i love the bible

it's 4:48 in the morning and i've been awake since some time around 2:30. i'm still jet-lagged since i came back from israel two days ago so, i suppose it's to be expected. when i woke up this morning i went on a walk throughout the neighborhood which was a good time to myself that i needed to be with God. i also read my bible for the first time in a few days, and oh was it refreshing.

i just want to say that i love the bible. the reason i love it is because it's the true word of God. and while archaeology supports the bible as an ancient text, and while linguistics identify the bible as authentic (both good things to note), my favorite reason that i believe the bible is true (and why i love it so much) is because it knows me and it works. what is taught in the bible is so unique i don't believe any human being would, or could have ever come up with it out of their own imagination. if you were to create a fake religion you would be like joseph smith, a man who wrote doctrine commanding that you be a polygamist in order to go to heaven, or you would be like muhammad and say that you have to kill all other people of all other religions not your own. taking the influence from christianity totally out of the picture, from what i seem to observe, false religions have doctrines that appeal to the desires of the men who make them up.

the bible is unique, it says that in order to save your life you must lose it, in order to live you must die, being a servant is better than being a master, love, forgive and be gracious. because when we were undeserving, God first showed us love, forgiveness and grace. obligated to nothing and to no one, God sacrificed himself for this undeserving, wretched and disgusting people because he loved them.

in romans chapter one paul talks about the state of humanity. i used to think that humans were progressively getting worse, but after reading about the condition of people in the 1st century, we've been at the bottom of depravity for a long long time. paul says at the end of chapter one, "they know well enough God's righteous decree that people who do such things deserve to die; yet not only do they keep doing them, but they applaud others who do the same." (romans 1:32) so in the first century not only did people continue to do what they knew was wrong, but they applauded others who did the same. (and whether you deny it or not, the human heart knows there is a standard to right and wrong). so that being said, if we really are that perverse, than where in the world does the bible come from? how can such a text come from us? how can a naturally rebellious people, inclined to everything not forgiving, not loving and not gracious, come up with a text that says, that those are exactly the things to be valued. the bible screams a foreign message and yet has a certain familiar appeal to our hearts in that it knows us completely. the bible knows me as a human being better than i know myself. i read things and come to such understanding of who i am more than i would have ever found looking inside myself. and the bible works. the bible says that in your relationships with one another, humility works and pride doesn't, and it's true. the bible says to live with grace and forgiveness towards one another, and that too works, because if you don't, life is extremely difficult. the bible knows humanity better than humanity knows humanity.

because the bible knows humanity better than we know ourselves, it can only attest to the fact that it was written by the one who made humans. i've heard similar analogies to one where, if you want to know the purpose and proper usage of a coffee maker, then you ask the guy who invented it, or you read the manual written by the guy who made it. if God made us, than the bible can only be his instruction about our purpose and proper usage, and that makes sense to me.

well, there is a lot more to write about this, i am kind of just stopping writing, i'll write more later i think. anyway. i am going to get some food, i am really hungry.

//

i just read this in mere christianity, makes me feel assured to know that really smart people like c.s. lewis have some similar ideas as what i am talking about in this post.

"reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. this is one of the reasons i believe christianity. it is a religion you could not have guessed. if it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, i should feel we were making it up. but in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. it has just that queer twist about it that real things have." - c.s. lewis, mere christianity.

the messianic synagogue

yesterday [saturday/the sabbath] whitney and i went with our friend mark to a traditional messianic synagogue. the synagogue is held in a small converted apartment with only about fifty people in the congregation. it is completely traditional in every way, except for one big one, they believe that Jesus is the messiah! wooh! needless to say, it was amazing. a bunch of guys stand up in front surrounding a hand written hebrew torah scroll while one reads outloud to the congregation just like it mentions Jesus doing in luke chapter four.

