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Hi Brian! Good to talk to you again! So how is studying for your test going?
Hey, So I am learning a bunch about the new testamnet
Oh that's cool! Like historical stuff or doctinal stuff?
And I have a lot of material to study so, Im just going to get thing going
Okay Sounds Good! I can't wait to hear!
Its a good mix of both so did you know that in greek Jesus and Joshua have the exact same name?
I did not. What name is it?
So when Joshua parted the river jordan it was a sign that he was like the new moses. However it also is a prophecy that Jesus is the even more new moses Its Jesus Or Joshua
Wow that's really cool!
It doesnt really matter because it is the exact same in greek
I think I learned that too when I took the class. I love that story. Ahhh I see! Greek is sweet. What else did you learn or study for?
The Word Christ also mean annointed one, as does the word messiah Often this term refered to the kings of isreal
Yeah thats cool. Annointed to be king. Makes sense.
Actually, there are many references in the old testament where the phrase "the son of God" refers to the King in a very literal way. It was one of their titles
Sweet. That's awesome. Titles are cool! So what do you need to know for the test?
So in Mark 1;1 when he says, The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God, it is a very political statement because The Christ, or even Son of God at that time was literally Ceasar Thats one reasons early Christians had a hard time because the Government thought they were all treasonous
Because they thought Jesus was Caesar? Or at least thought that he wanted to take his place?
They thought the he wanted to take his place.  And the early Christians didnt think that Jesus was ceasar (Well some of them might of thought that) but the Roman Government thought that they thought that
Oh I see. So is this was caused all the commotion?
Well, I mean, its one of many factors Many other factors can be drawn out of the religious environment at the time of Jesus
That makes sense. Alright this is interesting. Tell me what else happened during the time of the New Testament that is historically important.
For example, most people were Jews. However, there were many Jewsish sects, to say, that had their varying beliefs One group that a lot of people are familiar with are the pharisees
Yeah I've heard of them.
They actually taught many good things, Jesus even said that it would do the people well to follow what the pharisees taught. However, even though they taught good things, they didn't really practice what they preached.
I thought they were bad though because they cared so much about doing things exactly according to the law but didn't have any heart. Like they didn't really feel it. They just did it to do it.
Well to be honest, they didnt even do it either they just taught it The principle behind their teaching was to kinda build a fence around the law so that the common jewish folk wouldnt even get close to actually breaking the real law
Oh I see. Wait so they made fake laws to protect people from breaking the real laws? Kinda like being over protective?
Yeah. If you think about it Members of the church do it all the time.
Yeah that makes sense. Also it's like having a curfew I guess. If you come home at a certain time you are less likely to get into other trouble.
Another reason they were so salty is because they really wanted to preserve the Jewish Law, and before the romans took over, Isreal was under Greek control and the Greeks real really tried to spread their culture into the jewish people. The spread of the greek culture is call hellenization Anyway, there was another group of people called the Sadducees
Hellen? Like the Greek Princess who got stolen by the Trojans? Oh yes, do tell me about them .
They lived in the world, and are of the world. haha. Basically they are the jewish aristocracy They filled many positions on the jewsih high council called the sanhedrin. and were pretty corrupt. They tried to keep the peace by adopting roman culture and supporting Roman occupancy even if it meant compromising the jewish principles
And thats a bad thing right? Because they weren't staying true to their values.
They also didnt not believe the the rescue of some messiah. (Which remember, Messiah never meant spiritual savior of the world, it literally was a political term) There was another group called the Essenes. Most people havent heard of them. They were similar to the pharisees, but even bigger separatists. Like, they literally thought that the Judaism was being corrupted so they separated themselves and created their own community with their own customized beliefs
thats interesting. Yeah I've never heard of the Essenes. Oh weird. Sounds like what a lot of people do today.
The interesting thing is that archaeologists found one of their societies and while they explored they found some ancient scrolls.
Wait this is getting really cool. What did the scrolls say?
Today they are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and while they contain some logistical information about the Essenes culture, the biggest find was that they had recorded, almost word for word large passages of the original greek old testament. The only thing is that these scrolls dated back almost 1000 years early that the earliest manuscripts the world had before! SO basically the bible is really really old
Yeah that's crazy! is this a new find? Like in the past few years? I don't remember talking about this when I took the class.
Im not sure.
Still. Interesting. So what else do you need to study for this class?
There are a few other smaller groups. The Zealots were pretty much revolutionists. Imagine a band of jewish robin hoods. Then there were herodians, which were pro roman people
Herodians like Kind Herod?
and finally, the majority of everyone was belong to a group called Am-Ha-Eretz, who were basically the common folk. Most towns were very small most people hated the romans, and they also hated the tax collectors (aka publicans) and they patiently awaited their messiah to free them from captivity So that was a lot of the historical stuff
So they were waiting for something (or someone) to free them from bondage. They just didn't know which kind of bondage. Do you need to know anything else about this for the test?
Well the whole "Personal bondage from sin" is a more modern interpretation of the old scriptures. Its not like they were wrong in expecting freedom from literal bondage. The prophecies actually, from a more literal sense, said that they would be free from literal bondage.
Yeah I guess that's true. That's interesting.
Even the Abrahamic covenant (which everyone knew about) said that all the families of the earth would be blessed by the house of isreal, aka the jewish people
I guess we do that today. We hope that God we save us from challenges in our life and they may not necessarily be spiritual.
So eveyone was probably like , What the heck, how are we supposed to bless the whole earth is the romas control us
well thats a good point.
