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Surrounded By A Wall Of Silence
by Sandor Balog Not influenced by any church or denomination, though baptized Roman Catholic some weeks after my birth, my approach to God was as direct as it could be. After Hungary switched to democracy in 1989, I, from 1991 to 2001, attended the regular gatherings and congresses of the Jehovah's Witnesses and learned a lot from their lectures and literature, which were of a very high standard. Nevertheless, I always had questions (which they could not answer), thus they were not willing to baptize me. Finally, we parted by mutual agreement. At around the same time as I began to attend the congregation of JWs, I happened to read a book by a Soviet archaeologist named Amusin, which was first published in the then Soviet Union. The book was about the Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947 at Qumran. The Soviet scholars involved in the research work were forced to admit that the Scrolls, including, among other things, 25 copies of the Book of Isaiah, which contained prophecies about the Messiah, were produced NOT LATER than the 2nd-1st century BC. And they were copies already! This was what definitely persuaded me that the Scrolls of the Bible were from a Supreme Being, from God. After some time, however, I noticed that, though their organization was so excellent that it could only be from divine inspiration, their teachings were not always flawless. I happened to read the book entitled "Babylon Mystery Religion" by Rev. Ralph Woodrow, which, regretfully, he has since withdrawn and replaced by his new book entitled "Babylon Connection". A chapter in "Babylon Mystery Religion" addressed the issue of the three days and three nights that Jesus spent in the tomb. I asked the elders about this, whose explanation for Jesus being about 33 hours in the tomb instead of 72 hours, as is written in Mat 12:40, was not acceptable to me. Since they could not give an answer that was acceptable to me, they suggested to me that I write to the Governing Body in Brooklyn. I did so and their answer was that I should not concern myself with such things and should not "precede" Jehovah; in other words, I should wait until Jehovah makes them reveal the truth about this topic. There were also other questions upon which I could not agree with JWs, thus I decided to leave them. Rev. Ralph Woodrow wrote about a Wednesday Crucifixion and Saturday Resurrection, which, in my opinion, proved to be false. I wrote to him explaining my views in 2009 in an exchange of emails and then we agreed to disagree. I spent some years in investigating this issue and finally I came to the hopefully right conclusion: a Tuesday Crucifixion and Friday Resurrection. First, I determined the exact calendar day of Jesus' death. Based on historical and biblical evidence, I proved that Jesus died on March 25, 31 CE [Common Era] (Nisan /Abib/ 15, 3791) on a Tuesday, at 3pm. Based on A biblical calculation, I also determined the exact time of Jesus' birth: September 26, 4 BCE [Before Common Era], at 3pm, and His baptism: September 26, 27 CE, at 3pm. I included my findings in a book entitled Palm Wednesday and in the essay "How Could Jesus Have Spent Three Days And Three Nights In The Tomb?". Now that these important dates of Jesus' life are known, what stops us from making them known as widely as possible? Well, this is what seems nearly impossible. I wrote about this strange situation in my article "Why Is It Nearly Impossible To Break Through The Wall Of Resistance?". Now, here I stand, with the sincere intention to present the truth about the sign of Jonah to as many people as possible and there is no feedback or any sign of interest shown. I sent my essay, the recommendation and front page of my book to all known US major magazines and dailies. (I also sent two emails to Pope Benedict XVI, attaching my essay and a book recommendation /PW/ on Nov 15 and Dec 15, 2010, to no avail.) The exact CALENDAR dates of the four major events in Jesus' earthly life: BIRTH: September 26, BCE 4, 3pm BAPTISM: September 26, 27 CE, 3pm DEATH: March 25, 31 CE (Nisan 15, 3791), Tuesday, 3pm RESURRECTION: March 28, 31 CE (Nisan 18, 3791), Friday, about 6pm Thus, two sources of information are now available all over the world concerning the above-mentioned exact dates: an entertaining book and a more "scholarly" essay. Why is this information "vital"? The exact dates of Jesus' birth and baptism are actually of no special importance as they have little to do with the sign of Jonah. However, once we have determined the exact dates of Jesus' death and resurrection, why should we remain silent on the exact dates of Jesus' birth and baptism that have thus become readily available? At this very moment, I do not see any other more suitable criteria that Jesus might use as a yardstick to "measure" our faith in Him than our believing in the sign of Jonah, in other words: in Him. I would really welcome a panel discussion with the participation of such mainstream media theologians as Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, Bart D. Ehrman and/or others about this topic. Well over 24,000 (updated: 06/03/2013) people have viewed/read my essay and a total of over 120,000 (updated: 06/03/2013) people have viewed/read my other 19 updated: 06/0362013) articles (via Twitter), so it is hard to imagine that, somehow or other, the existence of this essay has not come to the notice of any of the above-mentioned gentlemen or any top churchmen. I can only surmise that they have deliberately chosen to remain silent on this issue. "Silence is golden," as the saying goes. I am quite certain that someone will come along, maybe one of the above-mentioned gentlemen, who is influential and reputable enough to ensure that this topic receives the public attention it deserves. In the country of unlimited possibilities, it is just a matter of time. Word Count: 1003 Copyright: free URL: www.magyarbattila.hu Sandor Balog (pen name: Attila B. Magyar), author of Palm Wednesday. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |