Pages

Monday, March 23, 2009

My Trip To "Houston Museum of Natural Science" on The Birth of Christianity

THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY

The trip served the importance of showing the ways and customs of early Christians, or better still, the evolution of Christianity from the ancient religion known as Judaism. The birth of Christianity was one that marked one of the most important events in the history of western civilization. It started in the 4th century BC during the reign of Alexander the Great, and worked its way to the 1st century during the times that Jesus Christ lived.

During the second temple period, King Herod built a temple to protect their selves from the invasion of the Romans on the rock cliff of Masada in Judean Desert. It was equipped with basic amenities like oil lamps that were used as substitute for electricity, food, water and ammunition kept in the storehouses, with a wide area was reserved in the northern part for this purpose.

However, after the temple was destroyed, the significance and importance of the Jewish people gathering together to pray, study, fellowship, break bread, etc. grew. The synagogue was the place that was needed to express one’s Jewish identity. Almost all synagogues display Jewish symbols representing rituals performed in the temple, thereby striking a relationship between the holy place and the synagogue.

I was interested also in the display of the Dead Sea Scroll in stone, which was also known as Gabriel’s Revelation written on a stone. To further my fascination, I read the section that really talked about the early Christianity; which evolved from Judaism. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the Dead Sea Community, but although they do not mention figures from the New Testament, they serve as a source to learn about early Christianity. The books of Psalms, Isaiah, and Deuteronomy were the most popular scrolls in Qumran (a community, close to the Dead Sea, where an isolated group of people lived), which interestingly are the most quoted books in the New Testament.

I also came across the exhibits of fragments of the gospels and letters by the apostles in the New Testament. This testifies the everlasting nature of the word of God. The word of God, although it was written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic on parchments and sometimes papyrus, it has been able to stand the test of time, and it shall forever stand. Amen

I also discovered the burial customs of the Jewish community which was sending off a body to decay first before measuring the length of the dead person's femur and using the measurement to construct or build an ossuary, where the bones are deposited in and kept in somewhat of a cave or tomb which is sealed with a large stone.

I could go on and on about the trip but I think I would stop now, It was a very enlightening trip to go on, very exciting to learn about the ways and customs of the early Christians, how they lived, what they ate, what they wore, what they drank in or with, what they ate with, you know, just some cool and really mind-blowing stuffs. During the Second temple period at the Judean Desert, which was equipped with basic amenities, King Herod has a huge bathtub. I think it was about 1200 tons or something, but not really sure about the weight though. 

See ya later....

Ayokunle Falomo (C)2009

0 comments: