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Nine Hells

2008-12-12T14:32:46Z

NoelE: Removing liberal bias

{{stub}}

The '''Nine HELL''' is an otherworldly realm in which the nine different levels of [[Hell|HELL]] are encased. It was popularized by [[Dante's Inferno]] and is not a part of standard Christian theology, although [[Dante]]'s version was carefully extrapolated from the philosophy of his age.
[[Category:Bible]]
[[Category:Literature]]

The Renaissance

2008-12-12T14:32:44Z

NoelE: Removing liberal bias

[[Image:Uffizi Gallery.jpg|thumb|300px|Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.]]
'''The Renaissance''' holds it roots in the taking of the Byzantine capital of [[Constantinople]] by the [[Ottoman Turks]] in the year 1453 A.D. After the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire, the Eastern half continued to flourish as the [[Byzantine Empire]] while [[Europe]] entered the [[Dark Ages]] where most of the learning from the [[Roman Empire]] was lost. However, the knowledge continued to pass down in the East until the scholars' flight to Italy as their empire was dismembered.

The Renaissance was a cultural “rebirth” that began in [[Florence]], [[Italy]], but spread to all of Europe from about 1300 to 1600 (1700 in Northern Europe).

During this time period, Europeans experienced a renewed interest in classical [[Greeks|Greek]] and [[Roman]] civilization, and subsequently, in learning science, mathematics, literature, the arts and philosophy. [[Christianity]] played a strong role in the renaissance as can be seen [[Christianity and Science|in its influence in the birth of modern science]]. The term “[[Renaissance man]]” has come to mean a person who is remarkably well-rounded and learned in every subject, as this is what was expected of men during the Renaissance of the Nobility.

*[http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Renaissance_Terms Renaissance Terms (1300s - 1600s)]

=='''The Italian Renaissance'''==

[[Image: duomoflorence.jpg|thumb|left|320px|[[The Duomo]] of the [[The Duomo|Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral]] in [[Florence]]]]

The Northern city-states of [[Italy]] were a perfect location for the Renaissance to occur, as [[Italian culture]] was built off of classical Greek and Roman civilization. They had become important and wealthy locations selling and trading during the [[Crusades]], and [[Muslim]] and [[Byzantine]] learning had been brought to Italy also during the Crusades. Florence in particular was home to wealthy families willing to finance artists, mainly the prominent [[Medici]] family. Lastly, the fierce competition that existed between the different city-states brought out the best in people and created an environment in which initiative and creativity flourished.

This quote by [[Leon Battista Alberti]], "men can do all things if they will" sums up the spirit of the Renaissance well. Three philosophies emerged during the Renaissance: [[individualism]], humanism and secularism. All three contained similarities and overlapped with one another to form the main philosophy, humanism.

=='''Artists'''==

The most lasting legacy of the Renaissance was probably the outstanding artwork it produced. Especially in Florence and [[Rome]], master artists emerged who produced astonishing works of art in [[sculpture]], painting and architecture. The competitive spirit of the Italian city-states as well as the enormous wealth of families willing to patronize created a perfect environment for the flourishing of art.

[[Image: michelangelopieta.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Michelangelo's ''The Pietà'']]

One of the first artists to incorporate new ideas into his artwork was [[Giotto di Bondone]] (1267-1337) who brought unprecedented elements of realism in his paintings. [[Giotto]], a typical Renaissance jack-of-all-trades, also designed the innovative campanile (bell tower) for the [[The Duomo|Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral]]or simply "[[The Duomo]]" in Florence. Flemish artists introduced oil paints, and the technique of perspective was introduced by artists like [[Tommaso Masaccio]] and [[Filippo Brunelleschi]]. Brunelleschi also designed the duomo (dome) for the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral, a breakthrough in [[engineering]] and [[architecture]] that showed Brunelleschi’s deep understanding of mathematics.

[[Donatello]] (1386-1466) was an influential painter and sculpture of the early Renaissance from Florence. He sculpted a bronze “[[Donatello's David|David]],” the first free-standing nude statue since the days of the Greeks and Romans, and another famous statue of [[Donatello's St. George|St.George]]. [[Tiziano Vicelli|Titian]] (Tiziano Vicelli) (1477-1576) was a painter with an unprecedented use of color and loose brushwork, evident in his stunning masterpiece [[The Assumption of the Virgin]]. [[Raphael]] (1482-1520) also mastered the use of color and painted beautiful frescoes in churches and for private patrons, the most famous of which may be [[The School of Athens]], an interesting painting depicting [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] surrounded by their pupils. He inspired the two greatest artists of the Renaissance: [[Michelangelo]] and [[Leonardo da Vinci|Leonardo Da Vinci]].

[[Michelangelo]] (1475) is best known for his statue of [[Michelangelo's David|David]] and for painting the ceiling of the [[Sistine Chapel]], an astounding [[fresco]] including over 300 Biblical figures, that took over 4 years to complete. He also sculpted amazing renditions of [[Moses]] and “[[Michelangelo'sPieta|the Pietà]],” a poignant sculpture of Jesus in Mary’s arms after the [[Jesus' Crucifixion|crucifixion]]. Following Brunelleschi’s model Duomo in Florence, Michelangelo designed the dome for [[Vatican City|St. Peter’s Basilica]] in Rome. Although some say his earlier works (like David) reveal a humanistic outlook, later works (like the Pietà) reveal his deep and devout Christianity.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) embodied the “Renaissance man.” He was an architect, anatomist, sculptor, scientist, mathematician, musician, and painter. He created masterpieces such as the [[Mona Lisa]] and [[The Last Supper]]. He kept notebooks full of drawings such as [[Vitruvian Man]], and his observations from dissecting human corpses. It is said that Leonardo could draw with one hand while at the same time painting with the other, and he wrote backwards in his notebooks, so they would have to be held up to a mirror to be read. He was way ahead of his time and created conceptual designs for many devices such as a flying machine and an armored tank. He was the first to come up with the ideas of the [[calculator]] and the use of solar power for energy.

[[Image: monalisa.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Leonardo Da Vinci's ''[[The Mona Lisa|Mona Lisa]]'']]

=='''Authors'''==

Many authors produced influential literary works during the Renaissance. [[Dante]] was the writer whose works some historians date as marking the beginning of the Renaissance, and he is called the father of the Renaissance. He was an Italian writer who wrote in the [[vernacular]], or common language, so his works gained popularity among ordinary people as well as scholars. His most famous work is [[The Divine Comedy]], which describes in vivid detail the author’s journey through HELL (''Inferno''), purgatory (''Purgatorio'') and heaven (''Paradiso''). Although called a “comedy”, the book is anything but funny. This is because Dante was using the classical meaning of “comedy”, in which a story is not necessarily humorous, but ends happily and according to the divine will of God. In The Divine Comedy, Dante blends [[Greek philosophy]] with Christian theology, in the tradition of [[Thomas Aquinas]]. Dante’s guide through HELL is Virgil, and the greatest sinners present in HELL are [[Judas Iscariot]] (Jesus’ betrayer) and [[Brutus]] (Caesar’s betrayer).

Along with Dante, [[Francesco Petrarch]] (1304-1374) is considered a father of the Renaissance. He wrote beautiful poetry in Italian, but his books were written in Latin. His works and their focus on the classical philosophers inspired the humanism of the Renaissance.

[[Niccolo Machiavelli]] (1469-1527) wrote ''[[The Prince]]'', in which he explored the means by which a monarch can gain, retain, and increase his power. A prince must recognize the needs of the people, Machiavelli declared, and although his consensus was that it is better to be feared than loved, he

[[Image: michelangelodavid.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Michelangelo's [[Michelangelo's David|David]] ''...Men can do all things if they will.'']]

additionally stated that it is ideal to be both feared and loved. Machiavelli served under [[Lorenzo Medidi]] of Florence, but was exiled. It was during his exile that he wrote ''The Prince''. Today the word “[[Machiavellian]]” has come to mean any unreasonable philosophy by which “the end justifies the means.”

== See also ==

*[[Painting Masterpieces]]
*[[Painting Schools]]
*[[Fra Angelico]]

[[category:European History]]

Dante's Inferno

2008-12-12T14:32:41Z

NoelE: Removing liberal bias

[[Image:Looneyleft.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Dante lost in the dark forest: ''In the midway of this our mortal life / I found me in a gloomy wood, astray'' (Canto I)]]
The '''Inferno''' is the first of the three cantiche in [[Dante]]'s poetic work, ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', about his imagined trip to [[Hell|HELL]] ('Inferno' is the Italian word for 'HELL'). It is very frightening. According to Dante, the inscription at the entrance to HELL reads "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

''The Divine Comedy'' was most famously illustrated by Gustave Doré, whose very literal interpretations of the punishments sinners suffer in HELL are truly horrifying.

[[Category:Poetry]]
[[Category:Sin]]

==Structure of HELL==
Dante's vision of HELL is a very ordered one. HELL is an enormous conical pit that leads down to the centre of the Earth. Within the pit are nine circles of decreasing size, where those condemned to HELL are punished. Every kind of sin has its own allotted place, either an entire circle or, lower down, a subdivision of a circle. Down the side of the entire pit runs a crack, which was caused by the [[earthquake]] that happened at the [[Resurrection]].

===The gate of HELL===
At the gate of HELL there is an inscription, famously ending 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here', because those condemned to HELL have lost their chance of salvation for good. Beyond the gate is the river [[Acheron]], the first of four rivers in HELL. As in classical mythology, [[Charon]] the ferryman carries the souls of the dead across the river. Gathered on the near bank are the Futile, souls of the dead who did nothing remarkable in their lives and are condemned to be forgotten.

===Limbo===
The first circle of HELL is [[Limbo]], home to those who led good lives but were not Christians, so cannot enter Heaven. Although it is in HELL, Limbo is relatively pleasant - the only punishment is disappointment and regret. Limbo in the Divine Comedy is analogous to the [[Elysian Fields]] in classical mythology.

[[Image:Ferdinand_Victor_Delacroix_006.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Dante and Virgil are ferried across the River [[Styx]], towards the City of Dis: ''And thus the good instructor: "Now, my son, / Draws near the city, that of Dis is named"'' (Canto VIII) (Illustration by [[Eugene Delacroix]]).]]

===The lesser circles===
The next four circles are known as 'lesser HELL', because the sins that are punished there are the result of weakness rather than malicious intent. These are:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Circle
! Sin
! Punishment
|-
| Second
| [[Lust]]
| Wind
|-
| Third
| [[Gluttony]]
| Rain
|-
| Fourth
| [[Greed]]
| Pushing boulders
|-
| Fifth
| [[Anger]]
| Submerged in a marsh
|}
The marsh in the fifth circle is the river [[Styx]]. Dante and his guide must again be ferried across to continue their journey.

===The City of Dis===
The four lower circles of HELL (known collectively as lower or nether HELL) are inside a walled city called Dis (one of the names of [[Satan]]). From outside the city looks like a bustling metropolis of [[evil]], but inside it is revealed to be an eerie and deserted graveyard. This is the sixth circle of HELL, where [[heretic]]s are buried in tombs and set on fire.

