Have a look at Claude Mariottini’s latest post on archaeologists and the body of the apostle Paul. He also includes a picture of what is possibly the oldest image of Paul from the fourth century. Here is the link.
Bible Study
Logos 10 Bible Software Review – Portfolio
If you are a student of the Bible and seriously love to dig into the scriptures and get as much
Matt Dabbs
April 10, 2024
0 Responses
Very interesting. I actually visited that church in 2001 and in the tour they speculated that the bones were underneath the alter. While I found the whole thing fascinating, it always strikes me as odd how remains and relics receive such veneration. I think of I Cor 15:50: “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” and Romans 8:10: “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” I find it neat to find such archaeological remnants of our faith, but I do not put my hope in the temporal. I put my hope in the LORD.
Amazing. An artist born a couple of hundred years after Paul, who never saw Paul, nor had access to a photo of Paul, was able, using small bits of marble, to give us an accurate picture of Paul! Truly amazing!
Ah yes, the same relligious folk who – who are devoted to relics – have found the body of the Apostle Paul; they also had the head of John the Baptist on display – simultaneously in Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome.
The wonders of modern science!
I actually got to visit a church that had a head of a saint inside in I think Sienna. We were told by the tour guide that even though the body lay elsewhere, the head of the saint was there. When asked how that could be, she replied, with a straight face, that this was the head from the saint when he/she was a child and that was how there were 2 heads as relics…
Needless to say, it was an odd explanation to hear from the official tour guide.
Jordon, that type of explanation is more common than you might think. A tourist who saw the head of John the Baptist in Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome was told a similiar story. The story satisfied most listeners.
In 1952, while I was in high school, a man with a van full of wooden crosses was in the church’s parking lot after mass selling crosses made from the cross of Jesus! I felt bad that I didn’t have the money to purchase one.
So, for me to laugh at gullibilty is to laugh at myself!