[luke chapter 4:16-20]

16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

the service was so amazing because as jews these believers are the context for the scripture. and with that first hand understanding of the hebrew language and the jewish culture they teach so accurately. the entire service is spoken in hebrew though the teaching translated for those who need it. it's everything i imagine the early fellowship of jewish believers being. because of my life in america with western christianity with an english bible i sometimes think that the gentiles are the original believers and the jews will one day join in, but after yesterdays service i realized how backwards that thinking is. in acts chapter ten it is a shock to peter that salvation through Jesus is not only for the jews but the gentiles as well; and that the holy spirit would come to the gentiles! these are people they didn't even associate with, much less fellowship with.

now mind you, these messianic jewish believers are not the ones walking around with black coats and black hats [a later tradition of the very conservative orthodox jews, not from the torah], nor will you see them worshiping at the western wall, at least i don't think you would because they have the holy spirit and have no need for a physical temple with no need to make sacrifices [the jews worship at the western wall because it's the side of the temple mount that allows them to get the closest to where their temple once stood]. these messianic believers are jews who are not bound by the law, nor are they slaves to the sabbath, but free as Jesus says in mark.

[mark 2:27]
27Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

the service consisted of torah reading, singing from the psalms, and a teaching from the old testament, the prophets, and the new testament. whitney and i both loved the singing; all acapella lead by a man with a powerful operatic voice, and everyone in the synagogue faced forward while they sang, including the leaders.

one of the most amazing things to me was to see jewish people, a stereotypically stubborn and independent people, totally humbled before their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

philosophy

gezer panoramic, originally uploaded by nathanwilliam.

the deeper you dig into one expertise or profession the more and more i feel like people tend to lose perspective. like the term joel always uses, "missing the forest in the trees." as if to say, missing the big picture because you are so focused on the details. like looking with a microscope at hairs on the side of an animal without even trying to figure out what kind of animal it is.

i think this is why i like philosophy. because philosophy gathers all the details from all the different professions and tries to explain it as a whole. i guess i say all of this because archaeology is what we have been filming so much of recently, and i've decided that archaeology is boring. as dave put it, "we film rocks all day and then come home and watch The Office." yup.

i especially realized how boring archaeology was when i saw a documentary about big wave surfing... and it was awesome! while it was pretty much meaningless, it was most definitely more exciting than archaeology. and then i realized that if we focus on archaeology than i will go crazy. archaeology is certainly important....but we should be presenting the big picture. so anyway, those are my thoughts on that.

also, if any of you were wondering or heard about the bulldozer that went careening down the main street here in jerusalem, from what i know it ran over several cars, tipped over a bus, killed 4 people and injured about 40. while the rampaging bulldozer was on the move someone shot the man through the window of the bulldozer and killed him. it happened right near where we used to live, but no one i know was harmed. people are saying it was an act of terrorism...who really knows. the man who did it was an arab man with israeli citizenship.

interview with israel finkelstein

originally uploaded by nathanwilliam.

yesterday we interviewed israel finkelstein. many consider him to be the most controversial archaeologist in the world because of his views on the bible and archaeology. but after we met and interviewed him we realized that he is like most of the scholars we interview, picking and choosing what aspects of the bible are history or myth based on their interpretations of the evidence. there is a real problem within scholarship. a real problem.

rachel [the incredible]

rachel [the incredible], originally uploaded by nathanwilliam.

this is rachel, she is the youngest of the kramer kids. [the kramers are the family i live with]

peter parr

this week we've learned so much. prior to this week was a complete whirlwind of confusion through and through. but God has done an amazing thing in that while we were totally unsure about how to do anything, he pulled us through to the other side and has given us understanding of not only what we are doing here, but how to do it (i know this is all really vague...sorry). life is pretty much a game of following where God leads and running as close behind him as you can as he paves the way for you.

this week we had the pleasure of having peter parr stay with us. peter is an archaeologist well known for his excavations at jericho with kathleen kenyan in the 1950's and at petra. we've interviewed him like crazy for the past few days and out of it we gained a lot of great insight and a great friendship.

