Biblical Heritage Center Blog

  Exploring Biblical Heritages works because explorers agree to use the BHC Primary Guideline .   My Belief System will be large enough to include all facts, open enough to be examined and questioned, and flexible enough to change if errors or new facts are discovered.   In my previous email I introduced the “ Rider and Elephant Model ” which helps us understand how the human brain functions on two levels -- conscious (rider) and subconscious (elephant). Another important function of the brain is “ making predictions ” by using belief models. The most important predictions relate to survival . The elephant is the guardian and protector. At the subconscious level the elephant is constantly doing the following:   1. Searching for information that confirms its belief models and experiences.                 2. Distorting and molding new information to make it fit its preconceived concepts in...

  In the late 1980s I created the Primary Guideline .   My Belief System will be large enough to include all facts, open enough to be examined and questioned, and flexible enough to change if errors or new facts are discovered.   Over the years, I have used it and seen it used in discussions that involved people with conflicting belief systems -- Christians, Jews, Muslims, other religions, atheists and agnostics . However, one thing almost always happens in these discussions. It is easy to agree to use the Guideline in a group that agrees to use it. However, even then, when one of their beliefs are questioned, things change. I didn’t understand why that happens until 2015. It is a biological process that takes place in our brains. I will use the example of “ a rider on an elephant ” to explain it.   ● The rider represents the conscious level at which the brain functions.   ● The elephant represents the subconscious level at which the brain functions .   ● T...

    From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “ Repent , for the kingdom of heaven   is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)   My two previous emails focused on TESHUVAH (repentance) and forgiveness . When Jesus spoke the first word and launched his movement, his Jewish audience understood the word “ TESHUVAH .” Doing it had something in common with making a sacrifice – drawing near God for forgiveness . In the world in which Jesus lived, drawing near God was something that wasn’t done lightly.   Before anyone presented a sacrifice at the Temple, they had to take steps to make sure their bodies and hearts were ritually purified. That idea is reflected in the teachings of Jesus (Matthew 5: 23-26):   “If you bring your sacrifice to the altar, and there – at the altar in the Temple – you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your sacrifice there, before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offe...

In my previous email I discussed a line from The Lord’s Prayer :   And forgive us of our sins, as we have forgiven those who sinned against us. (Matthew 6:12)   I pointed out that before these words could be prayed, the one praying it had already forgiven those who sinned against him or her -- before asking for forgiveness from God . Two hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the Jewish sage Ben Sira wrote:   Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray . (Ben Sira 28:2 NRSV)   When I first began doing research on the life and teachings of Jesus, one of my most surprising discoveries was other people had taught many of those things before Jesus was born. It became clear that they shared many of the same ideas, but those ideas are unknown to most American Christian readers of the Bible. One idea related to the Lord’s Prayer is:   T he individual bears the responsibility for his or her own actions as well as a ...

  In my earlier Christian biblical heritage , repentance only involved God and the sinner . It was a religious ritual that centered around prayer. That kind of “repentance” would have been unknown to Jesus and the members of his movement . For Jesus, repentance and forgiveness were two functions required to accomplish one goal – repair damaged relationships between the sinner and the one sinned against and God .   The Hebrew word translated “ repentance ” is TESHUVAH . It literally means “ turn ” or “ turn around .” TESHUVAH is a “ prerequisite for divine forgiveness :”   God will not pardon man unconditionally but waits for him to repent.   The “ motion of turning ” reveals that “ sin is not an ineradicable stain .” Sin is “ straying from the right path ,” and that “ by the effort of turning ” -- a power God has given to all people -- a sinner can redirect his or her destiny . Turning is a process that involves the following stages:   ● Acknowledging that...

    When the woman ate the forbidden fruit nothing happened. (3:6b)   It was when the man ate the man ate the forbidden fruit that things changed:   3:7a  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked . . .   This story began with a wordplay – ARUM (sounds like “ ah-room ”). ARUM means subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning . [i] After he ate the fruit they both knew something new -- they were EYROM (sounds like “ ey-rome ”) which means “ naked .” Hadn’t they been naked since the day they were made? Wasn’t the snaked naked too? The point is, “ they now knew they were naked ,” which means they saw each other differently than before they ate the forbidden fruit. They saw what made them different and wanted to look the same again.   3:7b  . . . and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.   And then, guess who shows up?   3:8  They hear...