An
Exhibit of 21st Century Art celebrating the Tales of Old Judea;
Realistic
illustrations featuring spiritual themes inspired by Classic and
Romantic Paintings in a wide variety of media.
An exhibition
of Religious
Art by Contemporary American Illustrator Howard
David Johnson, whose
illustrations have been published all over the world by
distinguished
learning institutions and publishers including the Universities of
Oxford and
Cambridge.
|
Presents:
Antiquities of the
Hebrews ~ Religious
& Historical Artwork Created for The 21st Century
Tales of
Old Judea; A Gallery of New Paintings, Drawings and Pictures in
traditional oils, acrylics and 2D & 3D digital mixed media created
in the style of the classic illustrators.
|
|
HOLY MEN IN DAYS OF OLD; THE HEBREW PROPHETS ~
ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE BIBLE and APOCRYPHAL BOOKS
Sacred Writings: The Law and The
Prophets, The Psalms and the Proverbs.
"Hear O' Israel, the LORD thy
GOD is ONE LORD and beside him there is no other.
"MOSES sees
MICHAEL in the BURNING BUSH",
"DANIEL in the LION'S DEN" and ELIJAH
IN THE WILDERNESS"
The
Hebrew Bible teaches that we and our planet, the whole universe in fact
were created by a single, loving, all-knowing divinity, the ONE AND
ONLY GOD and that our lives are all part of a divine plan and a
definite order. These Ancient sacred writings start at the Creation and
tell the story of God's earliest dealings with man, Notables whom God
made covenants or contracts with included Adam, Noah and Abraham,
"the father of many nations".
'JACOB'S LADDER","ZECHARIAH'S VISION of the ANGELIC CHARIOTS" and
"EZEKIEL'S VISION"
According to the
Bible, God's will for human behavior was first revealed to Moses at
Mount Sinai. The Mosaic Covenant was based on The Ten Commandments,
which govern how humans are to live their lives and were a gift from
God so that they might live in accordance to His will. They
are, simply put: 1. Have no other gods. 2. Have no idols. 3. Honor
God's name. 4. Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. 5. Honor your
parents. 6. Do not murder.7. Do not commit adultery. 8. Do not
steal. 9. Do not perjure yourself. 10. Do not desire ownership of other
people's things. Flowing from mankind's earliest origins Hebrewism
shares beliefs such as a single deity, immortality of the soul,
righteous living, eternal judgment and angels and demons with other
faiths. Hebrewism was also characterized by ceremonial laws, temple
worship and ritual animal sacrifices.
"The Angel of the LORD
visits Gideon", "The Angel visits Hagar in the
Wilderness" and "The Angel of the LORD & Balaam the false
prophet"
"Queen Jezebel
of the Northern Kingdom"
|
"Elijah the Prophet on Mount
Horeb"
|
"The
Apostasy of King Solomon"
|
The
Israelite Religion's Influence: Hebrew teachings
recorded in the Bible laid a very large part of the foundation of Western Civilization and still
greatly influence our modern laws.
"Only
if you have some knowledge of the human sacrifices, the vicious temple rites,
the degrading superstitions and customs that were practiced... can you
realize how much the modern world owes to the Hebrew prophets, whose
monotheism and moral teachings entered into Christianity and Islam."
~ C. J. H. Hayes
& P. T. Moon "Ancient and Medieval history"1929
|
Angelic
Warnings and Protection
"Zechariah's vision of
the Lampstand & the Olive Trees", David in the Caves of Adullum & "The Angel appears to Joshua on the road to Jericho"
The Four Cardinal
Archangels~ "The Pillars of The EARTH"
They are celestial
attendants of almighty God. The most famous of them are Michael, Gabriel,
Raphael and Uriel.
The nature of angels is that they are servants of God and have no
free will, they were made of fire as men were made from clay and do
only that which God bids them.