===The seventh circle: Violence===
The seventh circle is split into three regions, where different forms of violence are punished:

* Violence against others, including tyranny, is punished in Phlegethon, the river of fire. This river runs right round the outer edge of the seventh circle and then down towards the center of the pit.
* Violence against oneself. On the inner bank of Phlegethon is a wood, where the trees turn out to be [[suicide]]s who have been condemned to give up their human form. Wanton spendthrifts (mainly compulsive [[gambling|gamblers]]) are also punished here, pursued through the wood by harpies.
* Violence against [[God]] or nature. This category includes [[blasphemy|blasphemers]], [[Usury|usurers]] and [[homosexuals]]. All are punished in a desert of unbearable heat where fire rains from the sky.

The only way to cross the desert is to walk along the dykes that guide the river Phlegethon towards the center of HELL. Beyond the desert, this river flows down a sheer drop into the eighth circle.

===Malebolge===
The eighth circle is called Malebolge (which could be translated roughly as 'evil ditches'). It is made up of ten concentric trenches, each of which is home to those guilty of a different form of [[fraud]]:

[[Image:Mohammed by gustave dore.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Mohammed]] and other sunderers are punished in the eighth circle: ''"Now mark how I do rip me: lo! / How is Mohammed mangled"'' (Canto XXVIII)]]

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Form of fraud
! Punishment
|-
| [[Seduction]]
| Forced marching and whipping
|-
| [[Flattery]]
| Buried in filth
|-
| [[Simony]]
| Stuck in wells and set on fire
|-
| [[Sorcery]] and soothsaying
| Heads twisted backwards
|-
| [[Barratry]]
| Immersed in boiling tar
|-
| [[Hypocrisy]]
| Crushed under lead cloaks
|-
| [[Theft]]
| Turned into [[lizard]]s
|-
| Evil counsel
| Fire
|-
| Sundering
| Mutilated by demons
|-
| [[Deceit]] and [[forgery]]
| Disease
|}

These sins are known as minor fraud, as distinct from treachery (see below), which is considered a worse form of fraud. The imaginative, cruel and grotesque punishments of the eighth circle provide some of the most enduring images in the Inferno, and are what most people have in mind when they think of the works of Dante.

[[Image:Gfdyte7y6.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Satan in the Ninth Circle of HELL: ''That Emperor, who sways / The realm of sorrow, at mid breast from the ice / Stood forth'' (Canto XXXIV)]]

===The ninth circle: Treachery===
The ninth and lowest circle, situated at the bottom of a deep well leading down to the center of the earth, is set aside for [[Treachery|traitors]]. The circle takes the form of a frozen lake called Cocytus (the fourth river of HELL), and the traitors are frozen into the [[ice]]. Some have their heads free, while others are completely covered, according to the severity of their treachery.

In the ultimate depths of this circle, the travelers come upon [[Satan]] and the three worst human offenders: [[Judas Iscariot]], [[Brutus]] and [[Cassius]]. Satan is depicted as a three-headed, winged [[demon]] of immense size, yet at the same time he is a pathetic figure: he is unable to move except to beat his wings ineffectually, and he cries constantly. The three worst traitors are punished by being chewed by Satan himself, and Judas, as the worst of all, is also lacerated by Satan's claws.

In Dante’s time, [[Julius Caesar]] was honored as the first emperor of Rome, and Rome brought the ‘[[Pax Romana]]’. Hence, his assassins Brutus and Cassius are seen as betraying the divinely-ordained natural order.<ref> [[The Divine Comedy]], By Dante Alighieri, Translated by Charles Singleton, Bollingen Series 80, Vol 1: Inferno. Copyright 1970 by Princeton University Press. </ref>

==Denizens of HELL==
===Sinners===
As he and Virgil travel through HELL, Dante speaks to many of the people he meets. Each circle is home to a multitude of sinners who are punished there, but the ones Dante identifies are mainly taken from antiquity, the [[Bible]], and Florentine and Italian history.

Some notable encounters are:
* [[Ulysses]], who is punished in the eighth circle for his role in the [[Trojan War]] (Dante sympathised with the Trojans as the ancestors of the founders of [[Rome]]).
* Brunetto Latini, a teacher of Dante's, who is punished for his homosexuality in the seventh circle.
* [[Mohammed]], who is punished as a sunderer in the eighth circle. As the founder of [[Islam]], his is blamed for leading many people away from Christianity. However, not all Muslims are treated so badly - some are allowed a place in Limbo, which means they committed no sin other than lacking the correct faith.
* Various [[Pope]]s - Dante took an extremely dim view of what he saw as the corrupt nature of the [[Church]] at the time.

===Demons and monsters===
As well as the shades of humans, HELL is home to a number of supernatural creatures. Some of the punishments are carried out by demons, for example a demon with an enormous sword mutilates the sunderers in the eighth circle. In addition, each circle is guarded by a creature who personifies the sins punished there:
[[Image:canino.png|right|thumb|200px|A carving of Cerberus, guardian of the third circle: ''Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange'' (Canto VI)]]
* '''Minos''', mythical king of [[Crete]], guards the second circle (lust). He is depicted as a monstrous creature with a tail, who has the task of assigning new arrivals in HELL to their allotted place.
* [[Cerberus]] the ravenous three-headed dog guards the third circle (gluttony).
* '''Plutus''', the personification of wealth, guards the fourth circle (greed). He speaks the unintelligible phrase 'Pape Satan, Pape Satan aleppe!', which has caused much debate among scholars as to its meaning.
* '''Phlegyas''', another mythical king, is the ferryman who carries Dante across the Styx (circle of anger).
* The '''furies''' are seen on the walls of the City of Dis before Dante and Virgil gain entry to the circle of heresy.
* The seventh circle (violence) is guarded by the [[Minotaur]] and patrolled by [[Centaur]]s.
* '''Geryon''', depicted as a strange beast with a handsome face and scaled body, carries Dante and Virgil down into the circle of fraud.
* Many giants, including [[Nimrod]] and the [[Titans]], stand around the edge of the lowest circle. The [[Titans]] committed treason by waging war against the gods, while Nimrod committed treason against God by building the [[Tower of Babel]] (he now speaks a language that none can understand).

== Punishments ==
The most famous feature of the Inferno is its wide and imaginative variety of punishments, many of which have an obvious connection with the sin in question. This connection is mentioned directly in canto XXVIII, where those who caused divisions and schisms are themselves split apart by a sword-wielding demon. The [[Italian]] word ''contrapasso'' is used to describe this idea.

The degree of ''contrapasso'' varies from one punishment to the next. In some cases, such as the schismatics already mentioned, or the [[hypocrite]]s who are crushed under lead cloaks with a thin layer of gold on the outside, the association is very direct. In others, it is more oblique; for example, the souls of the lustful are blown about by a wind, which some commentators see as representing how, in life, they were buffeted by the caprice of their own emotions. In still other cases, it is hard to see any correspondence at all - for example, [[barratry|barraters]] are boiled in tar, which is obviously painful but has little to do with political corruption.

This variation could be seen as a good example of the inconsistency of style that characterises the Divine Comedy as a whole (see the discussion on [[The Divine Comedy#Style(s)|styles]] in the main article).

== In Popular Culture ==

A 2002 best-selling mystery novel by Matthew Pearl, ''The Dante Club,'' is a piece of historical fiction set in [[Boston]] in 1865. It is based partly on real events; the [[Dante Club]] was real, the mystery story is not. At the time, not many people in the [[United States]] knew [[Italian]] or Dante's work. A group of writers formed a club to translate Dante's work and promote his importance. Three of them were [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]], [[Oliver Wendell Holmes]], and [[James Russell Lowell]]. Like Dante's work itself, it has frightening and gruesome scenes, but is rich in historical background.
{{DivineComedy}}
[[Category:Christianity]]

Spanish Inquisition

2008-12-12T14:32:37Z

NoelE: Removing liberal bias

[[Image:Inquisition Scene.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Goya's depiction of an Inquisition tribunal]]
The '''Spanish Inquisition''' was founded by King [[Ferdinand II]] and Queen [[Isabella of Castile|Isabella]] of [[Spain]], and authorized by [[Pope]] [[Sixtus IV]] in 1478 to examine the genuineness of recent converts from [[Judaism]] to [[Christianity]]. The majority of its activities were dedicated to the suppression of the Jews, and it was primarily a political tribunal.

==Background==
Since the 13th century Spain had been divided into 3 distinct regions:
*the Kingdom of [[Castile]],
*the Kingdom of [[Aragón]], and
*Granada.

An Inquisition had existed in Aragón since 1232, when Pope [[Gregory IX]] had issued the [[Papal Bull]] ''[[Declinante]]'', although Castile had never had an Inquisition and Granada was an independent [[Islam]]ic stronghold. In 1474 Isabella succeeded to the throne of Castile and her husband Ferdinand to that of Aragón in 1479. They made a political decision to force religious conformity across all three regions, and the enforced conversion of the Jewish and Muslim population were crucial to their aim.

Spanish Jews had been persecuted since the 7th century, but the persecution reached new heights in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1235 Jews were forced to wear a yellow circular patch for easier identification. In 1391 massacres of Jewish communities began, in Majorca, Aragón and Seville (where at least 4000 were killed).<ref>'''Kamen, Henry''', ''The Spanish Inquisition'', New York: New American Library (1965).</ref> Tens of thousands of Jews converted to Christianity to escape death, but the sincerity of these ''conversos'' was questioned. Ferdinand and Isabella, along with the rest of the ruling elite believed that the Jews and the ''conversos'' posed a genuine threat to their power and saw a full Inquisition as a means of reasserting the predominance of the aristocracy. The Jews who did not become conversos, were forced to leave Spain. This expulsion, in the main, took place in 1492, the year that Columbus, financed in part by confiscated Jewish wealth, discovered America. They fled mainly to the countries around the Mediterraenean - North Africa, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, as well as to Holland. From Holland, they went to the Americas. They are called Sephardic Jews, as they continued speaking the language of Spain, Spain being called in the Hebrew language, Sepharad.

==Tomás de Torquemada==
Isabella first established the ''Consejo de la Suprema y general Inquisición'' in 1483, designed primarily to operate within the Kingdom of Castile. It was headed by the newly-appointed Inquisitor-General, Fray [[Tomás de Torquemada]]. Torquemada was a [[Dominican]] Friar and [[confessor]] to Isabella. On 17 October 1483 Sixtus IV appointed Torquemada as Papal Inquisitor-General for Aragón, [[Valencia]] and [[Catalonia]], with permanent standing tribunals in [[Saragoza]], [[Barcelona]] and Valencia. This was the first organization in Spanish history that possessed equal powers throughout the entire country.

==1492==
After 9 years of warfare, Granada finally fell to the Spanish in January 1492. Ferdinand and Isabella set up their royal house in the [[Alhambra]], by joining the palace of Comares (the official throne of the Sultans of Granada) with their own Palace of the Lions. This ended several centuries of Islamic rule in southern and western Spain. Their finances bolstered by the conquest, the King and Queen no longer needed the financial support of the Jewish businesses in Spain, and on 31 March they issued the ''[[Alhambra Decree]]'', ordering the expulsion of all Jews from Spain and its territories and possessions by July 31, 1492, unless they converted to [[Roman Catholicism]]. About 400,000 left before the allotted date, losing their livelihoods and being forced to pay exorbitant taxes as they departed. (This Jewish money helped fund Columbus's voyage to America, which departed on 3 August, 1492.) Around 50,000 Jews chose to convert and remain in Spain.

