tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196554259323465442.post6873207707617567999..comments2023-10-27T03:41:13.171-07:00Comments on Warning Signs: Hanukah, Miracles, and VictoriesAlan Carubahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196554259323465442.post-16449675768987691892008-12-22T20:12:00.000-08:002008-12-22T20:12:00.000-08:00Great post Alan! Just wanted to voice a few quick ...Great post Alan! Just wanted to voice a few quick points: (1) Jewish holidays begin at sundown because of the belief that "days" actually begin at night (hence the Sabbath starts Friday night) after the biblical phrase "and it was evening, and it was morning, the first day" in Genesis.<BR/><BR/>(2) There have been many Jewish victories that are not holidays. The reason Hanuka is highlighted as a victory is because it was a theological victory as much as a military one. The occupying Seleucid Greeks banned circumcision in the land of Israel because they felt it was a defilement of the naturally beautiful human body. They also made their gods womanizers, murderers, and full of human failings - views that opposed that of Judaism's. Hanuka is celebrated because it represents the notion that Jews have been around a long time, seen many societies come and go, and continue to cling to their divinely defined constructs of a society with unparalleled fervor. Only, everyone keeps telling them they're mistaken, until they themselves are a matter of history.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01670356325741310334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196554259323465442.post-5122173336656255102008-12-22T07:40:00.000-08:002008-12-22T07:40:00.000-08:00I am not a biblical scholar, but have read widely ...I am not a biblical scholar, but have read widely in Jewish and Christian history. It is my understanding the the Book of John is believed to have been written at least 120 years after the crucifiction and was possibly authored in Egypt.<BR/><BR/>What matters, however, is faith and what matters more is that, no matter what religion, that one lives a moral life. By that standard I accept all faiths with the exception of Islam which I believe to be a cult built around the life of Mohammed.Alan Carubahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10901162110385985193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196554259323465442.post-60543448958984621222008-12-22T07:33:00.000-08:002008-12-22T07:33:00.000-08:00I am normally among your most ardent of admirers. ...I am normally among your most ardent of admirers. But today I fear you have smoked a little too deeply on the Kool Aid hookah. You state: "But then, the New Testament was written decades after the actual events". In some cases, yes. But focus on John, who was present at the Crucifixion, and who wrote a substantial part of the New Testament, including those parts you find difficult. Please remember that every Apostle was martyred in a most horrific way, rather than renounce his belief in the Jesus Christ in whose ministry each had shared for three incredible years. That is solid belief and absolute commitment. <BR/>There are as many different shades of "Christian" as there are leaves in a forest. True Bible-believing Christians love Israel, and are sharply aware that the Jews will remain God's Chosen People for all of time. Please don't be misled by the host of false teachers, so many from within, that blight Christianity. <BR/><BR/>Geoff AlderGeoff Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08506868568433774115noreply@blogger.com