The Bible: How’d they do that?

Image via ASPhillips

This isn't about religion...                   

This edition is about facts, peculiar ones. It’s a post that should be of interest to loads of readers, regardless of their beliefs, unbelief or affiliation with any type of religion.

It’s info that’s available in a wide array of videos and blog posts, but isn't common content that will populate the feeds of many folks outside the scope of history and Christendom.

That of course, doesn’t make it less interesting. It just means it doesn’t come up in their content suggestions as often, without a deliberate search for it.

Lots of people with or without religion are intrigued by peculiarity, and the following info is definitely peculiar. If your interests fall into one of the categories below, you qualify and maybe (probably) LOTS of folks you know qualify, too. 

It’s worthy information for anyone interested in...

☙ Anthropology

☙ Architecture

☙ Archaeology

☙ Engineering

☙ History

☙ Languages

☙ Literature

☙ Philosophy
☙ Religion

☙ Sociology

If your interests don’t include any of those categories, you’re welcome to stay and read along anyway.

This post falls into the new By the Way series, Facts & Fiction. You can find the categories listed in the sidebar and the number of how many posts each category (or genre) includes. A click on any of them will populate a list of the posts for you, should you like to read them.

Extraordinary aspects of the Bible’s composition

Here we go!

☙ The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years

☙ The King James version contains 66 separate books

☙ The books were authored by 40 different people

☙ It’s a unified story written by a physician, a tax collector, kings, fishermen, priests, prophets, scholars, shepherds and warriors

☙ It was written in different nations on three different continents and in different languages

☙ Continents: Asia, Africa and Europe

☙ Africa: Egypt and Ethiopia

                ☙ Asia: Israel, Iraq, Iran and Turkey

                ☙ Europe: Greece and Italy

☙ It contains prophecies and shares wisdom

☙ Many of its prophecies have come to pass and continue to do so at present

☙ Many of the people, places and activities written about in it, continue to be validated and verified by current methods of archaeology and bio-technology

And there you have it. 

It really is peculiar and intriguing stuff! If you’d like to share your thoughts on this phenomenon or see an aspect I missed, please share it in the comments. 

The Wrap!

Thanks for staying to read the whole thing! I hope you’ll share this with any other peculiarity-lovin' folks you know! I admit to having a lot of fun writing in this genre and have several topics to cover in it, in upcoming posts

If you enjoy the content, subscribing is free. You can sign up for an email notification for each edition, near the top of the right sidebar and your information will never be shared, sold or loaned.

That’s it for this one...

Shalom!

Angelia

Facts & Fiction: The Resurrection of Yeshua

 Image via Congerdesign of Pixabay

A new series

This is the first post of a new series I hope you’ll find interesting, regardless of which side you lean toward, regarding fact or fiction. Comments are not only welcome, but encouraged, although keeping them civil is a must, else they’ll be deleted.

Let's begin with the method...

A Roman Death

A Roman crucifixion was brutal and there is no record anywhere of anyone ever surviving a full, Roman crucifixion. Yeshua’s great torture and death was witnessed by man on both sides of the fence–His disciples as well as His adversaries. 

Later, accounts of witnesses were written. They covered the entire ordeal from His arrest, to His torture, His death, His entombment and the sealing of His tomb, ordered by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.

Pilate didn’t stop there. To ensure His disciples didn’t steal the body and report He had resurrected, he instructed a massive stone to be placed at the entrance and to seal it as best as they knew how.

But, that wasn’t enough. Pilate ordered his official, procurator Roman seal on the stone. The seal would break if the stone were moved.

And, just in case...

He ordered it to be guarded around the clock by a contingent of Roman soldiers. It’s unknown how many were assigned to guard the tomb, but historians suggest a minimum of four soldiers were ordered to be on guard at all times, and about 16 soldiers were nearby in event things got rowdy, and to relieve the guards posted at the entrance.

By the way, (no pun intended), historians and archaeologists agree upon the estimation of the stone’s weight being between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds.

Early Reports

So, why do historians rely on early reports to support the authenticity of historical events? It’s because they can provide firsthand evidence of historical events, and an unfiltered perspective of what people observed and believed at the time.

They’re considered an essential aspect of historical research that historians use to establish an accurate narrative of past events.

I've listed several for you below that include both Christian and non-Christian documents.

Non-Christian Sources

☙ Flavius Josephus: In his work, Antiquities of the Jews (c. 93 AD), Josephus states that Jesus was crucified by Pilate.

☙ Babylonian Talmud: A rabbinic text from the 3rd to 5th centuries AD contains a passage that refers to Jesus's "hanging" execution.

☙ Tacitus: The prominent Roman historian Tacitus, in his Annals, references Christ's execution by Pontius Pilate and his belief in Christ as a historical figure.