==The ''Suprema''==
Ferdinand and Isabella had divided the administration of Spain into 5 Councils:
*the Council of State
*the Council of Finance
*the Council of Castile
*the Council of Aragón
*the Council of the Inquisition - more commonly known as the ''Suprema'' <ref>'''Turberville, A.S'''.,''Medieval Heresy and the Inquisition'', London: Crosby, Lockwood and Son (1920).</ref>

The ''Suprema'' was controlled and organized by the Office of the Inquisitor-General, and Torquemada put great efforts into the role. He created the first set of rules, the ''Instrucciónes Antiguas'', in 1484 on the basis of his own experience, with additions in 1485, 1488 and 1498.<ref>'''Turberville''', ''op cit.''; '''Kamen''', ''op cit''.</ref> New tribunals were established - by 1520 there were 22 temporary tribunals, plus twelve permanent tribunals in Castile and four in Aragón. Each had a large staff and two Inquisitors. The Inquisitors were required to be "masters of theology" and at least 40 years of age (although later the age limit was dropped to 30.) Additionally, each tribunal also employed:
*an ''alguazil'' (a "constable" responsible for arrests)
*several ''calificadores'' (assessors of evidence)
*a ''fiscal'' (prosecutor)
*gaolers
*chaplains
*clerks
*notaries
*"familiars"
The tribunals were overseen by ''visitadores'' ("travelling inspectors") who reported to the ''Suprema''. The "familiars" were the spies and informers of the Inquisition. These posts could be bought and sold and were often hereditary. Their number was vast - in the 16th century there were 805 in [[Toledo]], 805 in Granada and 1,009 in [[Santiago]].

==Accusation==
When targeted by the Inquisition, a particular village or locale would receive notice from the familiars of a "period of grace" - heretics were urged to come forward or denounce others known to them. This remained the basic method of locating suspected heretics. Suspects could be denounced for activities as varied as "''smiling at the mention of the Virgin Mary, eating meat on a day of abstinence, or non-heretical offences such as urinating against a church wall or assertions to a man's wife that he did not believe fornication was a sin.''"<ref>'''Kamen''', ''op cit.''</ref> Many people denounced themselves for fear that a friend or neighbour would do so anyway, and such fears, counter-accusations and chain reactions of denounciations within small communities vastly increased the terror of the Inquisition.

==Arrest and imprisonment==
The ''calificadores'' were required to make an assessment of the evidence before a suspect was arrested, although in practice this was only carried out when there were complex theological matters involved. In straight forward cases of Judaism or relapsed Islamic or Jewish converts, this stage was eliminated. Arrest followed swiftly, at any time of day or night, and the ''alguazil'' was accompanied by a notary who made an exhaustive inventory of the belongings of the suspect should the sentence involve confiscation. The suspect was then taken to one of the permanent Inquisition prisons, or ''casa di penitencia'', which propaganda and legend have made seem much worse than they really were. There are many recorded incidents of prisoners who sought transfer ''to'' an Inquisition prison from the ordinary gaols, even going so far as to denounce themselves as heretics. However, the prisons used for suspects during interrogation, the ''cárceles secretas'', were far worse to assist in the psychological break down of suspects.

==Trial==
A clear picture of their activities can be seen in this account:

<div style="width: 70%; margin: 0 15% 1em 15%; text-align: left; background-color: #DEE6ED; padding: 0.5em; border: solid 1px #6699CC;">"The depositions of the witnesses are shown to the defendant, with names of witnesses suppressed. Everything is read distorted and contorted - with so many obscurities and circumlocutions and with the wording so vague, as to seem the language of any creature other than a rational being. In the deposition formulas specially noticeable are the holy wiles: when they say "He heard from a certain person whom he has named," it is to be understood that it is the defendant himself from whom he heard it! When the prisoner has answered as well as he can, his [[advocate]] opportunely appears. In the presence of the Inquisitors he indicates to the prisoner the evidence by which he is hardest pressed, and the one remedy left - a shrewd guess at his assailant, with a view to consideration of possible exceptions against him; he advises him to try, for some days, to recall to memory those with whom he may chance to have had feud - because, if enmity can be established through legitimate investigation, this one exception will repel any man from giving evidence in this tribunal; he warns him that he can deny evidence that is not sufficiently consistent. This is the utmost assistance which a prisoner can expect from his advocate; and thus he is bidden back to his prison. Three or four days later he is called to audience, and is asked if he can remember and explain anything - the advocate inquiring if he has amde any guess at the witnesses. Prisoner brings forward what he can remember - begging them to see whether by chance his delators are among these. If he has not guessed correctly, not only is his reply wasted, but also the three or four days trouble of guessing - and the accusation remains unshaken. But should it chance that he guesses right, the advocate asks him what exceptions he can use against the persons named by him. The exceptions set forth, and the witnesses named by whom defendant will prove them, after prisoner has been allowed to repose for some '''months''' in his prison they summon him again to the contest; and the Inquisitor tells him that the witnesses named by him have been heard - so that he should see whether he has anything to say for himself, or whether he wishes to conclude. Defendant concluding, the Fiscal also concludes; and afterwards the Inquisitors, with the assessors and the consultors, pass sentence - when the theologians, monks and clerks have weighed whatever defendant has said bearing on doctrine and the Faith. The marks of their more than leoine claws are confiscation of property, perpetual or temporary imprisonment, a mud-colored garment commonly called ''sambenito'', perpetual infamy to all posperity."<ref>'''Turberville''', ''op cit.''</ref></div>

The main features of inquisitorial procedure are evident - secrecy of witnesses, the "holy wiles" of the Inquisitors, and the "guessing game" nature of the tribunal's interrogation. The importance of an existing "feud" reinforces the idea advanced by Kieckhefer<ref>'''Kieckhefer, Richard''', ''European Witch Trials: Their Foundation in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300-1500'', London: Routledge and Kegan Paul (1976)</ref> for [[witchcraft]] and Kamen<ref>'''Kamen''', ''op cit.''</ref> for the Spanish Inquisition that spiteful gossip and revenge were the main causes of suffering under the Inquisition. It is evident that anti-Spanish propaganda, both in [[England]] and in [[Rome]] in the late 16th century, gave a much exaggerated picture of the workings of the Spanish inquisition, but although "''in some respects we can modify the picture of a cruel and merciless Inquisition, what cannot be explained away is the atmosphere that prevailed prior to arrest and condemnation.''"<ref>'''Kamen''', ''op cit.''</ref> This atmosphere of secrecy was prolonged throughout the trial and also the process of torture.

An anonymous English writer of the time backs up the above account and demonstrates further how secrecy was used to instill fear:

<div style="width: 70%; margin: 0 15% 1em 15%; text-align: left; background-color: #DEE6ED; padding: 0.5em; border: solid 1px #6699CC;">"But if the accused doe not sufficientlie justifie himself, he is condemned to torture. And with his Curate he is constrained to goe, through a place verie hidious, to a room underground, where he findeth the Judges set. There is ye Executioner, covered with a long black linen robe verie straight like a sacke, having his head and face covered with a blacke hoode having but two holes before his eyes - this done to amaze the Patient, as if a devill came to punish his Misdeeds. If he confesse nothing, they sometimes martyre him more than two houres."<ref>''The Manner of the Spanish Inquisition'', Ms Tanner 99, [[Bodleian Library]]</ref></div>

The interrogation in the tribunal chamber might also be cut abruptly short by the ''fiscal'', saying that, in spite of his continued advice to tell the truth he felt that the prisoner was being reticent and that he would therefore ask that the prisoner be "questioned" - that is, tortured. Llorente describes that prisoners spent the entire trial in anxious expectation of the ''fiscal'' making this request. This further underlines the extent to which secrecy and fear were the main weapons of the Spanish Inquisition, perhaps even more than the torture itself.<ref>'''Llorente, D. Jean-Antoine''', ''Histoire Critique de l'Inquisition d'Espagne''. Paris: Treuttel et Wurtz (1818)</ref>

==[[Torture]]==
[[Image:Garrucha.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Torture by ''garrucha'']]
The modern concept of the inquisition torture-chamber as a place of deviously refined cruelty is "''an error due to sensationalist writers who have exploited credulity.''"<ref>Henry Charles Lea, quoted in '''Kamen''', ''op cit.''</ref> The historian Henry Charles Lea estimated that between 1575 and 1610 only around 32% of those prisoners whose offences made them liable for torture were actually tortured.

The Spanish Inquisition's use of torture was subject to strict rules laid down long before by [[Clement V]] - but these were usually bent. For example, a prisoner could only be tortured once, so the Inquisitor would state clearly at the end of session that torture was being "suspended", not ended, so that the records would show the continuation of a single application of torture rather than a second session.

Torture was applied by a public executioner in the presence of an Inquisitor, a representative of the local bishop, and usually a doctor. Few victims appear to have died under torture, and cases of permanent injury or loss of a limb were, comparatively, rare. The three most common methods were the ''garrucha'', similar to the strappado; the ''toca'', or ordeal of water; and the ''potro'', a form of the rack. The use and number of torture implements was much smaller than is imagined, and usually a free confession in the chamber was sufficient to avoid torture altogether.

While there are examples of prisoners being mutilated, losing toes and fingers and having limbs broken, it appears that merely the sight of the instruments in the chamber were enough to produce confession. Only the most obstinate prisoners received the full application of torture. Torture was also used fully against witnesses who gave contradicting testimony or retracted accusations they had made earlier.

==Sentence and Auto de Fe==
[[Image:Auto de Fe.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Engraving of an ''auto de fe'' in Spain (1559)]]
As the arrest took place after assessment of the evidence, the prisoner was effectively found guilty at the instant of his arrest. Interrogation served not to prove guilt or innocence, merely to obtain a confession, after which penance could be assigned. Kept in ignorance of the precise charge and so unable to formulate a plausible defence, the prisoner was advised "''to search his conscience, confess the truth, and trust to the mercy of the tribunal.''"<ref>'''Kamen''', ''op cit.''</ref> Theoretically this could last for months, even years, before finally the prisoner was informed of the charges. There were defence lawyers available, known as ''abogados de los presos'', but as they were themselves full-time officials of the Inquisition, they were particularly ineffective and distrusted by prisoners.

Eventually, sentence would be pronounced. A jury called the ''consulta de fe'' was convened, consisting of the Inquisitors, a representative of the bishop, and occasionally experts in theology and law. Difficult decisions were made by the ''Suprema'' itself. The condemned heretic would then appear in an ''auto de fe'', to hear sentence. if heard in private, for lighter offences, this was an ''auto particular''; the public form was the ''auto publica''. Punishments included:
*''Sanbenito''
*Confiscation of goods
*Imprisonment
*Exile from the locality
*Scourging
*Galley slavery
*Reprimand
*Acquittal
*Relaxation in person
*Relaxation in effigy

''Sanbenito'' was to wear a yellow-crossed garment as a sign of infamy. Sentencing to the galleys could be for a period up to 10 years or more. Scourging consisted of a public whipping through the streets, either on foot or on a donkey; the usual number was 100 lashes, up to a maximum of 200.