The Medieval Jewish
philosopher Maimonides taught that angels are creatures possessing form
without matter. They are pure spirits differentiated from one another
not by any bodily distinctions but solely by spiritual form and
purpose, that the angels are only seen in the Bible as creatures of
fire and human form with wings as a feature of the prophetic vision.
"Enoch and the
Watchers" [ From the Hebrew Apocryphal Book of Enoch]
|
Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenistic
Philosopher (20 BC-50 AD) was inclined to accept the existence of
angels as a fact far more than his allegorical system would lead one to
surmise.
He
was prompted to do so through the example of the Stoics; they are
"souls hovering in the air"; "some have descended into bodies; others
have not thought fit to approach any part of the earth; and these,
hallowed and surrounded by the ministrations of the Father, the Creator
employs as assistants and ministers for the care of the mortals."
|
"The Sons of GOD
and the Daughters of Men" From the Books of Genesis, Enoch, and
Jubilees.
|
"They report the injunctions of the Father to His children, and
the necessities of the children to the Father. And, with reference to
this, Holy Scripture represents them as 'ascending and descending.' . .
. Not God, but we mortals are in need of a mediator and intercessor"
(Philo, "On Dreams," i. v.22). "Souls, demons, and angels are things
differing in name, but identical in reality.
Yet, as men speak of God and of evil demons and of good and evil souls,
so they speak of angels, calling them
ambassadors of man to God and of God to man; they are holy because of
this blameless and honorable office. Others, on the contrary, are
profane and unworthy, as is seen in Ps. lxxviii. 49" (Philo, "On
Giants," pp. 3-4).
|
|
|
"Guardian of the Northern Portal" MMXVI From The Book of Enoch |
"The
Four Archangels subdue Gilgamesh and the Giants." From The Book of
Giants |
"Escorting
a Soul to Heaven" MMVII From "The Guide for the Perplexed" by Maimonides |
Jewish
tradition lays down A Heavenly Hierarchy,
The process begun in The book of Daniel, and continued
through the entirety of apocalyptic literature, finally revealed a
heavenly hierarchy of stupendous proportions. Angels accompany the dead on their departure from this world.
Accompanying angels are not permanent, but temporary, companions, they
carry out missions but can be constantly re-dispatched by the least of
us through faithful prayer as answered by the almighty. No single angel
can carry out two messages, nor can two angels fulfill only one
message. Of the three angels that came to Abraham, Michael, the
guardian angel of Israel, brought the tidings of Isaac's birth;
Gabriel, the angel of heavenly vengeance and of fire, had to overthrow
Sodom; and Raphael rescued Lot" (Gen. xviii. v.2). Michael to the
right, Uriel to the left, Gabriel in front, and Raphael in the rear of
the throne. The Book of Jubilees, a version of the Pentateuch speaks of
the Creation of Angels: "The angels of the face and of
glorification, the angels of the elements of fire, wind, and darkness,
of hail and hoar frost, thunder and lightning, of cold and heat, of
winter and spring, summer and fall, of the abyss and night, of light
and morning, were created on the first day.
"A Priest and a Seraphim in the
Second Temple"
|
"The Angel of the LORD answers
Daniel"
|
"Warrior King David"
|
Pronouncements of
God's
Righteous Judgment
"The Expulsion of Adam and Eve","
Micheal and the Dragon" (Center) and "Escape from Sodom"
Thank you for visiting the Tales of
Old Judea & the Antiquities of the Jews Art gallery...
Bibliography:
The Torah, the Talmud and www.jewishencyclopedia.com
and
The Dead Sea Scrolls, www.sacred-texts.com
and of course - The Holy Bible
*****
Enter a world of Beauty and Imagination...
