel them ” every day. A primary source of many American beliefs is Christianity. Today, however, when people hear the word “ Christianity, ” they think about God, Jesus, afterlife and conflicts. Christianity, as a religion, has served America in another very important way. Continue reading at - https://mailchi.mp/b4f5c2002ee8/reconnecting-americans-through-their-biblical-heritages