The ultimate penalty was "Relaxation" - a misleading term which actually means "burning at the stake". Heretics who had either died in confinement or escaped justice were "relaxed in effigy", while the less fortunate were handed to the secular authorities for execution. This sentence was reserved for unrepentant or relapsed heretics, and the Inquisitors would attempt until the last moment to get a confession, saving the prisoners life. Even a confession as late as at the ''auto de fe'' would earn the benefit of death by strangulation prior to the stake; those who still did not confess were burned alive.

An eye-witness account of an ''auto de fe'' describes the spectacle:

<div style="width: 70%; margin: 0 15% 1em 15%; text-align: left; background-color: #DEE6ED; padding: 0.5em; border: solid 1px #6699CC;">"In the great square was raised a high scaffold; and thither, from 7 in the morning until the evening, were brought criminals of both sexes, all the Inquisitions in the kingdom sending their prisoners [here]. Twenty men and women out of these prisoners [in this instance, Protestants], with one renegade [Muslim], were ordered to be burned. Fifty Jews and Jewesses, having never before been imprisoned, were sentenced to a long [imprisonment] and to wear a yellow cap; and ten others, indicted for bigamy, witchcraft and other crimes, were sentenced to be whipped and then sent to the galleys... The grand inquisitor's chair was placed in a sort of tribunal far above that of the king. The nobles here acted the part of the sheriff's officers in England, leading such criminals as were to be burned; the rest were conducted by the familiars of the Inquisition.

The stakes... are about [12 feet] high, and each have a small board, whereon the prisoner is sat within a foot of the top. The [condemned] go up a ladder betwixt two priests, who attend them the whole day of execution. When they come even with the aforementioned board, they turn about to the people and the priests spend nearly [15 minutes] in exhorting them to be reconciled to the see of Rome. On their refusing the priests come down, and the executioner ascending, turns the [prisoner] off the ladder on to the seat, chains them to the stake, and leaves them. Then the priests go up a second time to renew their exhortations; and if they find them ineffectual, tell them at their parting that "they leave them to the Devil, who is standing at their elbow ready to receive their souls, and carry them with him into the flames of HELL-fire, as soon as they are out of their bodies." A general shout is then raised, and when the priests get off the ladder, the universal cry is:"Let the dog's beards be made!" which means, singe their beards. This is performed by means of flaming furzes, thrust against their faces with long poles. This barbarity is repeated till their faces are burnt. Fire is then set to the furzes, and the criminals are consumed.

The intrepidity of the 21 men and women in suffering the horrid death was truly astonishing; some thrust their hands and feet into the flames with most dauntless fortitude; and all of them yielded to their fate with such resolution that many of the amazed spectators lamented that such heroic souls had not been more enlightened.<ref>The account of William Lithgow, quoted in '''Scott, George Ryley''' ''The History of Torture Throughout the Ages'', London: Torchstream Books (1949)</ref></div>

==References==
<references/>
[[category:Spanish History]]
[[Category:Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Jewish History]]

Usury

2008-12-12T14:32:33Z

NoelE: Removing liberal bias

'''Usury''' is the fee, denominated in money, for the use (loan) of money. It is often considered to mean lending money at interest, but it also covers extending credit at interest. In has been modified by modern usage to mean the extraction of interest on a loan above the maximum rate permitted by statute.

In the United States, most states have usury laws limiting interest rates. However, since 1933, only Federal Reserve Notes have circulated as current monies. By law, they are obligations to pay lawful money on demand (see Title 12 USC sec 411). But Congress repudiated that obligation in House Joint Resolution 192, June 1933, thus making said notes worthless (no par value).

Though most contracts and taxes are denominated in dollars, due to widespread participation in Social Security (national socialism), Federal Reserve Notes are legal tender at face value. Obligated parties (participants) must accept their own notes as tender in discharge of debt. Due to usury, the national debt is in excess of 9 trillions (October 2007), underwritten by the millions of voluntary contributors of national socialism.

This area of law is complex, particularly since, during the period of high [[inflation]] in the 1970s, the Federal government passed a law exempting national banks from state usury laws. Every state has its own usury law setting a maximum rate of interest that may be lawfully charged.<ref>http://www.lectlaw.com/files/ban02.htm</ref>

In many states the "legal rate of interest" may be 6%, but this only applies to rare situations and certainly does not mean that home mortgages at higher rates, or credit card finance charges (often as high as 18%, and even higher for dealings between companies), are illegal.

== Usury in History ==

[[Islam]] prohibits usury or interest on loans, as do certain passages in the [[Old Testament]]:

<blockquote>
''Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.'' Deuteronomy 23:19-20 (KJV)
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
(If he beget a son that) ''Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.'' Ezekiel 18:13 (KJV)
</blockquote>

The [[New Testament]] also refers to usury, indirectly:
<blockquote>
''Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord,I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown,and gathering where thou has not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the '''exchangers''', and then at my coming I should have received mine own with '''usury'''.'' Matthew 25:24
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
''And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the '''changers of money''' sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;'' John 2:14 (KJV)
</blockquote>

Note: Usurers are synonymous with exchangers and changers of money. Matthew 25:24 is often mistakenly interpreted, ignoring the condemnation of usury as a capital offense in Ezekiel 18:13. The "Hard Man" cannot be moral if he wants his servants to engage in an abomination.

Because of this Biblical condemnation, Christians were forbidden to lend money for interest for centuries. [[Dante's Inferno]] places usurers in the seventh circle of [[Hell|HELL]], along with [[blasphemy|blasphemers]] and [[homosexuals]]. In [[The Renaissance|Renaissance]] society, the only people allowed to charge interest were [[Jew]]s, which often led to resentment as the Jews were enriched by their shrewd financial activity. However, Christian thinking on this subject has changed, and almost all Christians now either lend their money for interest, or have an account in a [[bank]] which does it for them. The last Christian denomination to remove the ban on usury was the Roman Catholic Church, in 1918.

== References ==

<references/>

{{DivineComedy}}
[[Category:Law]]
[[Category:Legal Terms]]

Jesus Christ

2008-12-12T14:32:32Z

NoelE: Removing liberal bias

[[Image:Looneyleft.jpg|thumb|200px|''"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."'' —Jesus (Rev. 22:13)]]
'''Jesus Christ''' is the only Son of [[God]] and prophesied [[Messiah]] who, at the appointed time, was sent by His [[God the Father|Father]] and became a man to be the payment for the penalty of sin that separated us from [[God]] and to reveal to us the loving nature of God through his human person (1 John 4:10; 2 Corinthians 5:19). Although He was sinless, he bore the penalty for sin upon Himself for us.

Speaking to his disciples, Jesus says,
{{cquote|'''John 14:1-15''' Believers will be in his Father's house Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. “And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus himself is the only way people can access his Father and his Father's house Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you know Jesus, you know his Father “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.}}

By the power of the [[Holy Spirit]], Jesus was conceived in the [[womb]] of the virgin [[Virgin Mary|Mary]], and became man in an event known as the [[Incarnation]], as referred to in Isaiah 7:14. Indeed, the calendar itself reflects this truth, with the traditional calculation of Jesus’ birth marking the first century A.D., that is, "''in the year of Our Lord…''." The [[John the Apostle|apostle John]] wrote in his gospel the following regarding Jesus Christ: "''For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life''" (John 3:16).
{{trinity}}
When he was about thirty, Jesus was baptized by [[John the Baptist]], inaugurating his ministry. Jesus of [[Nazareth]] is the Christ or Messiah, prophesied in the [[Old Testament]] (Greek: Χριστός; [[Aramaic]]: 'משיחא'). Jesus proclaimed that “[t]he time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe in the Gospel.”<ref>Mark 1:14-15.</ref> As signs of these truths, Jesus performed various miracles.

However, not all who heard the Lord believed in him, and, because he “was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God”, some sought to put him to death.<ref>John 5:18.</ref> Jesus was handed over to the Roman governor [[Pontius Pilate]] and crucified. But it was through his redemptive death, as the [[Holy Scripture|scriptures]] had foretold, that Jesus reconciled mankind with God.<ref>Romans 5:10.</ref> And so, on the third day, in a truly historical event, Jesus physically rose from the dead, making possible salvation and eternal life for those who believe in him. Indeed, his very name, ''Yeshua'' (Hebrew 'יהושע') means "[[Salvation]]" and is the concatenated form of ''Yahoshua'', ‘[[YHWH]] is salvation’. After appearing to his disciples on various occasions, Jesus ascended to Heaven, where he acts as our mediator, assuring, by his constant intercession, the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

== Jesus' Life ==
===Incarnation of the Son of God===

The Son of God, who was always with the Father before all creation, took upon himself flesh, that is, become a human being, taking the flesh of manhood from his mother Mary but without her being impregnated by any man. He was born of Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of John begins,<blockquote>"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God... and the Word become flesh and dwelt among us"</blockquote>. There are two understandings of this. Though both hold that the Son of God, Divinity Himself, became a man, they understand differently the beginning of the Gospel of John.

The first understanding sees in the Son of God being the Word ("logos" in Greek) that He is the communication of the Father and thus in some sense the purpose of His coming was to mediate the knowledge of God to man among whom He would dwell and be one with them. But as mediator He is in no way inferior to the God He communicates because He Himself is God. The Trinity is emphasized though by implication (the word "Trinity" is of later usage to describe the phenomenon as presented by the New Testament). This understanding rests upon the use of "logos" in Philo and elsewhere meaning "reason", "word", "rationale"

The second interpretation, while in no way negating His coming to be the communication of the Father to man necessitating the incarnation and explicating the Trinity, rather says that we need to look not to Philo and the "logos" philosophy but to the Aramaic Jewish thought of the time. Doing so, we can see that the Gospel of John intends to rip away a veil, and in doing so, will show us that it was God Himself and no mediator, that leaped down to take the form of a human being, and that this is to be spoken of boldly.

Here is how this second understanding is developed:

The Hebrew text is very clear in visualizing the God of Israel in physical terms, even if meant to be understood metaphorically. But the Aramaic Jewish translations of the Hebrew Scriptures will not allow it to be so presented, but will rather speak around it (paraphrase) or use an intermediary word between the physical description and God. In [[Genesis]] 32, [[Jacob]] is wrestling with "a man" but after the bout, Jacob says, in the original Hebrew text, "I have seen God face to face and my life has been saved". In the Aramaic translation, however, Jacob is made to say, " I have seen the ''angel of God'' face to face and my life has been saved". At times, the intermediary word is the word "Word" - in Aramaic, Memra (the root is Aleph, Mem, Resh as in the Hebrew word 'Omer). Whereas the Hebrew text (Gen. 3:8) has it, "They ([[Adam]] and [[Eve]]) heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden", the Aramaic has it, "they heard the sound of ''the Memra'' of the LORD God walking about in the garden" Apparently, walking about in the garden conjured up too much of rustling of leaves and bushes to take figuratively, and so it was the "Memra" that was heard and not the LORD God. This is the pattern in other places in Genesis. Prof. David Flusser of the Hebrew University notes that it is to this mindset that we owe our understanding of John 1:1 and not to Philo and the Alexandrian "logos" philosophy. "In the beginning was the Word (Memra) and the Word (Memra) was with God.. and the Word (Memra) was God. John 1:1 is meant to rip away the distinction between God and the Memra, so assiduously held to by contemporary Judaism, and so declare that they, the Memra and God, are in reality one, ...and this One has, indeed, come down and has become flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. John, in his epistle would later say in wonderment, " Whom we have handled, we have touched and held Him."