The
Realistic & Fantastic Art of American Illustrator Howard David
Johnson
With a background in traditional
media including oils, pastels & colored pencils, Howard David
Johnson embraces leading edge digital media in the creation of his
depictions of fantasy, folklore, mythology, legend, religion, and
heroic history. He works
in a wide variety of media * Oil paintings * Acrylic Paintings *
Prismacolor Paintings * Drawings * Chalk & Oil Pastel Paintings *
Photography * 2D &3D Digital Artistry & Mixed Media *
|
|
INDEX of GALLERIES
Click on
these Fun Educational
Realistic Art Gallery link icons for Two-fisted Tales of VALOR
&
Frontline Combat featuring Legendary Warriors of History, Knights and
ladies of
Arthurian Legend, Celtic, Nordic, Asian and Olympian gods &
monsters,
unicorns, dragons, fairies... and more!
All these pieces of art and the text are legally
copyrighted and were registered with the U.S. Library of Congress
Office of Copyright by the author, Howard David Johnson All rights
reserved worldwide. Permission for many academic or non-commercial
uses is freely and legally available by simply contacting the author
via e-mail or visiting www.howarddavidjohnson.com/permission.htm
Who is American
Illustrator Howard David Johnson?
In one of David's
invitations to the
Florence Biennale Contemporary Art Exhibition, (a partner in the United
Nations'
Dialog among Nations), UN Secretary General Kofi Anon wrote him:
"Artists have a special role to play in the global struggle for peace.
At their
best, artists speak not only to people; they speak for them. Art is a
weapon
against ignorance and hatred and an agent of public awareness... Art
opens new
doors for learning, understanding, and peace among nations."
|
Howard David Johnson is
a contemporary realistic artist and photographer with a background in
the natural sciences and history. David works in a wide variety
of mixed media ranging from oil on canvas to digital media. David's realistic illustrations
have made appearances in every major bookstore and game shop chain in
America as well as magazines and educational texts around the
world.
Some of David's more prestigious clients have included the
University of Texas, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in
England, The Australian Mint, The National Geographic Society,
Paramount Studios, Universal Studios, MGM Studios, Warner Brothers Home
Video, ABC/Disney, CBS TV, PBS TV, The History Channel, Enslow
Educational Publishers, Adobe Photoshop, Auto FX, Tree-Free Greeting,
Verizon wireless, Apple IPOD, Penguin, Doubleday (Now Random House),
Harlequin Top Historical Romances, and the History Book of the Month
Club, as well as appearing in periodical publications like Popular
Photography and the Wall Street Journal.
|
A Traditional style portrait
of the artist. [Photo by his son Erich.]
|
After a lifetime of
drawing and painting, David's
Traditional Art was exhibited in the British Museum in London in 1996,
( 3 years before he got his first computer ) as well as numerous
American ones since, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Working in a variety of
media David offers his customers a variety of options and more than
three decades of experience. As an illustrator he has not only used the
computer but has been involved in the development and marketing of
software for Adobe Photoshop. Digital art, Colored pencils, Pastels,
Mixed media, & also Oil Paintings can also be commissioned for
select projects.Digital illustration projects
start at $500.U.S. and group rates are available. David delivers custom
made copyright free illustrations & old fashioned customer service
when he does work-for-hire. To publish existing pieces of his
realistic art, David sells licenses starting at only $99.USD.
|
|
You can e-mail for more details at:
info@howarddavidjohnson.com
Your
business, letters and links are always welcome!
|
This Art Gallery
has been
honored by more than 35,000,000
Unique Visitors
from the
Four
Corners of the Earth
My
Friends from around the world thus far :
England,
Canada,
Scotland, Wales, Ireland,
Germany, France,
Monaco, Andorra, Italy, The Vatican
City State,
Greece, Macedonia, Cyprus, Turkey,
Belgium, Denmark,
The Faroe Islands, Greenland, Yugoslavia,
Macedonia, Croatia, The Czech Republic,
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Luxembourg, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Bulgaria,
Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Romania,
Spain, The Russian Federation, Estonia,
Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Malta,
Iceland, Finland, Norway, Netherlands,
Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Portugal,
Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Slovak Republic,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Gibraltar,
Israel, Palestinian Territories, Egypt,
Libya, Mali, Algeria, Niger, Saudi Arabia,
Oman, The United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen, Iraq,
Iran, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon,
Morocco, Ethiopia,
Eritrea, Liberia, The Republic of
Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Angola,
Ghana, The Ivory Coast, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Sudan, Nigeria, Namibia, Sudan,
Uganda, Kenya, Eritrea, Tanzania,
Botswana, Malawi, Senegal, Djibouti, Cameroon,
Chad, Gambia, Mozambique, Swaziland,
Lesotho, South Africa, Seychelles, Viet Nam,
Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong,
Macau, Mongolia, Mauritius, Singapore, Thailand,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,
Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Nuie, New
Zealand, Fiji,
Cook Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, American
Samoa, Australia, Micronesia, Polynesia, Papua
New Guinea, The Heard and McDonald Islands,
The Philippines, Guam, Palau, Cocos Island, The
Kingdom of Tonga,
Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, India,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Chagos Islands, The Republic
of Maldives,
Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Nepal,
Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay,
Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, Aruba,
Venezuela, Bolivia, Suriname, Guyana, Aruba,
The Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa
Rica, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and
Barbuda,
|
"Jacob wrestling with the Angel"
|
Barbados, The Virgin Islands, Saint Lucia, The
Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Northern Mariana
Islands, Saint Vincent & Grenadines,
Grenada, Ecuador,
Belize, Nicaragua, El Salvador,
Bermuda, Cuba,
Jamaica, Dominica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cayman
Islands, The Bahamas, Honduras,
Mexico,
Madagascar, Central African Republic, Ethiopia,
Gabon,
San Marino, Saint Kitts & Nevis
Anguilla, Burkina Faso, Equatorial
Guinea, Polynesia, Madagascar,
Mauritania, Burundi,
and my home, The Great
Free State of Idaho (USA)...
|
If your home is
not listed here please
e-mail and tell us where you're from...
info@howarddavidjohnson.com
Your business,
letters and links are always welcome!
Gorgeous Quality
Printing
Hand
Signed & Numbered
Free
Shipping Worldwide
|
LIMITED
EDITION
[of a maximum
1,000 prints per image]
PRINT-ON-DEMAND
Each inspected,
hand signed and numbered by the artist!
CLICK
HERE
TO
BROWSE OVER 400 CHOICES
CHECK OUT
FAST WITH PAYPAL!
thejohnsongalleries@gmail.com
Sized to fit
standard sized frames!
ASK ABOUT GIFT
CERTIFICATES
|
The Johnson
Galleries prints these "in-house" with our new state of the art Epson
7890 oversize printer on
Epson 200 year premium photo paper and canvas with Epson inks!
|
Bonus
Section:
Philosophy,
Art,
& Art Philosophy
Personal
Opinion Essays on
spirituality, and realistic art yesterday and today by the artist.
|
Essay IV
H. D.
Johnson worked as a scientific research consultant for the University
of Texas at San Antonio through the 1970's under the guidance of top
Texas Scientists illustrating reconstructions of Paleontology and
Anthropology, oddly enough, he then worked under the guidance of the
world's foremost Biblical Scholars for the Center for Judeo-Christian
Studies. The two dramatically different experiences back to back caused
him to wonder...
Has Science
become a Religion?
a
brief essay applying the scientific method to religious studies by the
artist
"Believing
in God does not make you stupid; Galileo believed, Newton believed,
Einstein believed. Going against the consensus of the scientific
community also does not make you stupid- they all did! " ~ Howard
David Johnson MMX
|
With respect to its
great contributions to society, I think it is important to make a case
that science is really affecting society more like a religion now than
a field of study or a resource base of useful information. Many
everyday people do not understand it at all and accept ALL its
teachings on faith. Science is supposed to be a tool and a path of
study for the benefit of mankind and it is. I love Science and greatly
appreciate it's benefits. I feel strongly that many scientists are
heroes and deserve honorable mention and some truly deserve places of
great honor in the hallowed halls of history. Breakthroughs in medical
science are saving lives everyday in ways undreamed of just to name
only one of so many valuable fields.
Unfortunately some scientists have also been criminals or have brought
things into the world we all know about that we would have been better
off without such as thermonuclear weapons and pollution. I believe it
has also become things it should never have become. I shall
briefly try to explain what I have seen that has made me feel that
science is really affecting society more like a religion now than a
field of study.
|
The
major criticism of science with regards to The Bible has been that it
requires a leap of faith to believe that GOD created the world, yet
Science also has several leaps of faith of it's own. The Big Bang theory cannot
be proven as world renowned cosmologist Steven Hawking has stated and,
if it cannot be proven - believing in it - in Hawking's own words
requires a "Leap of Faith".
Until
a theory is proven in a lab or in the field, it is Philosophy, not
Physics.
EVOLUTION IS NOT A LAW
OF SCIENCE. Darwin's Theory
of Evolution was proposed in 1859 and
almost a hundred and fifty years later it has still never achieved the
status of a Law of Science. This is because of the Missing Link. There
is no proof of a link between man and ape, hence the term
"The missing link". This blind faith in Evolution has been taught with
religious dogmatism in the public schools
for generations and is still merely a
theory.
The Theory of Evolution, not the Law of Evolution is a
mere UNPROVEN hypothesis, which the dictionary defines as "a mere
assumption or guess or a proposition, or a group of proposals, offered
as an explanation for the occurrence of some specified group of
phenomena."
Yet
this "mere assumption or
guess" is taught to children
in public schools and young adults in colleges as if it HAD been
proven beyond any doubt. It was once a Law of Science that the atom was the irreducible particle of matter. At
Alamogordo, New Mexico in 1945 the atom was split and the atomic bomb
explosion in the desert blasted that Law
of Science out of existence.
Now, if a Law of Science is so unreliable, I ask you, why is a mere theory like Evolution
regarded so highly? Simple. It is about political control, not about
truth.
The Missing
Link
In 1912 A.D.
a respectable geologist named Arthur S. Woodward and a lawyer named
Charles Dawson offered their new “fossil discovery” to the London
Geological Society. The “artifacts” included a thick portion of a human
skull, a fragment of an ape-like jaw, some animal remains and some
primitive stone tools. These items found in southern England in a place
called Piltdown were estimated to be 500,000 years old.
For 40 years
the remains were accepted by the academic community as an important
part of our evolutionary development. Piltdown Man was declared genuine
and called the “missing link” between apes and man by important
scientists of the time. Because of this newfound “proof” men of God
were openly ridiculed as ignorant and improperly educated. Piltdown man
was debunked four decades later by chemical tests proving the jaw and
skull were not the same age, nor very old. It was a DELIBERATE fake.
The bones had been chemically treated and thoroughly stained to make
them appear prehistoric. Recognizable anatomical features were broken
off and filed down.
Why did this fraud
by lawyer Charles Dawson fool the experts? For many reasons, but it was
never seriously questioned because the scientists of the time were
delighted by the way it validated their evolutionist beliefs. For more
details of the debunking read: ”The Piltdown Forgery” by Joseph S.
Weiner, the classic account of the most famous and successful hoax in
science. The new and revised 2002 edition is commonly available. Today,
the term “Piltdown” is a term of ridicule, used to label fraudulent
research, but the impact on the lives of billions of trusting people
has had powerful political implications to this day.
The prover proves what the thinker thinks and prejudice and
political power seem more important than the truth or the consistent
practice of the scientific method. If truth were important to them,
they would use the scientific method when criticizing The Bible but they do not. The
scientific method requires going to the source. Yet for these famous
disparagements they use the King James version instead of the original
Hebrew. Translated in 1611 by non-Christian King James of England for
political reasons the K.J.V. is one of the Colossal monuments of
English Prose. The King James Translation is not at all accurate enough
to use as the sole source for the defense of the Biblical Text.
