"The Bible" Mini-Series

[tlongII]

Is this going to be on the SciFi channel?

 

[crowTrobot]

Is this going to be on the SciFi channel?

yes, right after Lost Girl has a 3-way with demons

 

[santeesioux]

Is this going to be on the SciFi channel?

It's a WWE special, Jesus will wrestle the Undertaker.

 

[RR7]

The makers of this series probably never even considered having Jews, Muslims, atheists, etc. contribute anything to the show. Now the millions and millions of Christians that haven't read a word of the Bible have something to go by!

What would an atheist have to contribute to a show about the bible?

 

[crowTrobot]

What would an atheist have to contribute to a show about the bible?

that charlton heston was a way better moses than the guy in the previews they're running?

 

[MARIS61]

I'm looking forward to watching this....
in part, due to being produced by Burnett and Downy,...:

I expect to be disappointed for the same reason. I hate their crappy reality tv shows, and don't think they''re up to the task.

Much rather see Peter Jackson or Spielberg tackle such a complex collection of stories.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Good for Mark Burnett! It must be nice to be able to make your wife a virgin again anytime you want to.

 

[MARIS61]

What would an atheist have to contribute to a show about the bible?

A rational assessment of the reasons the bible was written, which parts are likely fact or fiction and the effects it has had on history.

 

[jlprk]

Here's an amusing new article about Utah laws which control serving alcohol in restaurants. Religion is out of control in Utah.

http://www.ajc.com/news/ap/alcohol/utah-liquor-bill-aims-to-take-down-zion-curtains/nWZyZ/

 

[magnifier661]

A rational assessment of the reasons the bible was written, which parts are likely fact or fiction and the effects it has had on history.

I personally wouldn't mind some atheists giving logical input. I think it would be good for the film. But keep in mind that its reinactments of the bible stories.

 

[magnifier661]

Here's an amusing new article about Utah laws which control serving alcohol in restaurants. Religion is out of control in Utah.

http://www.ajc.com/news/ap/alcohol/utah-liquor-bill-aims-to-take-down-zion-curtains/nWZyZ/

Way to post something that has nothing to do with the topic in this thread. Must be on those shrooms huh?

 

[RR7]

I personally wouldn't mind some atheists giving logical input. I think it would be good for the film. But keep in mind that its reinactments of the bible stories.

Exactly, it's reenactments of the bible. Why get input from people who don't believe the stories happened in the first place? I can't imagine to make the Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson went around asking people who don't like Tolkein what they think he should do.

 

[magnifier661]

Exactly, it's reenactments of the bible. Why get input from people who don't believe the stories happened in the first place? I can't imagine to make the Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson went around asking people who don't like Tolkein what they think he should do.

Good point!

 

[jlprk]

Way to post something that has nothing to do with the topic in this thread. Must be on those shrooms huh?

You'll like this!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...h-korea-is-it-also-unethical/?tid=ts_carousel

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Good for Mark Burnett! It must be nice to be able to make your wife a virgin again anytime you want to.

Maybe she's not too high on that aspect...

 

[PtldPlatypus]

A rational assessment of the reasons the bible was written, which parts are likely fact or fiction and the effects it has had on history.

That would be a completely different (but also interesting) mini-series.

I'd watch it. Make it happen, MARIS.

 

[donkiez]

Thanks ABM I will tune in for sure. I'm not a believer or disbeliever but I very much respect the historical significants of the bible and enjoy learning more about it when given an entertaining option. History channel has recently been getting back to it's roots and doing some fantastic stuff. Hatfields and McCoys, and The Men Who Built America in particular were very well done.

 

[crowTrobot]

Thanks ABM I will tune in for sure. I'm not a believer or disbeliever but I very much respect the historical significants of the bible and enjoy learning more about it when given an entertaining option. History channel has recently been getting back to it's roots and doing some fantastic stuff. Hatfields and McCoys, and The Men Who Built America in particular were very well done.

i hope you mean cultural historical significance since it was written. as previously noted the attempt by the 'history' channel at portraying the bible as historically accurate is a pure ratings grab, and does not at all reflect the actual findings of archeology/anthropology.

 

[ABM]

.......and does not at all reflect the actual findings of archeology/anthropology.

......yet.