balance

i think too much therefore i am...thinking too much. i can't separate my emotions from my mind or my physical from my spiritual, it's all together and it all serves a purpose. i think sometimes i value one more than the other, like sometimes i subconsciously accept that emotions are bad across the board, that they distort your ability to think clearly. i try to work out everything in my mind. i also know that i am legalistic by nature and try to put everything in its category. but life is too complicated to try and understand all the way. right now i think i am thinking too much about how i think too much. i should just get off my computer and do life instead of mentally processing it all. i shouldn't write another wor...

u.f.o. sighting

this morning at 5:00 AM joel burst into dave and i's room and said, "guys wake up, come check this out, there are u.f.o.s outside." so in a staggering daze we both rushed to the balcony. as we walked out, behold...u.f.o.s...

we filmed it, see for yourself:



cathy sent me this link about five minutes ago: whatever

bad scholarship

the archaeological season has just begun and we have a heavy shooting schedule ahead of us. peter parr (the head excavator of petra and the second in command to kathleen kenyon at her jericho dig in the 50's) is flying here from england to stay with us for a little while so we can interview him.

because we have so many interviews ahead of us, we are studying and learning as much as we can. unfortunately all that we are learning reveals to us that we don't know very much about what we are trying to document. it's a difficult situation, but we are trusting God for a specific method as to how we are to do what he has us doing, that is, defending the bible. one thing we realize is on a large scale, scholarship takes God out of science and tries to explain it naturally. for creation you have evolution, for the historicity of the biblical text they say that in the 7th century josiah and some of his boys sat down and made up the old testament from the 7th century all the way back through the patriarchs. basically, when you eliminate God as a possible explanation for the evidence studied in all different realms of science, you come up with many second best explanations: i.e. evolution, and mythological scripture beyond the 7th century - yet, these explanations are not the best explanation for the evidence, they are only the best explanation if you eliminate God as one. therefore, i'd say the best explanation for the evidence is God. the earth - God created it, the bible - it is real history in which God acted.

so anyway, a lot is going on and we are pretty overwhelmed. but God is a big God and we trust him.

the reality of God, Jesus, and us

I am faced with a very great reality. i've always thought that God was real, but not until now do i realize the magnitude, nor have i realized the priority of existence. I believe that God is real because i have good reason to believe that the bible is true history, and the bible is the story of humanity and God's intention, and intervention with us. I believe that when God first made us we were good, and in relationship with him as he intended, but we broke the ability for that relationship to exist because we sinned, and perfection (God) and imperfection (us) cannot coexist together in the same place. i also believe that Jesus, who was with God from the start, came to this earth in human form to forever forgive us from that sin so that we and God could once again be in relationship with one another. there is no way in my mind that all this is a creation of the human imagination, we are not by nature forgiving, gracious, or loving people (if we were these attributes would come easy to us).

the bible is true history.

i've lived here in israel for nearly a year, and have traveled throughout it interviewing archaeologists, jewish rabbi's, dna scientists, epigrapher's etc., and have seen for myself the people, places and remnants left from the stories described in the bible. here in israel, one is not at a loss of evidence for the people, places, and events described in the bible, but rather you can't even begin to scratch the surface. nearly the only thing we don't have with us today is the actual events in the bible, because an event is specific to a moment in time. but the people, and the places are here. the jews are still a people and they are still operating under the old testament covenant, longing for their temple so they can make sacrifices to God to atone for their sin. and the places (jerusalem, bethlehem, the sea of galilee, gath, ziklag, beth shan, ashkelon, lechish, gezer, shechem, and jericho, just to name very very few) are all still here as well. all of this, not to mention the prophesies that are being fulfilled before our very eyes (the jews returning to the land of israel for instance), speaks very loudly of the historical reality of the bible.

the story of the bible has incredible personal implications.

the basic story of the bible is that God made us to be in relationship with Him, but we then sinned and made it impossible for that relationship to continue because God, in his perfection, cannot coexist with us because of our imperfection. like dirty water and clean water cannot be in the same bottle. but God, because of His love for us, His creation, sacrificed himself to forgive us of our imperfection, to purify us so we can again be in relationship with Him like he had intended from the start. this story is all about God and his relationship to us, if we are to take seriously what the bible is saying about God's intentions toward us, than we would realize who we are. as cs lewis put it, "We are not merely imperfect creatures that need improvement: we are rebels that need lay down their arms". God is calling us to receive the forgiveness that he paid for, so what are we hanging onto that is greater than that?