=== Infancy ===
The [[Gospels]] tell us that Jesus was born in [[Bethlehem]] of [[Judea]] to a young virgin named [[Virgin Mary|Mary]], by the [[Holy Spirit]].<ref>http://objectiveministries.org/babyj/</ref> [[Gospel of Luke|Luke's account]] of the gospel relates that the angel [[Gabriel]] visited Mary in order to announce that she had been chosen to bear the Son of God (Luke 1:26–38). A survey of the [[Roman Empire]] was ordered by [[Augustus|Caesar Augustus]], which caused Mary and [[Joseph (father of Jesus)|Joseph]] to leave Nazareth and go to the home of Joseph's forebears - to the house of [[David|King David]]. After Jesus' birth, they were forced to use a [[manger]] for a crib because the town's inn was full. According to Luke 2:8–20, an [[angel]] spread word of Jesus' birth to several shepherds who came to visit the newborn. Matthew also tells of the "Magi" ([[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] priests) who brought many gifts to the infant Jesus (among which were [[gold]], [[frankincense]], and [[myrrh]])<ref>Note: This has led to the incorrect assumption that there were only three Magi, whereas the actual number is not given.</ref> after following a star which they believed was an indication that the [[Messiah]], or King of the Jews, had been born.

Jesus' early home was the town of [[Nazareth]] in [[Galilee]], and except for an escape to [[Egypt]] in early childhood to avoid [[Herod the Great|Herod's]] massacre of the other male infants, all other events in the Gospels take place in ancient Israel.

====The Infancy and the Massacre of the Innocents====

Within sight of the southern suburbs of Modern Jerusalem,towards the eastern desert, is a conical hill, Herodium, made conical by the work of Herod the King. Herodium served as his fortress in the time of war and as royal residence for himself and visiting dignitaries in the time of peace. Mazada by the dead sea served him in the same way. From this bastion were sent by him his soldiers to slay all the children under the age of two of Bethlehem, in full view of Herodium looking south. This was in hopes that in the slaughter of all, he would also slay the child, indicated by the star and the Magi, as his rival to the throne and power. And so, escaping, Joseph and Mary took the child Jesus to Egypt until it was time, at the death of Herod, for him to make exodus back into the Holy Land and Nazareth. "Out of Egypt have I called My Son" The fury and the hatred for one child, thus saw the slaying of so many of the innocents of Bethlehem whose only guilt was that they were under 2. And so, we know now the Massacre of the Innocents

Beyond this slaughter of so many and hatred for the One who had come, the Book of the Revelation, Chapter 12 would see another and ancient hatred, whether understood or not, one that works behind all other slaying, behind the slaying of all infants, within and without the womb - hatred for the very Son of God, and hatred for all his seed that bear His image, hatred for the Image of God borne by the Son of God, and hatred for God Himself.

=== At Twelve Years Old ===
The account of Jesus' parents finding him in the temple impressing the "teachers" with his knowledge of the [[Old Testament|scripture]] is the only detailed event between Jesus' infancy and adult life that is known.
{{cquote|'''Luke 2:41–51''' Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.}}

At this early age of twelve years old, there is clearly shown an inner positional or relational commitment of Jesus. Nor is there any indication that this had not been present prior to His twelfth year. His deepest belonging, that against which all other belongings were to be judged, confirmed, rejected, etc. was to the Father, the Father's House, the Father's concerns. This commitment would reverberate at later times, severing ultimate claims on Him of his closest - mother, brothers, sisters, etc. In the presence of these and to their hearing, He would ask, "Who are my mother, and brothers, and sisters? He that does the will of my Father in Heaven is ..." This, in His own life, was the moral authority to demand the same of all others, "You cannot serve two masters..." The memory of what had happened in the Temple when He was twelve, pondering it in her heart, would stand Mary in good stead, when she would see her son hanging on the cross. She also would be found with the disciples in the upper room, praying, and waiting for the coming of the Spirit which He had promised.

====From Heaven's View====
But seen from heaven, a spark had entered into the Temple's precints..

and around that the time, there was to evolve the extra biblical ceremony and practice of Judaism, which woud try to make sense of the need to be anchored into the ancient tradition of God, with the need to make new for every generation the relevance of it for each Jewish youth. And so developed the Bar Mitzvah, the "Son of the Law" ceremony and concept. At the age of 13, a Jewish boy, so it developed, would read or sing out in the synagogue, the Shabbat of his birthday, the prophetic portion (the Haftorah) for that Sabbath assigned to the Torah portion (from the 5 books of Moses, read consecutively), raining down upon him from the Women's Section (Ezrat Nashim) - the Help of Women) above or to the side, hard sweet candy signifying the hope of sweetness set before him. For at that time, the Jewish boy becomes a Jewish man, taking upon himself, the obligations for fulfilling the Law of Moses, and is no longer absolved from this responsibility by the mediation of his father's fullfilment of the Law of Moses for him.

At this time, seen from Heaven, a spark entered in, another way, sometimes seen in other young boys and girls, but in a dim way, an intense concentration on the Father above all things and people, looking and judging all surrounding him from the viewpoint of Him flooding the soul, listening, speaking, believing.
So Jesus reasoned with the rabbis, never being encompassed by them, in the house of His Father. Was it told to us showing what He was and what we could be, or at least, learn to follow in His steps, or was it shown to us to allow us to view another step in His being made perfect, growing in favor with God and Man, totally consumed with the doing of His Father's will, and thus, "being made perfect", to take our place upon the Cross, for our sakes and for our salvation?

=== Ministry ===
==== Baptism ====
[[Image:Jesus' Baptism.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Jesus' Baptism]]
The [[gospel of Mark]] begins with the [[baptism]] of Jesus by [[John the Baptist]], which appears to be the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Jesus came to the [[Jordan River|River Jordan]], where John was preaching and baptizing people in the crowd. After Jesus had been baptized, and had risen up out of the water, Mark states Jesus 'saw the heavens torn apart and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from [[heaven]], 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased' (Mark 1:10–11). Luke adds the chronological anchor that John the Baptist had begun preaching in the fifteenth year of [[Tiberius]] Caesar, approximately in 28 AD (Luke 3:1) and that Jesus was thirty years old when he was baptized (Luke 3:23).

'''The meaning of Baptism for Jesus:'''

Jesus insisted over the protests of John that He be baptized at the hands of John. John's protests are natural enough as John's baptism was for those who were sinners, and implied in baptism was the understanding that the baptizer was somehow greater than the one baptized. John believed that he needed to be baptized by Jesus and not the other way around. But Jesus' understanding of His being baptized was two-fold:"Baptism" meant suffering unto death, and it implied that His impending mission was to be in behalf and in place of the real sinners, the humanity for whom He would die. Jesus would later use "baptism" in the first sense when he said to disciples, "Can you be baptized with the baptism which I will undergo?" The Spirit coming down on the Son in the form of a Dove (Yonah = "Jonah" in Hebrew), and the voice of the Father, "This is My Beloved Son" was the Divine empowerment, and authorization for Jesus' mission to come entailing His sacrificial death, three days, not in the belly of the fish, but in the bowels of the earth, and after that, resurrection. As Baptism for Jesus meant, looking forward, His joining sinful humanity to the point of bearing their sins to the death of the cross, so the later New Testament understands, looking backward, that sinners believing in Jesus are also to join Him in His death through the waters of baptism "in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" - according to the command of the Risen Christ. See [[Christianity]] for Jesus' self consciousness.

==== Temptation ====
After this baptism, according to Matthew, Jesus was brought into the desert by God where he fasted for forty days nights. During this period, the [[Satan]] appeared before him and tried three times to tempted Jesus into demonstrating his supernatural powers as a proof of his divine status; each temptation was refused by Jesus, with a scriptural quote from the Book of [[Deuteronomy]].

Jesus then began to preach. [[Gospel of John|John]] describes three different [[passover]] feasts that Jesus attended, thus implying that his ministry lasted three years.

'''The reason behind the Temptation:'''

The Temptation occurred just as told in the Gospels. But behind the happening, another message lies revealing the identity of Jesus to a people who would understand it. At the foothill of Mt. Hermon, in between the servile Roman infatuated people of Tiberius to the south west of the Sea of Galilee, and the rabidly nationalistic, anti- Roman Zealots of Gamla to the north east, Jesus asked His disciples who He was. The Messiah, the Son of the Living God, was the answer. And Jesus explained who He was and why he had come in terms that fit their experience - not to rule and throw out the Romans, nor to uphold their ways and laws but rather something on a different plane all together - to give His life settling it on the cross.

To a later believing people, those who were not Jewish, who He was would be understood in terms fitting to who they were - He had come the Second Adam, to give His life and to provide new life to those who were not Jewish, but also including the Jews, to all the lost and wandering children of Adam.

In the Temptation, it is the those who knew the Old Testament, the physical children of Abraham primarily, who could see in the long range, and not primarily dictated to by the political passions of the moment, and who could wonder who they were and where they had gone wrong, and wonder also who would be the One to take them out. It is they, Israel, who had been in the wilderness for 40 years, and they that had succumbed to the temptations of selling out for food and drink, though they were a "Son" whom God with a strong arm and outstretched hand had taken out of the bondage of Egypt, they had turned traitor, driven by their own lust and pride. And here now, in Jesus, was One who resisted the devil in the wilderness, also "for forty", preferring the will of God as His food rather than all the world could offer, Who was He? He was Israel! The only true one left, the faithful remnant spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, the servant true to the end. As the letter to the Hebrews saw, "Though He were a Son yet learned He obedience by the things He suffered, and being made perfect, He become the author of Eternal life...". This is the understanding of the Gospel of Matthew, in interpreting a passage from Hosea which was manifestly speaking of Israel the people and applying it to Jesus who also came out of Egypt with His parents at the death of Herod, " Out of Egypt have I called my Son". Who was Jesus? He was Israel who had ''not'' failed come to redeem Israel who had, and also out of all the peoples of the world.

==== Disciples and Apostles ====
[[Image:Jesus5.jpg‎|thumb|left|100px|Jesus Christ (Artist's impression)]]
The larger part of this was directed towards his closest followers, the [[apostles]], although all of his followers were considered [[disciples of Jesus|disciples]]. At the highest point of his ministry, Jesus attracted disciples and audiences numbering in the thousands; in particular in the area of Galilee. Many of Jesus' most well-known teachings were given during the [[Sermon on the Mount]], such as the [[Beatitudes]] and the [[Lord's Prayer]]. Jesus often used parables in his rhetorical technique, such as the [[Parable of the Good Samaritan]] and [[the parable of the sheep and the goats|the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats]]; these teachings encouraged unconditional self-sacrificing [[Shema|love for God]] and [[Agape|for all people]]. During these sermons, he also discussed service and humility, forgiveness of sins, how faith should be applied, the [[Golden Rule]], and the necessity of following the spirit of the law as well as its wording.