 

[crowTrobot]

......yet.

well.. there could easily be new evidence discovered that john the baptist or the man jesus etc. were actually historical characters.

on the other hand the historicity of most of the first half of the old testament is completely and thoroughly contradicted by anthropological and other scientific evidence. much of it isn't even written to reflect the time periods stories are supposed to have taken place in. there is no reason anyone would expect for new evidence to be discovered.

 

[magnifier661]

i hope you mean cultural historical significance since it was written. as previously noted the attempt by the 'history' channel at portraying the bible as historically accurate is a pure ratings grab, and does not at all reflect the actual findings of archeology/anthropology.

Well to you maybe; but for others that actually believe the Bible has historical accuracy it's not the case.

 

[magnifier661]

......yet.

yet? There already has been archeological evidence that supports it. There is no yet.

 

[crowTrobot]

Well to you maybe; but for others that actually believe the Bible has historical accuracy it's not the case.

you like the history channel are confusing apologists with actual working scientists and historians.

 

[magnifier661]

you like the history channel are confusing apologists with actual working scientists and historians.

So you mean to tell me there are "no empirical evidence" that events in the bible did not take place?

Yes or no?

 

[crowTrobot]

So you mean to tell me there are "no empirical evidence" that events in the bible did not take place?

Yes or no?

i mean to tell you there is almost nothing in the bible from the creation story through at least the time of david that isn't contradicted by evidence. after that time the bible starts to gradually become more historically accurate, which is what you would expect since that is when the first parts of it were likely written.

 

[magnifier661]

i mean to tell you there is almost nothing in the bible from the creation story through at least the time of david that isn't contradicted by evidence. after that time the bible starts to gradually become more historically accurate, which is what you would expect since that is when the first parts of it were likely written.

The inscription on a tablet found at Tel Dan, which dates to about 840 B.C.E., clearly mentions a "House of David." Photo credit: © WGBH Educational Foundation

There is one empirical evidence that there was such thing as "King David"

Yes the "King David" is one of the strongest "evidence" out there. But did you review the archeological evidence of the egyptians referring to "Israel" based in Canaan?

How about the tabernackle and archeological evidence proving there was a city called "Ramses"? That was the city that Moses led his people out from. For almost 100 years, this city wasn't found and said was just a story. But the last 20 years; there have been a lot of evidence that this city did exist and had foreign prisioners of war being slaves there.

 

[magnifier661]

I think pbs.org presents a good picture of the actual "principle teachings" of the bible.

Yet many people want to know whether the events of the Bible are real, historic events.

We want to make the Bible history. Many people think it has to be history or nothing. But there is no word for history in the Hebrew Bible. In other words, what did the biblical writers think they were doing? Writing objective history? No. That's a modern discipline. They were telling stories. They wanted you to know what these purported events mean.

The Bible is didactic literature; it wants to teach, not just to describe. We try to make the Bible something it is not, and that's doing an injustice to the biblical writers. They were good historians, and they could tell it the way it was when they wanted to, but their objective was always something far beyond that.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/archeology-hebrew-bible.html

I have reason to believe that most of what was written during the "pre-David" years were stories; like many agnostic and atheists believe. But I do believe there is reference of actual historic locations, kings, people.

I used to think that the Bible is a word for word exact historical record of what took place. Today; I believe most of the old testament were "teachings," inspired by God, for his people to understand the difference between good and evil. Ways to live a good life. Examples of what ways one could handle certain situations.

I had and always have put most my weight in the new testament because it describes and explains what is most important to my life. Salvation...

Now this History Channel series is interesting because I have my own ideas on the visual of what could have taken place. I'm curious if the director saw it the same way I did.

 

[crowTrobot]

The inscription on a tablet found at Tel Dan, which dates to about 840 B.C.E., clearly mentions a "House of David." Photo credit: © WGBH Educational Foundation

There is one empirical evidence that there was such thing as "King David"

Yes the "King David" is one of the strongest "evidence" out there. But did you review the archeological evidence of the egyptians referring to "Israel" based in Canaan?