Jesus is the greatest evidence we have of God and His love for us.

any scholar who is looking at the evidence will tell you that no sane person denies the existence of Jesus. the story of Jesus is written in the new testament books of the bible, mathew, mark, luke, and john. and because of the written understanding of jewish life in israel in the first century, and many other textual criticisms, there is good reason to believe that the gospels are the honest eye witness accounts of real events regarding Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, from the personal perspective of the people closest to Jesus. (ask me about this if you want to know more, there is way too much evidence for the reliability of the gospels to write here) so considering the fact that the gospels are true historical eye witnesses, then the evidence for Jesus' life, death and resurrection can be only best explained by the fact that he really lived, he was really crucified, and he really rose from the dead. and if he really rose from the dead, then he is really who he said he was and he was really here to do what he said he was here to do. God in human form, sacrificing himself to purify us so we could again be in relationship with Him.

there is so much i didn't write here. but if all this is true, and i believe there are mountains of undeniable evidence to conclude that it is, then that has very real implications for you and i personally. you and i are sinful people. and if God is the reason that the world and we as people exist within it, than this world is all about God's purposes, not ours. and His purposes are made clear in the bible, to love and be loved by us.

we are not by nature forgiving, gracious, or loving people. being selfish is a lot easier for us than being selfless. but Jesus calls us away from our old lives of selfishness because he can call us away, because he has made a way for us to be forgiven and purified in order to again be in relationship with Him. and my question is this: if God created you because he loves you and wants to be with you, and you broke the ability for that relationship to exist, (and don't deserve that relationship) because you sinned, and despite your sin God sacrificed himself to get you back, why would you not want to be in a relationship with Him? if that is the nature of God, to be so completely loving that while we were sinners, He died for us, then why are we so resistant? is there any question that our own sins are damaging to us? is there any wonder what will happen to us because of our sin? if God is all good, and our sin separated us from God, and separation from God is all bad, otherwise known as hell, than as sinful people we default to hell. if this is all true than what is so valuable about sin to us that we would rather hang on to it and stay separated from the all loving God, who made us to love us from the start? a time will come when we will die, and when we are dead we will no longer have the chance to accept forgiveness. so what's the wait? we could die any day.

the bible says that God wants to be with you, and He is always pursuing you, so if you want to be with Him, than lose your life and follow Christ. He is always listening so tell Him that you know you've done wrong, and you believe in Jesus, that he has made a way to purify you from that wrong, and that you want to be in relationship with Him. i don't want you to believe that it's easy to follow Jesus, it's not. it's far more difficult to take on the commands of always forgiving and always loving and being gracious and merciful than it is to be selfish. but is it in our best interest? more so than anything ever has been or will be. Jesus says that those who try to save their life will lose it, but those who lose their life will gain it. if you hold onto your life, selfishness, sin ect. than you stay separated from God, but if you give up your life and accept forgiveness than you can be in relationship with God, eternally.

i don't know if this is all very clear, but my intention is to be refining it as time goes on. if you have any questions about any of this than please ask me, i can't say i'll have an answer but i'll sure seek to find one. or if you have objections, or think i am wrong, than i'd like to talk with you as well.

i work with some guys here in israel and we capture the evidence on camera and make videos so you can see it all for yourself. our site is www.sourceflix.com.

love,
nathan william lundquist

ISRAEL ---> old man, ancient city

today we interviewed dr. gabriel barkay. we've interviewed him before but today we interviewed him at ketef hinnom (the shoulder of hell in hebrew), a site where he made the most famous discovery of his archaeological career. in 1979 he and his team excavated there and found the only untouched ancient repository in jerusalem. there they discovered two small silver amulets, each containing inscriptions of old testament passages from numbers and deuteronomy dating all the way back to 600 B.C. making this the most ancient biblical text ever discovered. on one of the scrolls several lines from the jewish priestly blessing is inscribed, the same blessing that 2600 years later, the jewish priests of today recite at the wailing wall on the jewish holiday of sukkot (the feast of tarbernacles). we were at the wall last year when the priests recited the blessing: click here to watch it.