'''Their choosing and their purpose:''' Among the many who came to Jesus, from afar and from the surrounding villages of the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, were those moved by his insight into the nature of life, or touched deeply by His seemingly knowing them from the inside, by His intimacy with the God and Father they had only known "about", or impressed by the miracles done before their very eyes, and many, by His deep compassion for the people, so evident in all that He did. Jesus would sprinkle His words upon them as seed in a path, some to take root, and some to be blown away by the wind. But to those who heard and wanted more, they would get that more, receiving explanation, and move closer to His association. Those that would not, would receive only that which was commensurate to not wanting - more parables, silence. Never the revealing of the "Secrets of the Kingdom". Yet, there was no prohibition and no limit for getting closer to Jesus. Those that did, became His "learners" - the disciples, understanding the meanings of His word by the demonstration of His life and putting them into practice. Among these were another group, some that had been with Him from early on, possibly some from the time of His baptism at the hands of John. These He would hold in His mind for an additional and different reason.

Then one night, he ascended a hill praying about them, and came down knowing who they were to be. 12 in number, chosen not because of their virtue, or even what He would do in them in the future, but rather solely chosen by His Father to be deputized, delegated, or commissioned by Jesus to be sent out for a mission. He gave them the name "Shaliach" (meaning all that), which was translated into Greek as "apostolos" and so our Apostles.

The mission of the Apostles (see "Example 5." of [[New Testament understanding through the Jewish perspective]]) was to do all that they saw Jesus was doing, healing the sick, raising the dead, and with all this, to tell about the fast coming Kingdom of Heaven, the rule of His Father, and urge people to repent and get ready for it. He gave them His power and authority to do all this. But it was to be 12 in number, not more and not less, that number surviving even the suicide of one of them, Judas from the village of Kyriot, requiring an "election" to bring back the number from 11 to 12. And that was because the special additional reason for their appointment was to sit on the 12 thrones of the 12 tribes of Israel (the sons of Jacob) and lead them by whatever it takes - that is the meaning of the biblical term "Judge" (Shofet)*. For the community of the "little ones"., was to be, in some sense, an Israel within Israel, or a new Israel, a sort of beachhead for the onslaught of the Kingdom of God in its invasion (or sometimes, infiltration into) into and onto the Kingdom of the unjust occupier and enemy of all Goodness, the Devil, to overthrow him and all his works. This truer and newer Israel, He called His "Called Out ones" (Eklessia=Church) against whose onslaught the Fortified city of HELL with its defensive bars to its massive gates, would not prevail. Many captives would be released. The Church, then, was the community counterpart to what was known as the "Synagogue" (Greek), meaning "gathered together ones" (Beit Knesset - house of the gathering, Hebrew). It was the Synagogue of Jesus the King and Messiah, and aligned with and the focal point of the Prophetically promised and hoped-for Kingdom of God and the rule of Heaven on Earth. And the disciples and apostles of Jesus all had their place in the unfolding of it all.

*Note: For the significance of sitting on the seat and judging, see Example 2. of [[New Testament understanding through the Jewish perspective]].

==== Social Outcasts ====
Jesus also often conversed with social outcasts, such as the publican ([[Rome|Roman]] tax collectors who were unpopular for their practice of extorting money).

Jesus showed no partiality toward outcasts, and neither did He do so to those who were in society. But being an outcast was a category beyond the reach of all others which were in society. Jesus was not for the male over against the female, the Jew over against the non Jew, townsman over against the man of the field. He was impartial and penetrating in His love for all. But all of these had a certain standing in Society, they were part of it, though all being in it, could vie for more of it as their share. But all were united, and could work in concert against what they were not - the outcast. The love of Jesus and the love of His Father through Him, could not rest lightly on any one of them, until it would reach and rest on the one beyond the fringes, the outer edges, and down below - the outcast. This demonstrated in the life of Jesus what the Cross would later show and the Apostles preach - all were outcast to the Holiness of God, and all could be loved by Him and, indeed, were.

==== Miracles ====
Throughout his ministry, Jesus performed many miracles including healing the sick and possessed, feeding 5000, and even raising from the dead.

Miracles were an intrusion of the ordinary, but the ordinary of a different and far-superior Kingdom, into the sordid and sin sick kingdoms of this world. They showed what life was really like there in that Kingdom which was coming and how weak, unstable, subject and cringing were the powers of this corrupted world, "bent" under the heel of God. That a widow should have her dead son restored to her alive, that outcasts such as lepers should be restored to the community, and as a result of their being healed, that darkness should give way to light and sight, that a woman deserving stoning find solace and forgiveness, all of these are the way things are and ought to be in the Kingdom of God because of the way He is. They were, at one and the same time, signs of the Kingdom which was coming and great works of compassion done here below which will never by surpassed or forgotten. And Jesus the Messiah was bringing them in!

Note: See Example 5 of [[New Testament understanding through the Jewish perspective]] for the assault and infiltration of God's Kingdom on and into the Kingdom of Satan.

==== His Preaching was Offensive to the Established Authority ====
As He preached, Jesus ran afoul of the [[Sanhedrin]], the recognized Jewish religious authorities, who were allowed to have considerable religious, political and monetary influence under Roman rule. Jesus chastised them, accusing them of making laws for the people to follow that were the laws of men, not God. The Sanhedrin tried to set traps for Jesus by asking Him questions to either discredit Him with the people or get Him in trouble with the Roman authorities, but all of their efforts failed and they gave up. They lacked the means to stop Jesus until [[Judas Iscariot]] came to them and offered to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He would tell them where Jesus would be that night so they could seize Him.

Notable among Jewish established authorities were the Pharasees, the Saduccees, and the Herodians.

The Pharisees, believing that at the time God had given to Moses the "written Torah" (Torah shebikhtav), He had also given to Moses an "Oral Torah" (Torah shebe'al peh) which would apply the written Torah to all situations and times, and that that Oral Torah had been handed down from generation to generation, finally, it itself written down, making, in the days of Jesus, the beginning of the Talmud. Thus it was necessary to be able to "fill in the rabbis" from whom the teaching came (see [[Judaism]]) - "Rabbi Tarfon says in the name of Rabbi..." But this man Jesus, goes straight to Moses, and straight to Heaven! ''"You have heard it said...but I say unto you..."'' and himself speaks as the ''Mouth of God!''

The Saduccees, not believing in an Oral Torah, and believing much of the written Torah to be irrelevant and impractical in the modern times that they lived, believed that the "blanks" and how the Torah was to be applied in these days, must be decided by the Kingdoms of the World, namely, Roman law and requirement. But this man Jesus speaks of another Kingdom and another King, and not of Rome!

The Herodians saw clearly who their enemy was and who their Savior was and wherein their safety lie - Herod the King of the Jews and all the aura and the might that he possessed. And their enemy was anyone who would claim, or live in the claim of others, that it was he that was the King of the Jews and not Herod (and the royalty after Herod) - such as was doing the man Jesus of Nazareth

Note: Judaism does not have a "unified" theory of Inspiration or practical authority of Scripture. That is, The most authoritative, and capable of being regulatory to life as "law" is the five books of Moses. After that, the Prophets. And after that, the "Writings." The Scripture of the Saduccees was just the Five books of Moses, and since there is little if anything about the resurrection from the dead and the after life in the the Five Books of Moses, they believed in neither. The Pharisees, believing in the on-going of revelation extending, though with lesser authority, to the Prophets (such as Daniel) and the Writings, believed in both.

=== Last Days of Jesus' Life ===
==== Lord's Supper ====
'''God and man at table are sat down:'''

It happened before - "Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu. and seventy elders of Israel. They saw the God of Israel...they gazed on God. They ate and they drank." Exodus 24: 9-11

It would happen after - "Now while He was with them at table, He took the bread and said the blessing, then He broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and recognized Him. But He had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us on the road, and explained the Scriptures to us?"Luke 24: 30-32

Eating before the Lord or with the Lord, would be used as the highest form of friendship - Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any one hears My voice and opens the door I will come in to him and share my meal with him, side by side.". Rev. 3:20.

At the [[Passover Seder]], the last meal the Lord would eat with His followers, His presence so permeated the atmosphere, and what He said and did at that special time, and especially they having received His command to do just what He was doing before them at this time, whenever they would meet together, the Apostles of the Lord and the Gospels after them could not speak of bountiful and miraculous times of the Lord's gracious giving of food feeding the multitudes, without mentioning that which otherwise would not have been mentioned - ''He took the bread, looked up to heaven blessing the bread, He broke the bread, and He gave it to them.'' That is what the Lord did before them, and that is what Hie commanded them to do after Him, and thus provided for them, and for the Church after them, the one of two universal services - the [[Lord's Supper]], or [[Eucharist]], or [[Holy Communion]].

But in addition, He gave His own particular understanding to the unleavened bread of the Passover and ceremonial cup of wine, the 3rd and "Thanksgiving cup" of wine drunk immediately after the Passover meal was eaten. In slightly varying words, the Gospels and the Church after would perpetuate that understanding by repeating what the Lord Himself said at that Last Supper - "This is My Body which is given for you... This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant which is shed for you, and for the many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as my own Remembrance". And so He signified to His followers that His life would be given in sacrifice for them and for their benefit. How this benefit would be effected, would be explained by Jesus by other sayings, "Do not think that I have come in order to be served. I have not come to be served but rather to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many."

But His presence remained with them at the continual celebration of this new Christian [[Passover]] of the Communion. Though He had vanished from their eyes as He would return to the Father, yet through the Spirit which He had promised to be in His stead, He was there with them to remain- "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I!"..." Even so, Come Lord Jesus!"

Note 1: The word Maranatha, comes from the Greek word which is translating the Aramaic which comes in two forms according to the accent given. Marana tha - "O our Lord, come!", and Maran atha - "Our Lord has come". This appears in the earliest liturgies of the Eucharist, and was used either as an invocation for the Lord to come, a sort of invite, or as an exclamation that the Lord has indeed come, just as He said He would. In either case, it was a witness to the belief that the Lord was indeed with them when they participated in the Remembrance which He had commanded.

Note 2; What the Lord said, "This is my body... This is my blood...Do this!" (the "Words of Institution", His instituting the Holy Communion until His coming again), is absent in the Gospel of John when recounting the last time of the Lord with His disciples. This is not an oversight, as the Gospel of John, from all contextual indications, has already spoken of the matter in the 6th chapter.

==== Garden of Gethsemane ====
[[Image:Jesus in Gethsemane.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Jesus in Gethsamane]]
Jesus knew that His time was short and that He was about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. He had His last supper with his disciples and went with them to the [[Garden of Gethsemane]] and prayed vehemently knowing what was about to come.

Decision, certainty, from a distance is clearer and easier than when the time approaches for decision's implementation. That is because the here and now, leaves no room for imagining a rescue from all that is around us and in us. Leaving us confused or uncertain, needing assurance, or a once again revelation, of what it was that brought us to decision in the first place. John knowing from the beginning that his cousin Jesus was the promised Messiah, when years later, found himself in prison, and things not going the way he had expected, understood or hoped, required assurance that Jesus was really the One he had thought Him to be. Jesus responded forcefully and completely to that so human request - Tell John what you see, the dead are raised, the sick healed, and the poor are being told of the good news of the Kingdom of God. And it was enough.

Jesus, knowing why He had come, and that He was to mount the cross, to bear the sins of the world, knowing also what that must mean, He who had never "known" sin, now to know it in a way, that man could never know, man who all the time was in it, inured to it, accustomed to it, Jesus prayed. There was a movement in His prayer, taking on anew, the certainty and decision of old, feeling the enormity of it at close hand, and in the garden, he prayed three times, each time agonizing* dripping great drops of sweat, each time making movement in the direction from ''If there be another way, The Father knows and will show, but He would do whatever the Father wills'', towards ''being the Father's will, He would do it. There really is no other way''. And then it was done, He had settled it within Him anew, having prayed, and having received the deep silent Amen of the Father within His soul. It was enough. He was ready.

*note: "Agonize" of the text is from the Greek word "to struggle".

==== Tried before Jewish Authorities ====
Jesus was betrayed by Judas into the hands of the Jewish religious authorities who took Him away and secretly put Him on trial during the night, trying to find justification for their desire to have Him killed. Finally, they convicted Him of blasphemy. For the location of the Jewish trial, see Example 6 of [[New Testament understanding through the Jewish perspective]]

==== Tried before Roman Authorities ====
As they did not have the authority to put a man to death, they took him to [[Pontius Pilate]], the Roman governor of Palestine, with their charges and demanded his execution. Pilate avoided the issue by sending him to [[Herod Antipas|King Herod]] since Jesus was a Galilean, but Herod sent him back to Pilate. Pilate at first tried to release Jesus with a flogging, and then gave the crowd a choice to either spare Jesus or a criminal called [[Barabbas]] as part of the passover tradition. The crowd chose to free Barabbas [Aramaic: "Son of a (the) Father") and Pilate washed his hands to signify that he bore no responsibility for Jesus' death before ultimately condemning Him to [[crucifixion]].<ref>Matthew 27: 15-44</ref>

==== Scourging ====
The penalty of crucifixion was always preceded by scourging (flogging) with the Roman ''flagellum''. a short ox-hide whip knotted with pieces of zinc, lead, and bone which removed swaths of the victims' skin with every stroke. Although the Bible mentions the scourging of Jesus only very briefly, it must have been particularly brutal from the relatively short amount of time Jesus lingered on the cross after the punishment. Victims who suffered less blood loss from the scourging were known to remain alive on the cross for two or three days.

==== Death on a Cross ====
[[Image:David Christ on the Cross.jpg|right|thumb|Christ on the Cross by [[Jacques Louis David]].]]
Jesus died after suffering and giving up his spirit.

Behind the Cross was the sum total of all the maladies of mankind, that the Old Testament unveiled : Pesh'a - conscious and "high handed" rebellion, for which , under the Old Covenant, there was no forgiveness provided, Khet - an unintended "missing of the mark", as in the deviation from the bull's eye of the bowman, Shigi'a - the mistakes, some causing great harm to others, which come about by plain ignorance, and 'Avon "iniquity" or distortion - the inner twistedness, that causes failure and suffering, seemingly from the very structure of our persons regardless of our intent. These were the sins Godwards as well as towards man, and these are all, Scripture revealed, repugnant to the nature and standard of a Holy God.

On the Cross, in a way which is unfathomable to man, but nonetheless believable, the repugnance fell upon Jesus, the Son of God, and again in a way not fully understandable to us, but believable nonetheless, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not considering us the sinners but rather His own dear Son who had no taint upon Himself. A great transaction had taken place by the imposition of Himself of Christ in our place, absorbing, as if He were a blotter, all the reaction of a Holy God upon Himself, in our place, that we might go free. Unfair to Him, Mercy to us. Yet Jesus was not forced to do it. He did it both in His great love for us and in His obedience to the way that the Father had decided. "No one takes my life from me. I have power to take it and I have power to lay it down...I lay down my life for the sheep". Peter would say, "The Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." Paul would say, "He was made to be sin, He who did not "know" sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him". That was Friday.

On Saturday, when all were at Sabbath's rest, Jesus was not. His body dead, He passed in spirit to those that had died before, those in the period of Noah, and proclaimed, as Peter taught, what He had done. On Sunday, the first day of the week, He would rise from the dead.

The Cross of Christ, and the atonement He accomplished on it, is the very grounds that anyone who will be saved can be saved. The shedding of His blood brings salvation, to anyone who will respond, according to the ability that they have, that is given them. That brings forgiveness and acceptance, even welcome, to the murderer such as Paul, the adulteress such as the "woman taken in adultery", the tax-collecting extortionist, a seeker in the night turned believer, as hopefully Nicodemus proved to be, people that just know that they are sinners without any "grave sin" to specify, and also the "fetus" whose life was cut off in the womb as a "thing", and the severely retarded child banging his head in the institution he finds himself. All, according to the light given them, and repentance and turning to God given to them, will one day know just what was the basis for their salvation - the Cross of Christ. Those who reject, will also one day know the basis by which they could have been saved if they had not rejected - the Cross of Christ

=== Resurrection ===
:''See main article: [[Resurrection of Jesus Christ]]''
On the third day after his death, Jesus [[resurrection of Jesus Christ|rose bodily from the dead]].

Jesus' resurrection from the dead was no mere reassembling the molecules of His dead and disintegrating body, but it was a new union of His Spirit and body, in a way that could only be called by the Apostle Paul, in reference to ourselves, when we, in turn, following His pattern, a ''spiritual body''. Having risen from the dead, He was physical enough to eat and drink with His disciples, and we can assume to digest, as well as ingest, and to be touched and felt, having Thomas' hand thrust into His spear riven side, and yet, strangely not held by the physical laws of before, passing through the door to the room where the disciples were assembled, "Peace be upon you!", and to physically ascend, in the sight of all, from a location on the Mount of Olives into the presence of the Father In some way, even the disciples on the Road to Emmaeus, could not recognize Him, perhaps an aspect of the changed body, perhaps the power of the will of Jesus himself blinding them to the fact that It was He, until the breaking of the bread.
Jesus had risen, the stone unrolled, not to let Him out, but to let others in - to have the basis for their testimony, that He is risen indeed!
By the regaining of His life in the resurrection from the dead (Scripture asserts that it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that this took place) Jesus was "certified" to the Church, and to all that would come after, that He was indeed the Son of God, that the verdict of death to Him given by men, was not so much overturned, but used in a far superior way by the Father to accomplish His will for redemption, and has given Him, at the last, ''vindication''.

And for mankind, its individuals in the millions through the centuries who had believed in Him, there came the certainty, that death was also not to be their end, that they too will arise with Jesus, that death, the annihilation of all, or a future only to be dreaded, was not to be their end, that the Presence of Jesus who had gone before them, was a welcoming one, that He had found a way, and now they would be with Him forever and ever, and with good hope for the sight of loved ones again. Death had been conquered and fear could be too.

In recent history, Dr. [[Gary Habermas]] is considered the foremost [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologist]] for defending the [[Resurrection of Jesus Christ|resurrection of Jesus]]. Other notable defenders of the resurrection include: [[William Lane Craig]], [[Ben Witherington]], [[Lee Strobel]], [[Josh McDowell]], [[Edwin M. Yamauchi]], [[N.T. Wright]], and [[Michael Horner]].<ref>
* http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/menus/historical.html
* http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html
* http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html
* http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Early_Traditions.htm
* http://www.michaelhorner.com/articles/resurrection/index.html</ref> In addition, much has been written defending the resurrection of Christ in the field of [[Christian Legal Apologetics|Christian legal apologetics]].

=== Ascension into Heaven ===
He was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him form their sight. They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said, "why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky. Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen Him go there." Acts 1:9-11

Scripture posits two purposes related to man for the ascension of Jesus: 1. it was to the right hand of the Father (showing favorable disposition of the Father to the Son to hear His requests) from which position Jesus intercedes to the Father on our behalf, and 2. Having ascended to the Father, He received from the Father the Spirit. The Father pours out the Spirit "through the Son" upon the Church. The "first Pentecost"

=== Return of Jesus from heaven to earth===
I gazed into the visions of the night and I saw coming on the clouds of heaven, One like a son of man. He came to the One of Great Age and was led into His presence. On Him was conferred sovereignty, glory and kingship. And men of all peoples, nations, and languages became His servants. His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty which shall never pass away. Nor will His empire ever be destroyed. Daniel 7:13-14

The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the Archangel and with the Horn of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are still alive remaining here will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so will we ever be with the Lord. 1 Thess. 4: 16,17

You were converted to God and became servants of the real, living God; and how you are now waiting for Jesus, His Son, whom He raised from the dead, to come from heaven to save us from the retribution which is coming. 1 Thess, 1:9,10

==Jesus' Self Consciousness==

Jesus, conceived of the Holy Spirit, presented a disturbing surprise to his earthly father, Joseph, knowing he had not impregnated his fiancee, Mary. She would ponder the meaning of this miracle all the days Jesus would grow and finally she would behold her son expire on the cross. But Joseph, told by the Lord who his son really was, and how he had come about, and being warned by the Lord to flee the murderous Herod, took his family to Egypt - until the death of Herod made it safe ("Out of Egypt have I called My Son") to return to Israel. The family settled in Nazareth on the elevated rim of the Jezre'el Valley where he grew well and observably no different from the other youth. But when he was about 12 years old, he was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem, and displayed his consciousness that His real Father was God rather than Joseph ("Didn't you know that I must be here about the matters of My Father?".

They returned to Nazereth in Galilee and it wasn't until 28 years later that He began to publicly show His consciousness as to who he was. This was at his baptism at the Jordan River by John, when the voice came, to him, to John, and to the people privileged to be around, "This is my Son, the Beloved, Listen (Shma'a) to Him!" Here and now, against even the desire of John the Baptizer, Jesus, knowing that sin was not in him, chose to identify with sinful mankind in this baptism of John for repentance of sin, knowing that at the end of his time on earth, he would then be giving this sinless life of his on the cross, bearing the sins of the world upon himself.
[[Image:Carpaccio Christus in Emmaus.jpg|thumb|Christus in Emmaus by [[Vittore Carpaccio]]]]
Back, now, in Galilee, he would begin to do works of mercy, miracles of compassion, healings of deliverance, and overthrowing the devastations of Satan upon the people of God's compassion - in short, bringing in the Kingdom of Heaven and of God and supplanting the Kingdom of Darkness. He began to gather around him his followers, simple fishing folk and others, spending most of his time in the area around the north shore of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). among the Jews of this Jewish area. He was bringing in the Messianic Kingdom to those who would understand it best, the Jews. But all the time, there was burning within him the knowledge that the blessings of Abraham would be extended, according to the promise, to all the peoples of the earth, the Gentiles, and there would be a new Kingdom, a new nation, transcending both Jews and Gentiles, the Kingdom of the people of God the Heavenly Father. He began his forays then into gentile areas, Phoenecia, the Decapolis, and other locales, and finding faith there such as he had not found "even in Israel".

A crossroads occurred, then, in the choice of Jesus, and consequently in the options of his disciples. It occurred in the Tetrarchy of Philip, at the foothills of Mt. Hermon, at the town of Caesarea Philipi. He knowing who he was, would force the question upon others - "Who do people say Me to be?". From the lips of Shim'on, whom he would call Peter, as leader of the others, He would hear - "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!" It was enough. Jesus would then begin imparting to them what the nature of His mission to be - not to expel the Romans from the Holy Land, but to go to Jerusalem, to be betrayed, to be spurned and rejected by the High Priests and the Elders of the People, to be hung on a Roman cross at the hands of the Gentiles, to die. Casesarea Philipi was in between, on one hand, Gentile pervaded Roman Tiberius to the southwest of the Sea, and on the other hand, anti-Roman nationalistic and zealotic Gamla to the north east of the Sea. (This latter would end their rebellion against Rome by suicide on Matzada in 73 A.D). Those two polarities were present in the minds of the disciples and Jesus began, on one hand, to divest from their minds the one, the warrior role of the Messiah against the Romans, and the other, to renew their thinking and their commitment to Him as the self sacrificing Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace and the true Messiah of Israel, on the other hand.

