We're on our way to Canaan Land!!!

 

This is Curtis and I on our way to the Holy Land Experience in Florida.  I couldn't help but be reminded of that old spiritual, We're on our way to Canaan's Land!!

We'll it was a Beautiful day !!!
 

Making It Entertaining and Dynamic!!

This is a link to a great article on the type of project I want to create:

Click to go to the Post- Christian Film Maker Wake Up Call

This is the type of project I hope all my research will produce.

Jesus and the Clearing of the Temple

In regards to the Holy Land Experience, much will follow on that later, but first things first...

Jesus clearing the Temple.

Well I learned a lot about the Temple in Jesus' Day.  They built a recreation of it at he Holy Land Experience and a model recreation of Jerusalem which was amazing.  It was also great to walk through the "streets of Jerusalem".  

Jesus clearing the Temple - Mark 11:12-34, Luke 19:45-48 and John 2:12-25

Jesus was Angry because the Court of the Gentiles was filled with  those selling items for sacrifice and money exchangers.   As animals for sacrifice were being sold in the Court of Gentiles the house of the Lord was not a "house of prayer" for all nations but was becoming a smell, moist marketplace.   Jesus over turns the tables of the money changers and dries out the tables of those selling doves.  Animals sold were Cattle, sheep and doves.  Money exchanged was Roman currency and other Foreign currency for the Tyrean Shekels.   The Chief priest and the teachers of the Law were there as well as the disciples.

On My Way to the Holy Land Experience

Today, I go to the Holy Land Expereince. I have been in Florida on "vacation" since January 2, 2008 since I started the Blogs and my site. Today I will visit this Site. From there website there are lots of archeological reproductions and great insights I can gain from this experience. I can wait to see what God will teach me. I will go study now to prepare my self. God is Good!!!

Sea of Galilee- Jesus walking on Water

During my normal Bible studies I learned that the Sea of Galilee, which is the lowest body of water on earth and is 1,300 ft below sea level has lumps of asphalt floating on it in its southern end.  I don't know if this will have any relevance to anything I might do but I found it interesting. I read through Jesus walking on water today. Matthew 14:22-34, Mark 6:45-56 From the Archeological bible I learned the following:

Location:

Sea of Galilee 14 miles long, 6 miles wide (actually a lake)

Boat take off:

????Near Shores of Bethsaida

Take off Description:

( As this was just after the feeding of the 5,000 it could have been a barren place)

Boat Landing:

Gennesaret

Landing Description: 

3 mile plain along the north western shore of the Sea of Galilee going about 1 mile inland. Rich, well watered soil, very fertile probably covered with Fig, olive, palm and walnut trees.

Time:

Fourth Watch,   which was from 3:00 am to 6:00 am

Conditions:  rough stormy waters with the wind against the disciples paddling against the wind in the boat.

Boat:

A boat from Jesus' time that was found was 26.5 feet long, 7.5 feet wide and 4.5 feet deep.  It could hold a ton- five crew members and a catch or the crew and ten passengers.  They used a large dragnet (Hundreds of feet long or a circular casting net 6.3 -8.8 yards diameter) - Historical notes on Fishing taken from the Archeological  Bible page 1676.  There's a great map of Jesus' Ministry on Map 11 with details of possible locations.

The feeding of the 5,000

Today I studied looked at the feeding of the 5,000 in the Archeological Bible.  Matthew 14:13-21 and Mark 6:30-44.  This was not my traditional bible study, but more of one to find out historical elements and facts I didn't know to add to the script of Living and Active if this is the biblical story told.  This is what I found out:

Possible Location:

Jesus' hometown Nazareth Near the Sea of Galilee

Location Description:   

A remote green grass area around the Sea of Galilee.  As the

area was covered with green grass, it was either after the late winter or early spring rains.

Nearby Towns:

Capernaum and Bethsaida (population 2,000-3000 each)

Bread:

Represented a gift from God, I'd imagine like Manna as in Exodus.  You had to pick up scraps that fell to the ground during a meal.

Bread Type:

Flat Barley Loaves - Cheap, a staple for the poor.  You could eat several in one meal.

Basket Type:

"kophinos" -" small wicker baskets part of daily attire" they were carried on the back to hold provisions.  Twelve were collected by the apostles after the feeding.

The Crowd:

5,000 men counted, arranged in groups of hundreds and fifties. Women and Children did not eat with men in pubic gatherings but they would have been there also and were most likely fed in a separate place.  The total people count count could have reached 10.0000.

The Journey has begun

Well I have begun my biblical research for the living and active short thesis film that God willing I will be doing.   My biblical studies will be a supplement to my normal daily studies and the Lord willing another means to learn and grow.   I began officially almost a week ago, but couldn't start the blogging until now.  Currently I am using the Archaeological Bible for my research as it has a lot of historical and cultural information that is very valuable to this type of project.  I am currently looking at recreating one of three biblical adventures as I like to call them from the Bible.  Either the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus teaching the people on the Sea of Galilee or the Sermon on the Mount.  All three of these are easily visible recognizable events that won't require much dialogue to have dramatic impact.  

In my research for the feeding of the 5,000 I have run a into great information on page 1575 of the  Archeological Bible about Jewish meals.  This is a great resource in how to tie the Modern day location of the main character to the Biblical ones God makes it clear to me that dramtizing this part of the bible is best.