How about the tabernackle and archeological evidence proving there was a city called "Ramses"? That was the city that Moses led his people out from. For almost 100 years, this city wasn't found and said was just a story. But the last 20 years; there have been a lot of evidence that this city did exist and had foreign prisioners of war being slaves there.

not worth debating since you still have no idea how do differentiate apologetic propaganda from objective inquiry. not sure why it matters anyway since you don't consider stories in genesis literal, and the history channel is presumably going to depict those in the same light as the exodus etc.

 

[magnifier661]

not worth debating since you still have no idea how do differentiate apologetic propaganda from objective inquiry. not sure why it matters anyway since you don't consider stories in genesis litera

Yeah I truly don't. But you think that photo and translation is propaganda? So you think some Christians made a fake tabernacle that mentioned "King David"?

l, and the history channel is presumably going to depict those in the same light as the exodus etc.

I think you presume too much. I think that most "Christians" won't even want to watch this. This has been tried before and most Christians didn't care for it.

I look at this series as another attempt to "paint a picture" of what the "Bible" was intending to visualize. I doubt that the history channel, if asked, would attempt to claim this is historical.

I mean think about it... They have a series called "Ancient Aliens" that is quite popular. They are just showing things they believe people want to think about that happened, or was written years ago.

I think too many left wing or right wing people are taking this way too serious. You for example are coming in strong, trying to make damn sure that this will be only a "story telling" documentary; while the far right want this to be a 100% accurate rendition of what they believe actually happened.

The truth could be right in the middle.

 

[magnifier661]

And if I am linking you to a "pbs.org" web link; I would highly doubt they would put any merit to any propaganda.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/palace-king-david.html

No ordinary household, Mazar says, would have carved ivory, but a royal palace likely would. Photo credit: Courtesy the Shalem Center

Mazar believes the Stepped Stone Structure once helped to support a huge palace complex built into the hillside. Photo credit: Courtesy Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com

The name of Yehuchal ben Shelemiyahu, a figure mentioned in the Bible, is legible in paleo-Hebrew script on this clay seal impression. Photo credit: Courtesy the Shalem Center

NEW REVELATIONS
[Editor's note: Since producer Gary Glassman interviewed Eilat Mazar in the summer of 2007 for "The Bible's Buried Secrets," her team has made a number of noteworthy discoveries, three of which are detailed below.]

AN ANCIENT ESCAPE TUNNEL
Early in 2008, Mazar's team found the entrance of what turned out to be an extensive tunnel running under the Stepped Stone Structure. Mazar believes that the tunnel was likely first created before the time of King David to convey water, and then incorporated into the construction of his palace complex around 1000 B.C. She says there is "high probability" that it is the water tunnel called tsinor in the biblical story of King David's conquest of Jerusalem (in II Samuel 5:6-8 and I Chronicles 11:4-6).
Mazar thinks that, centuries later, the tunnel may have served as an escape route during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The Bible, in the Second Book of Kings (25:4), describes King Zedekiah's escape through such a tunnel during the siege. The tunnel, with walls composed of unworked stone and bedrock, is wide enough to allow passage of one person crawling through at a time. Within the tunnel, Mazar's team uncovered intact oil lamps characteristic of the siege period.

A SECOND ROYAL SEAL
Two years after the discovery of the tiny clay bulla, or stamp, bearing the name of Yehuchal ben Shelemiyahu, Mazar's excavation brought to light a similar stamp from the same location. In ancient Hebrew script, it reads "Gedaliah ben Pashur." Ben Pashur's name appears in the same verse of the Book of Jeremiah (38:1) as ben Shelemiyahu's. Both men, according to the Bible, served as ministers in the court of King Zedekiah, who reigned from 597–587/6 B.C., just prior to the destruction of the First Temple and fall of Jerusalem.

THE PROPHET NEHEMIAH'S WALL?
In an emergency attempt to shore up an unstable structure at the excavation site, Mazar's team chanced upon another important find—the remnants of a wall that Mazar suspects is related to the prophet Nehemiah, who governed Jerusalem around 445 B.C., following the return of the Israelites from their exile in Babylon. An assemblage of pottery, as well as bullae and arrowheads, helped Mazar date the 100-foot-long wall to Nehemiah's time.

According to the Bible, Nehemiah, both a prophet and political leader, was determined to restore Jerusalem as the Israelites' capital a century after its destruction by the Babylonians, and he directed the construction of an enormous wall near David's former palace in a mere 52 days.