That was probably super confusing for them. Like imagine if the US was being occupied by Russia.
They probably didn't know what the whole earth was though.
All the members of the church would be so lost]
Yeah that makes sense. It would be tough. And we would probably want them to leave us alone.
So now we are getting into Mark. Which is commonly agreed to be the first of the four gospels to be Written
Yeah chronologically you mean.
Jesus Mainly taught in parables. Now a lot of people obsess over what parable mean, but a better way to look at them is to try to focus on what the parables do.
What do you mean what they do?
Parables more often than not are meant to provoke thought, illicit emotion, and challenge us to improve! Its not about trying to turn the story into a method to teach primary children general principle of the gosple Its about experiencing a story. Going along for the ride, and feeling what Jesus wanted his listeners to feel as they heard it
I can see that! Yeah they do elicit emotion. And if you get caught up in the meaning you miss that. So deep.
Now obviously they do teach principles, and there is nothing wrong with looking for those, but that isnt necessarily the  purpose
Yeah I agree. You can learn the principles from the story but obviously if you don't apply them in your life they do nothing for you.
Yep! So something interesting about about Mark is that He includes some of Jesus's words in Aramaic. SO aramaic was the language of the common people. Greek was spoken by most of the upper class, and Hebrew was spoken too, but not that much Most people knew greek too
Thats cool that he spoke in the language of the common people so they could understand more.
Mark also includes some more mysterious/magical things in the miracles of Jesus that other editor like Mathew take out because they seem a little, well, magical.
Yeah I heard that was because Mark was writing to the Romans and they were a little less patient and wanted to see the signs
Like Mark tells a story about Jesus spits on someones eyes and them stick his fingers in his ears to be able to heal him Well I just think its because it was more historically correct, and it was more dramatic. Mark is a pretty dramatic author However, when other people came around, Mainly mathew, he took some of the weird stuff out as to not confuse the new members of the Church. Mathew is thought to be written much later because he uses the Phrase "Until this day" in a few places describing the names of places, And the only reason why someone would say, "And the place ws called the field of blood from then until this day..." is because quite a lot of time has passed!
Thats cool! I'm listening, but I'll be right back Keep practicing your new testament stuff on me!
So something cool about Mark is that he references the Old testament in such a way that testifies that Jesus is the Lord God! Most jews expected the Lord to send a messiah, but no one expected the Lord himself to be the messiah! So mark describes Jesus stilling a storm in a way mimics the Lord stilling a Storm in Psalm 107 to hint at the fact the Jesus is actually God! There are a few other references like that. For example Jesus revealing his power while intending to pass by his disciples in a way that recalls the Lord passing before his
I'm back.
prophets as he revealed his glory
Sorry I had to leave. I just had to brush my teeth and help Ollie. But yeah that is so interesting I think Mark is my favorite of all the Original Gospels.
So wanna know something interesting?
You know I do.
So a lot of early Latter-Day Saint ideas about judaism stem from old protestant views of judaism that are oversimplified and radical
Like For example?
Granted there are some statements in the Bible that seem "Anti-Jewish" but Jesus, and Paul were also technically jewish so these statements should be read with a grain of salt For example, It is believed that Jews in the time of Jesus were very Legalistic, ritualistic, without emotion, and religiously corrupt. That they were a spiritually stagnant people But, like i said earlier, there were many different sects of judaism, and beliefs that that are very oversimplified In fact, Talmage's "Jesus the Christ" actually uses a very large amount of this protestant idealism, which isnt really correct. So all of the member of the Church that treat Jesus the Christ like an upgraded bible really shouldn't because, well, its a pretty biased book Also something interesting is that books like Jesus the Christ take all four gospels and try to combine them into one to get the "Most historically accurate" story of Jesus
Uh huh. I'm listening.
But really it is much more beneficial to read each Gospel on its own. The Gospels are not trying to be history books, but rather are testimonies of the truth of Jesus
Yeah I agree with that.
each has its own point that it is trying to make and you lose those points if you try to jam them all togther
Yeah totally. I agree one hundred percent. So what else do you learn in this class? Do you need to know specific details of the gospels?
Not really. Which I like because the gospel is something totally personal anyway. Its hard to write a test on it. This class is more about the Bible so that you can actually use it as a tool to study the Gospel and Grown But we talk a lot about the gospel and spiritual stuff, But I guess I dont really know how to explain it. It feels like we talk a lot about the gospel, but when I look back at all the notes, it seems to be more literally stuff But im a fan
Yeah thats awesome. Who is your professor? I had professor Hilton he was sweet. It's been a while since I've taken this class, but I remember it was really good. I miss taking religion classes.
One thing that is super cool. is the ending of Mark
Is this going to be on the test haha? But do tell.
So there are a ton of references to Psalm 22, which is a redemtive Psalm Yes So basically progress from a sinners being far from God and turning around to come close to God again.
Thats cool! What does Psalm 22 say?
But Marks refereces the Psalm backwards. So in the story of jesus's death, Mark implies that Jesus is close to god, but moves farther away. Until at the very end he says my God my God, why hast thou foresaken me? (In Psalm 22 that is the very 1st verse, "My God my God why hast thou forsaken me") So its like backwards. read the 2 chapters side by side, its super cool. Mark 15, and Psalm 22
Okay I will do that. That sounds sweet. Thanks for the recommendation! So how are you feeling for the test?
Pretty good. But that was only Mark. The test is on all of Mathew too! Haha, but that stuff is a lot more recent so I remember it a lot better
Thats good! Is it also on Luke and John as well?