This took place on the long 3 or 4 day journey by foot from Galilee to Jerusalem, along the [[Jordan River]] valley, coming to Jericho, ascending to Jerusalem from the east. It was in Jerusalem that he prepared and settled the matter for the perpetuation of the Church at the Lord's last supper of the Passover, to be made palpable later by the descent of the Holy Spirit. It was in Jerusalem, in the Garden of the Oil Press, that what He had been lead to believe about his mission and the meaning and manner of his death was fully embraced and accepted with no reservation or turning back. "Your will be done, Father, if there is no other way", and "There is no other way, Your will be done Father!" It was a perfect decision and commitment, perfecting his life to be a perfect sacrifice. And it was to the west just outside Jerusalem that His teachings came to a concretization and realization on the cross. And just outside of Jerusalem that His Father would vindicate him by raising him from the dead.

"No man takes my life from me. I have power to take it and I have power to lay it down... I lay down my life for the sheep." <ref>Bible, Gospel of John, 10:18,15 http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=KjvJohn.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=10&division=div1</ref>

"Though He was in the form of God, He did not think equality with God something to grasp onto. But He emptied Himself and took to Himself the form of a servant and was made man, And being found in the form of a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. For this reason, God has exalted Him..."<ref>Bible, Philippians 2:6-9a, http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=KjvPhil.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=2&division=div1 </ref>

==Following Jesus, believing in Him==
It is sometimes said that there are two faiths in the New Testament. That of Jesus and that of Paul. Paul's religion is that of believing in Christ as Lord and Savior, and as the divine Son of God, and that of Jesus is of following Him in the sense of living and doing as He has taught. But in reality, there is only one faith and the two not in contradiction. For the Jesus of the Gospels, besides setting forth the life that He himself lived, as a pattern for all His followers, also said, "No one knows the Son, except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son choses to reveal Him", and "I and the Father are One", and "If you see Me, you see God". .And Paul, aside, from saying that "if you believe in the Lord Jesus you shall be saved", and "therefore, being justified by Faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ", also said "work out your salvation with fear and trembling", and "Owe no man anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law."

Mark 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. And he who does not believe, shall be condemned", Jesus said. It is belief in Jesus which brings a person to the waters of baptism, and it is through the waters of baptism, that one enters into the fellowship of the Church, the people of God who are being brought, day be day, one with the other, to the life that Jesus taught about. And so his new belief and his being and living and doing are all unified under the direction of Christ and His under-shephards. And if one will not believe, of course, then it goes without saying, he will not be baptized.

== Historical Analysis ==
=== Dating Jesus' Birth ===
Modern historians generally place the actual date of Jesus' birth between 7 and 4 B.C., due to problems reconciling the Roman and Jewish calendars with the [[Gregorian Calendar]] which is in use today throughout the industrialized world.

=== Historicity of Jesus ===
Occasionally, non-historians deny the [[historicity of Jesus]] (Having to do with the question of whether Jesus was in fact a real person who had a real life on earth), but few scholars take this seriously. [[Tacitus]], a Roman historian, wrote about Jesus in A.D. 115,<ref>http://www.digisys.net/users/ddalton/evidence_of_jesus_outside_the_bible.htm</ref> and [[Josephus]], a Jewish historian who did not believe in Jesus' divinity, wrote about him.<ref>http://www.christian-thinktank.com/jesusref.html</ref> Dr. [[Gary Habermas]] wrote an extensive analysis of the historicity of Jesus in his work ''The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ'', which discusses many historical sources that mention Jesus.

[[Lee Strobel]]'s book ''[[The Case for Christ]]'' contains a number of interviews with experts on the historical Jesus and a defense of Jesus's resurrection, and is a good resource on this subject.

== Jesus' Name ==
=== ''Jesus'' ===
The bible doesn't tell us much about the meaning of the name ''Jesus'', but does tell us who gave the name, when the name was given, and a reason the name was given. Luke 2:21 tells us that his name was given (1) "by the angel," (2) and it was given "before He was conceived in the womb." The reason for naming him Jesus seems to be given in Matthew 1:21, which says, "...you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

==== Hebrew Origin ====
The Greeks derived the name from the late Hebrew or Aramaic name Yoshua, today’s version of which is “Joshua”. The earlier Aramaic form was Jehoshua (Y’hoshua) or Joshua., deriving from Hebrew Yah, short for Yahweh, and Aramaic y’shuoh meaning “salvation”. The name thus meant “Jah is salvation”. Both Joshua and Jehoshua were common names in the time of Jesus.

=== ''Christ'' ===

== Teachings of Jesus ==

The Teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ are found in the four [[Gospels]] and other holy documents.

[http://www.lifeofchrist.com/teachings/sermons/mount/default.asp '''Sermon on the Mount'''] This is the greatest sermon Jesus ever preached. It contains the Lord's prayer, the beatitudes, the golden rule, and practical advice for Christian living.

'''The Lord's Prayer'''

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For Yours is the kingdom

and the power

and the glory forever.

[[Amen]].

See [[The Lord's Prayer]] for the Greek and the interlineal transliterated Aramaic and Hebrew versions.

'''The golden rule:'''

"Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you!"

'''Prayer To Receive Him Now '''

''"Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Thank you for coming to Earth and dying so that I could have eternal life. Please forgive all my sins. I am going to follow You with my life now. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit and direct my steps. In Jesus' name, [[Amen]]."'' <ref> [http://www.jesus2020.com/jesus.html Prayer To Receive Him Now]</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Andrew the Apostle]]
*[[Atonement]]
*[[Byzantine Empire]]
*[[Christianity]]
*[[Eucharist]]
*[[Lazarus (brother of Mary)]]
*[[Lazarus (Parable)]]
*[[Judaism]]
*[[New Testament understanding through the Jewish perspective]]
*[[Passover Seder]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.lifeofchrist.com/life/lifescan/default.asp Summary of the Life of Jesus]
* [http://www.lifeofchrist.com/life/lifescan/teachings.asp Teachings of Jesus]
* [http://www.lifeofchrist.com/teachings/sermons/ Sermons of Jesus Christ]
* [http://www.ccci.org/wij/ Who is Jesus? Is Jesus Christ God?]
* [http://www.bible-history.com/links.php?cat=19&sub=302&cat_name=Jesus&subcat_name=Background Jesus Background] Bible History on line.
* [http://www.lewissociety.org/ C. S. Lewis Society of California].
* [http://www.lewissociety.org/bodily.php The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus, by William Lane Craig].
* [http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Historical_Problem.htm Christian Origins and the Resurrection of Jesus: The Resurrection of Jesus as a Historical Problem, by N. T. Wright].
* [http://www.lewissociety.org/resurrection.php Contemporary Scholarship and the Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, by William Lane Craig].
* [http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Justice_Jesus.htm Doing Justice to Jesus: A Response to J.D. Crossan: "What Victory? What God?", by N. T. Wright].
* [http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Historical_Jesus.htm The Historical Jesus and Christian Theology, by N. T. Wright].
* [http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=37 The Wright Quest for the Historical Jesus, by Ben Witherington, III].

[[Category:Jesus]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Christian History]]
[[Category:Biblical Persons]]
[[Category:Divine Beings]]

Escape from Hell

2008-12-12T14:32:28Z

NoelE: Removing liberal bias

'''Escape from HELL''' is a 2001 drama about a medical doctor, Eric Robinson, who, along with his collegue Dr. Marissa Holloway, attempt to prove the existence of [[Heaven]] and that everyone will go there. Dr. Holloway has conducted numerous interviews with people who have had [[near-death experience]]s, and is convinced that Heaven is the final destination of everyone. Dr. Robinson purposefully places himself in a deep [[coma]] so that he can have a near-death experience. Unfortunately, he comes a little ''too'' close to death and finds himself in [[Hell|HELL]], a place of utter torment and pain. Furthermore, to his utter shock and horror, he finds a former patient there who was a "good man", but evidently his goodness did not get him to Heaven. Now Dr. Robinson must make a choice: should he continue on in his scientism and refuse to acknowledge that he is a sinner, or will he admit that he cannot enter Heaven by any of his own merits and receive [[Jesus Christ]] as his personal savior?

==External Links==

*[http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2001/escapefromhell.html A Christian review of the film]

[[category:movies]]
[[Category:Conservative Media]]
[[Category:Christian Media]]

Hell

2008-12-12T14:32:25Z

NoelE: Removing liberal bias

[[Image:Hitlerspeech.jpg|right|600px|thumb|Adolf Hitler, a well known atheist and evolutionist who is now spending an eternity in HELL.]]
In the English translation of the [[Bible]]'s [[Old Testament]], the word HELL normally corresponds to the [[Hebrew]] ''sheol'', which was simply the place of the dead. But in the [[Greek]] [[New Testament]] the word used is either ''Gehenna'' (the garbage dump outside the walls of Jerusalem where fires were kept eternally burning to consume the refuse and keep down the stench) or ''Hades'', the [[Greek]]s' dark, gloomy underworld. The modern English word appears to derive most directly from "Holle" or "Hela" or "Hel", goddess of the dead in Germanic/[[Norse mythology]]. When the [[Anglo-Saxons]] later embraced [[Christianity]], the existing word in the language was reused in the new Christian concepts.

To Christians, HELL is a place where the souls of the wicked are punished eternally for all the [[sins]] they perpetrated during their lifetime on Earth. Since all have sinned (Rom 3:23) HELL can not be avoided on one's own merits, but through the love gift of [[Jesus]] one can know, love, and serve [[God]] and share eternity with Him in [[heaven]].

The Christian and [[Muslim]] religious traditions often emphasize the ''Gehenna'' aspect: HELL is extremely hot and filled with fire and [[brimstone]]. Opinion varies on the question of whether, while HELL itself is eternal, experience of it purges away the sins of sufferers to the point of eventual redemption. See [[purgatory]]. A minority of Christians do not believe in an eternal HELL as punishment, believing instead that the souls of the wicked are annihilated. This view is referred to as [[Annihilationism]]. There is also a question of whether HELL has a literal burning fire, or whether it is separation from God and therefore has the same torment as if there was a burning fire. This view has been supported by writers such as [[J.P. Moreland]].

Although HELL is a focus and a concern in Christian theology, the Bible has an even greater focus. In the [[King James Version]] the word HELL is mentioned 54 times, but [[heaven]] is mentioned 551 times.

* [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 13:41-42 - ''The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.'''

* Matthew 25:41 - ''Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.''

* Matthew 25:46 - ''And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.''

* [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]] 9:43 - ''And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into HELL, into the fire that never shall be quenched.''

* 2 Thes 1:7-8 - ''And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.''

* [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] 20:10 - ''And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.''

* Revelation 20:14-15 - ''And death and HELL were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.''

== See also ==
* [[Dante's Inferno]]

[[Image:Devilbar trans.gif|center]]

[[Category:Abrahamic Religions]]