JOEL AND BARKAY AT KETEF HINNOM

over the past few weeks we've spent many days waking up at 3 in the morning and driving to the city of jericho to take footage for our feature documentary. today, in palestine there is a modern city of jericho surrounding the ancient tel of jericho. a tel is an artificial hill made up of several layers of occupation over many many years time. one city would be built and destroyed and another city would be built and destroyed on top of it until eventually you have a large hill comprised of ancient layers of civilization.

THE ANCIENT TEL OF JERICHO (IT'S A PILE OF DIRT, I KNOW)

out of all the ancient cities in israel, jericho is the most debated. several archaeologists have excavated at jericho, and while they all found the same things, they interpreted their findings differently. some say the walls of jericho fell just the way the bible records and others say that the city was destroyed by and earthquake long before the israelites would have ever arrived. the reason jericho is so crutial is because if it's true that jericho was destroyed by an earthquake long before the bible says the israelites came, than not only does that mean that the conquest never happened but neither did the exodus, and therefore the entire biblical history of the israelites coming out of egypt into the promise land is a myth. on the other hand, if what they found at jericho matches the biblical account, than not only does that support the conquest and the exodus, but jericho would then become one of the most prominent evidences for the validity of the scripture in regard to the conquest of canaan by the israelites. it's quite a battle among scholars, but with the insight of biblical archaeologist dr. bryant wood, we are convinced that there is reason to believe that the bible tells the story as it happened, as true history. keep checking back for more updates on how that documentary is shaping up. (the pictures throughout this entry are screen shots from the footage we've taken recently at ketef hinnom and jericho)

CAMEL RIDERS OUTSIDE THE ANCIENT CITY OF JERICHO

JOEL FILMING FROM THE CABLE CAR SUSPENSION TOWER

ISRAEL ---> we're back

well, we are back in israel, and so far it's been a busy few weeks. we've been traveling around and exploring the judean wilderness, more specifically the ancient city of jericho. we are currently working on a feature length documentary about whether or not the walls of jericho actually came tumbling down like the bible records; whether or not it makes sense archaeologically and scientifically for joshua and the israelites to have actually destroyed the city as God commanded them. so keep in touch for more about how it's going. it's my intention to post a video every once in a while on what we are up to...we'll see if i stick to that commitment.

it's honestly hard for me to recall all that has happened since we first arrived. though at the moment all i can think about is yesterday...

earlier this week we got wind that the jewish priests (the cohen - blood dependents of moses' brother aaron) were going to sacrifice a lamb in the old city for passover, so we did everything we could to find out where and when. joel went down to the old city yesterday morning to poke around and see what he could find out about it, but everyone he asked acted unknowing because he is was a gentile (passover is strictly jewish). joel came home and told dave and i about it and we all placed our bets on the fact that nothing would happen, that they wouldn't end up actually doing a sacrifice. but as we say, if you go and bring your camera nothing will happen, if you don't go then you'll read all about how awesome it was in the news the next day. so joel took a camera and went back to the old city later that evening and found out where the priests were meeting. he found them in a large room and as he entered the doorway they had just wrapped up a meeting and were headed out the same door he came in. as they passed by him he noticed a man carrying a little metal briefcase and suspected that it carried the blade for the sacrifice. he followed them through countless ally ways down in through the old city and deep into the jewish quater, a specific rout intended for secrecy. eventually they came to an inner courtyard where the sacrifice was to take place.

i'd love to tell you more but i would rather you see it for yourself. it's very graphic...though i will say it's extremely insightful into scripture as far as the old testament sacrifices and Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of the new covenant. so while it's hard to watch, it's immensely educational. i've posted the video below.