☙ Mara bar Serapion: A Syrian philosopher from sometime after 73 AD, Mara refers to the "wise king" of the Jews who was executed by them.

Biblical Sources

☙ The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all contain documentation describing eyewitness accounts of the torture and crucifixion of Yeshua.

☙ The book of Acts and all of Paul’s letters found in the New Testament contain information on not only the crucifixion and resurrection of Yeshua, but his own encounter with Yeshua after His resurrection.

A modern take

An existing report of the resurrection of Yeshua dates back to within three months of His crucifixion. In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15 talks about the resurrection of Jesus, analyzed by Dr. James D.G. Dunn (United Kingdom) reported, “We can be entirely confident that this report was written originally, within months of the death of Jesus.” 

Witnesses Recordings

☙ It's documented that over 400 people saw Yeshua alive after his crucifixion.

☙ The first eyewitnesses were women.

☙ Yeshua was entombed in Jerusalem.

☙ The apostles first preached the news of Yeshua’s resurrection in Jerusalem.

☙ The Sanhedrin insisted the disciples stole the body, admitting Yeshua's tomb was empty. The tomb had been sealed and armed, Roman soldiers were stationed, night and day, near the tomb’s entrance. Their orders were to prevent anyone from removing the massive stone blocking the entrance and taking the body of Yeshua.  

☙ Despite having not believed Yeshua would be resurrected, the disciples made a 360° turn around in their belief after encountering groups of people who saw Yeshua, who later came to them, as a group and ministered to them, on multiple occasions before His ascension to Heaven on the Mount of Olives.

Finally...

Image via BRBurton23 of Pixabay

The wrap!

Thank you for visiting today!

I can only add that most Christians believe in the resurrection because we’ve had (and continue to have) very real, personal encounters with Yeshua, in a variety of ways and manifestations.

Once met, it cannot be undone. There is none like Him.

If you haven’t considered Him, sought Him or encountered Him, I pray you do. Only good can come of it and you will never, ever be the same in indescribably wonderful ways.

Shalom!

Angelia

Dr. John Hobson: Faith That Gets Results!

 

Click here to view it on Amazon

Faith...

* Understanding it
* Developing it
* Exercising it
* Cultivating it in others

When it comes to faith, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read and if there’s anything the vast population of Christendom should invest in, increasing faith is right up there in the top tier of options. 

Author, Dr. John Hobson & Bandit

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "faith" as strong belief or trust in someone or something, often without needing proof. It can also refer to a particular religious belief or system, or to loyalty and fidelity.

If you’re in need of proving faith exists and works, my best suggestion is to get more familiar with a Bible. It’s packed with proven examples, even via modern science. And, thankfully, Biblical faith principles have been woven into every page of this book, presented in an easy to read fashion. At this point, I’ve read it a few times, and in each reading, my faith grew and the struggle of coaxing it to bloom diminished. 

Hopefully, you already knew about faith and it’s a consistent aspect of your daily adventures and challenges in living. If that’s the case, I hope you’ll read this book anyway. If you think you don’t need it, pretty sure you know someone who does. At worst, it can only elevate what faith you’ve already got goin’ for you. It’s a win-win.

 

Our faith shouldn’t ever stop growing, and we should never stop nurturing it. Each of us is created with a portion of faith. It grows as we use it, and as it does, we’re able to deploy it into more demanding situations.

Dr. Hobson writes of his own experiences of faith in action. Those alone are more than enough to launch your own faith to a whole new level, but he also backs everything with scripture, taking the reader back to where the first seeds of faith began sprouting and thriving in mankind.

Who would it bless?

I love gifting books, and you should, too. Books can walk a captive into freedom, allow an invalid to fly, the aged to be young again. Good books can stir up the good in us. We experience a growth spurt in reading them.

This book would make a great gift to so many people and I encourage you to consider investing in its contents not only for yourself but maybe for anyone you know who is...

* Coping with the loss of a loved one

* Struggling with depression

* Experiencing financial instability

* Enduring health challenges

* In a difficult relationship

* Living in confusion and struggling with decisions

* Doubting that their life matters

* Fatigued under the weight of responsibilities

These may not apply to you or I, but I’m confident everything on the list is applicable to probably multiple folks we’re acquainted with.

It’d also make a great gift to your local library, a local shelter or even a convalescent center. If you chew on the idea a bit, I bet you could come up with several more groups or facilities that would benefit from it.

In short, this book would be a great read for every one of us.

___________________________________________________________________________________

A great gift for readers and writers...
This kit of matching gel pens and highlighters has been my fav for over a year. It's gentle on fragile pages, the colors don't bleed. They're fine point, very inexpensive and arrive quickly!

Click here to get it from Amazon

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As much as I loved it...

I admit, after reading it, I had a slight issue with two things...

First, readers couldn’t get it in a digital version. I know I know... I dearly love books with physical covers, real ink and paper pages. But, for millions of bibliophiles, digital copies means we don’t have to make the agonizing decision of which book must go to make room for the new one. This is especially true for folks who live in small quarters.

Second, there wasn’t an audio version available either. So, this book, that did me (and many others) so much good, couldn’t be enjoyed by folks who are unable to read due to whatever reason. 

However, my concerns were addressed on Resurrection Sunday 2025. I was privileged to get to visit Dr. Hobson's church, Cathedral of Glory, where he serves as co-pastor along with his beautiful wife, Dr. Vicky Hobson. It was a wonderful service and if you’re ever in the Mt. Sterling, Kentucky area, I encourage you to visit it, too! 

Go expecting good things and you’ll come away with exactly that. The congregation is friendly and welcoming and they’ll make you feel right at home.

After the service, I got to spend a little time with Dr. Hobson’s get-r-done crew. To my great delight and relief, by the time our visit ended, plans for the production of both digital and audio versions of the book were underway. And recently, both versions became available on Amazon.

I was also blessed with meeting two other authors during the meeting. I’ve since read both of their books and, seriously, impressed doesn’t cover it. They’re both working on producing digital and audio versions of their work as well and as soon as it’s available, I’ll let ya know. 

The Wrap

That’s it for this one! 

Thank you for the visit and your support of independent journalism!

Until next time...

Shalom, shalom!

Glossolalia: Impossibly occurring?

 

What is glossolalia?

In my own words, glossolalia is both a spiritual and physical event in which a person begins to speak in a language they don’t know or speak on their own. Those who hear them, may or may not understand the language they’re speaking in. The event can occur any time but often it happens during praise and worship of God, and from those who have been spiritually baptized in the Holy Ghost, meaning when the Spirit of the Lord has entered their body and begins speaking through them. This event is more commonly referred to as speaking in tongues. 

It isn’t a rare thing and for many, it happens daily. 

Over the years, I’ve seen many foul reports on speaking in tongues, and I was both excited and intrigued when I learned there is now science to not only confirm that it happens but also that it impossibly occurs. That aspect is what I want to share with you in this edition. 

2006

Dr. Andrew Newberg, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, and his team, which included Nancy Wintering, Donna Morgan and Mark Waldman, conducted an experiment. They performed brain scans, using neuroimaging tools, on individuals who were members of the Pentecostal faith, while they spoke in tongues, in order to scientifically examine the phenomenon of glossolalia. 

The study's title was The Measurement of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow During Glossolalia: a Preliminary SPECT Study, and it documented the recorded changes in brain activity during glossolalia episodes, specifically the activities of the human frontal and parietal lobes.

Let's first cover what roles the frontal and parietal lobes play in communication.

Frontal Lobe(s): Although the frontal lobes manage much more, for this post, I’ll only include information about them regarding speech production, which is that they light up (means they’re working) when we’re producing communication such as talking, singing, or engaging in non-verbal communication, such as expressions and sign language. 

Parietal Lobes: The parietal lobes also manage more than what is listed here, but the target information is that the parietal lobes are the area of our brains that receive communication. 

The Daily Pennsylvanian reported that the study, which examined five subjects in a laboratory setting, was the first scientific imaging study evaluating changes in cerebral activity when someone is speaking in tongues. 

ScienceDaily published an article on the report in their 2006 October issue, titled: Language Center Of The Brain Is Not Under The Control Of Subjects Who 'Speak In Tongues'.

Their findings included...

• Reduced Activity in Frontal Lobe: They observed decreased activity in the frontal lobes, which are associated with language processing and self-control. 

• Increased Activity in Parietal Lobe: There was increased activity in the parietal lobe, which is involved in processing sensory information and creating a sense of self. 

Implications: Newberg suggests that these changes in brain activity may reflect a shift in focus and a diminished sense of self-control during the experience of speaking in tongues. 

• Religious Interpretation: The report concluded that Newberg's research does not necessarily provide a definitive explanation for the religious meaning or experience of speaking in tongues, but it does offer insights into the neurological processes that may be involved. He stated that although he is a scientist, he also acknowledges the personal and spiritual significance that people attribute to speaking in tongues.

Other physical occurrences during glossolalia...

• Reductions in cortisol levels (a stress hormone).

• Enhancements in alpha-amylase enzyme activity, which are biomarkers of stress reduction.

For your perusal I've added the following video featuring an interview with Dr. Avery Jackson, Neurosurgeon, on the subject of glossolalia. His background whose background includes...

• Undergraduate: University of Chicago (BA in Biology)

• Medical Degree: Wayne State University

• General Surgery Training: Northwestern University

• Neurosurgery Training: Penn State University

• Chief Resident in Neurosurgery: Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Spine Fellowship Faculty Instructor: Medical College of Wisconsin