Consider
this example: One of the greatest conflicts between Science and the
Bible is the teaching that the world was created in six solar days of
24 hours each. The word " yom" in the source, the original Hebrew text, which was
translated as "Solar Day" had 56 other choices. Modern English has more
than 60,000 words. Biblical Hebrew had 3,000. The average English
vocabulary has 6,000. My favorite choice of the 56 other options:" an
unimaginably long but complete period of time" harmonizes with science
perfectly. Another choice is: "time itself". So as we can see, going to
the source and using the Scientific Method brings very different
results than not going to the source.
Getting past this, the order in which life appeared was identical to
the theory of evolution's claims in the Book of Genesis, leaving us to
discuss the stars, the next main source of conflict between Science and
the Bible. The Hebrew text says "a swaddling band around the Earth
dissolved, revealing the stars. The Prover proves what the thinker
thinks. Here's a fun thought - What if GOD is in control of evolution?
What if it's his hobby? What if there is really no conflict between
Science and Religion? The scientists cannot disprove the existence of
GOD any more than they can prove the Big Bang happened.
Albert Einstein saw no conflict between science and religion. Like
Galileo, Newton and other immortal greats of science before him,
Einstein believed in GOD.
Therefore, I present to you this idea: Modern Scientific beliefs are
based upon a leap of faith in the big bang theory. It has become a
belief system based on faith and therefore another form of
religion. Scientists, like priests can explain their beliefs but
the everyday people accept it all on faith. Scientists and doctors are
the priests of this new religion, getting angry and crying "heresy"
when anyone respectfully disagrees with them. I once had one of my
supervisors in the UT anthropology department explain to me for three
hours on a research expedition in mathematical terms how something
could have ALWAYS existed, needing no beginning point. When we agreed
that the math was good he then made a COLOSSAL leap of faith, saying
"This proves the Universe has always existed and there is no GOD." In
one second I countered;" I could just as easily jump to the conclusion
that this proves the existence of an eternal GOD." It is this "jumping
to conclusions" or as Steven Hawking put it; "making leaps of
faith." that infuses philosophy with their physics. Then there is
the infusion of politics; a perfect example is
The
Myth of Carbon 14 dating:
Educated
people know that carbon 14 dating is totally irrelevant to the theory
of evolution. Scientists never state that carbon 14 dating offers proof
for the theory of evolution. Ignorant evolutionists, however, believe
carbon 14 dating proves the theory of evolution, and stubbornly make
that claim based on faith in what they were told in our learning
institutions. They were DELIBERATELY lied to to gain POLITICAL POWER. I
will explain; Carbon 14 dating is ONLY reliable for five thousand years
as even its creator himself admitted in 1972. Carbon 14 or Radiocarbon
Dating was first devised in 1949 by Dr. Willard Libby. It is based
on the rate of decay of carbon 14 or its "half-life" of 5730 years.
This method offers reliable dates up to 5,000 years ago, but its
results require correction since Dr. Libby's belief that the levels of
carbon-14 in the atmosphere were identical through the ages has long
since been disproved. Volcanoes and floods for example skew the results
to the point where guesswork or leaps of faith are required even in
dating organic material from historic times. Dr. Libby once expressed his shock when he found that radio
carbon dates for human artifacts extended back only 5000 years and
older dates were found to be unreliable. [W.F.Libby,
`Radiocarbon Dating', (Chicago, 1952), pp. 4-9] [CRSQ, 1972, 9:3, p. 157]
By this time tens of thousands of C-14
dates had been published from tests in laboratories around the world.
The textbooks and curriculums have yet to be revised. Instead, a MYTH
is being taught in our schools. There are exciting new methods
but wild guesses about the amount of Carbon 14 in the atmosphere do not
PROVE anything. Believers in GOD are called foolish and ignorant on the
political strength of this deliberate lie that Carbon 14 dating proves
evolution.
The gross disrespect and intolerance I have seen of certain members of
the scientific and academic communities and their disciples toward anyone
who disagrees with them is just as arrogant and abusive as racial,
sexual, religious, or any other kind of prejudice.
Here's
a great example: Around 1910 in educated circles it was considered a
mark of ignorance to believe the Biblical record. There was little
scientific evidence available then to support the Bible's claims and
academic circles decided that was the end of the matter and as the
decades moved on, the scientific and academic communities stubbornly
ignored tidal waves of new SCIENTIFIC evidence. One excellent
example is in what the Bible says about Abraham. In the early
20th century experts in the field of archaeology insisted that no
civilization even existed in UR of the Chaldeans when the Bible records
that Abraham lived there. On the basis that no evidence was currently
available they declared Abraham a mythical character.
20th century evidence however has proven beyond any question the
existence of an advanced civilization in UR of the Chaldeans during the
21st and 20th centuries B.C.-That was Abraham's day! Abraham's
historicity is also confirmed by ancient inscriptions that bear the
names of almost very town mentioned in Ch. 12-14 of Genesis and one
even has his father's name. Archeological discoveries also show these
towns were in existence until about 2,000 B.C.- but not later!
No
longer can the Bible's critics get away with accusing us of being naive
or foolish today when we believe what the Bible says about Abraham like
they used to in the 20th century.
This
is critical to the belief systems of the world's great monotheistic
religions Islam, Judaism and Christianity who all claim ascendancy from
Abraham. Why isn't this commonly taught in schools? Many scientific
professionals openly abuse the authority of their positions to push
their personal beliefs and ignore the confirmed scientific
data to hold on to political power. Other Biblical confirmations
from modern Archaeology include: Date and manner of Jericho's fall, The
exodus from Egypt, Major characters from the book of Daniel and many
others. The SCIENTIFIC proof is all there waiting for you if you take
the time to look it up.
Certain scientists and academics like to act like they know everything
about the origins of the Earth. They don't. Many of our long taught
ideas about planetary science have recently been proven completely
wrong. Did you know that The Gas Giants on the outside of our solar
system and the surface of the Planet Venus are DRASTICALLY different
than what I was authoritatively taught about them as a boy in
school? If
they can't even tell us reliably how the solar system is today how can
we rely on their ideas about its distant unobservable origins?
Yet even in the face of constantly changing
SCIENTIFIC evidence most scientists are prone to UTTER DOGMATISM about
their belief system. Science is supposed to be the sum of the best knowledge we have at the time -
incomplete but always learning, always growing- but sometimes making
serious mistakes. Why admit things were COMPLETELY wrong about
planetary science within the solar system but NEVER MENTION the
discovery of the unreliability of Carbon 14 dating or the discovery of
archaeological
evidence of Abraham being a historical
figure? Simple. There is no danger to the foundation of the belief
system of this new religion or it's social and political power
base.
Mankind's only hope for continued survival on this planet is to
learn to tolerate each others differences and live in peace with one
another and in harmony with the environment. We're all in the same
boat...
I do not believe that scientists should be exempt from this challenge
to be tolerant, since they created the very things that could
well destroy us, such as thermonuclear weapons & pollution.
We
all have a lot of work to do if we are to survive. I
write this in defense of my faith and of the faiths of others which
have been disparaged by these attacks on the sacred writings of
the world's great religions...If we're going to have a better
world we're going to need both better leaders and better citizens.
I
personally believe that any belief in a higher power that must
be answered to makes us better citizens than if we believed that we are
the ultimate life form in the Universe.
~
H D Johnson 2007
|
|
Thank you for visiting the
Antiquities of the Jews Art gallery of Howard David Johnson
Bibliography:
The Torah, the Talmud and www.jewishencyclopedia.com
and
The Dead Sea Scrolls, www.sacred-texts.com
and of course - The Holy Bible
*****