耶穌船

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/april/29.42.html?start=1

喺今期 Christianity Today, 有一篇訪問發現嗰隻"耶穌船"o既人o既文章, 幾有趣. 當然呢隻所謂"耶穌船"並唔係一隻耶穌坐過o既船, 不過係一隻同耶穌差唔多時期, 喺加利利湖o既沉咗落湖底o既船. 其實呢個並非新發現, 我記得好多年前喺 Biblical Archaeology Review 有一篇更加詳盡o既文章. 不過如果冇聽過呢單嘢o既人, 都不妨一睇.

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How was the Jesus Boat discovered?

It was a real surprise. After four years of drought, in 1986 the Sea of Galilee had retreated. Two brothers, Jewish fishermen, were walking on the exposed seabed and found coins, pieces of wood, and iron nails. They called us to check into it.

We started cleaning some of the boat, and suddenly we saw the mortise and tenon joints. We found a Roman oil lamp and a Roman cooking pot. It was a boat from Roman times! This is what we had been waiting for.

At that moment, there appeared a beautiful double rainbow. It was like a blessing. We danced there like Indians from happiness.

Then the problems started. The wood was completely waterlogged so it was like wet cardboard. Our boss at the Department of Antiquities didn't have equipment. Our group was just two archaeologists, two fishermen, and two others. We had only three buckets and two shovels. An expedition like this normally brings with it a million dollars, a year of preparation, laboratories, and a 40-person professional crew.

It seemed like mission impossible. We needed miracles. Everything was a miracle on this boat. People were so fantastic. People from the nearby kibbutz worked day and night. Christians, Jews, Arabs—everybody joined in. Luckily for us, American ambassador Thomas Pickering and his wife jumped in the mud with us. He helped us get funding and preservation material.

Somebody leaked to the press that this was a Turkish treasure boat that everybody had been [seeking] for 200 years. The area became a madhouse. People trekked over the site looking for gold. People with guns were chasing each other from the site. In the end, we had to be protected by police and guard dogs.

I had never been on an excavation where security people protected us, but where we also had an ice cream van and hot dog stands. People came in droves just to watch. At one point, 13 television stations from around the world were filming what was going on. It's the best recorded excavation I know of.

But then it started to rain. The drought was over, and the water was rising. If we left the boat where it was, it would be preserved. In another 200 years, maybe somebody else would find it. So we raced against time to clean the boat before the water reached it. We built dikes around it to continue the work.

It was so fragile. How did you get it out of the mud?

We built fiberglass ribs to support it, but they were not enough. So we made a cocoon out of plastic foam. We thought that maybe the foam cocoon would float. So we opened the dike, and after 2,000 years, the boat floated again on the Sea of Galilee. It floated about three kilometers to where we had built a pool, by the Yigal Allon Museum.

We then had to take off the plastic. It was worse than the mud. If it were cut with a hot knife, it would produce cyanide. So we had to use our fingernails.

We filled the pool with sweet water until 60,000 liters of polyethylene glycol arrived almost a year later from India, courtesy of Dow Chemical. One day, we noticed that the boat was full of worms. There were eggs in the mud from 2,000 years ago. We're talking Jurassic Park here. We could fight it with the chemicals, but then we'd pollute the water, and it would take another 10 years to get rid of that. We brought in experts from the U.S., but nobody knew how to do it without pollution. All the time, the fishermen stood around smiling. Finally they said, "Leave it to us; it won't cost anything." So they brought some goldfish and carp. The fish lived off the parasites for a year.

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精彩, 神奇, 超卓的教會講道

真係大開眼界. 呢個浸信會牧師認為, 根據聖經o既教導, 男人要企喺度呵尿, 坐喺度並唔係男人o既所為. 五月尾要去一間教會講道, 因為我一個月內連去兩次. 本來都諗唔到要講乜好, 但係而家好想講教會點解 abuse 聖經, 往往以聖經o既名義喺度自說自話, 順便講埋自己點解讀聖經研究.

保守教會阻反高鐵信徒受洗

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保守教會阻反高鐵信徒受洗

【本報訊】立場保守的基督教右派，近年在本港發展得聲勢浩大，不但呼籲信眾以白票反公投，還打壓信眾參與社會運動。宗教霸權關注行動成員秦晞輝表示，中國基督教播道會恩福堂一名有 10年信仰的 80後女信眾，懷疑因積極參加反高鐵運動，去年準備受洗前夕突遭教會喝停，批評右派教牧強迫信眾保皇。

秦晞輝昨日在「反對宗教護蔭權貴」記者會上，分享一名女性友人在教會內遭到邊緣化的經歷。他說這位 80後女性友人，已經有 10年信仰，是一位虔誠的基督信徒，但平日在教會內，得不到其他信眾認同，原因是她經常參與社運，包括反高鐵運動，每年也風雨不改出席六四集會與 7.1遊行，「佢每次同其他信眾講開呢啲社會議題，大家就傾唔埋，慢慢佢覺得自己喺教會內俾人邊緣化，有時甚至有活動都唔預埋佢參與。」

秦表示，有教會高層甚至對其友人說，盡量減少參與社運，「佢同我朋友講，做基督徒唔應該去呢啲集會。」但被友人一口拒絕。

主任牧師立場親建制友人原本準備於去年接受洗禮，並已完成了教會內要求的三個受洗前課程，然而在受洗前夕，有教會高層卻向她表示，暫時不能安排她受洗，原因是她的信仰未夠深，未適合受洗。秦坦言事件雖然對其友人帶來不少衝擊，但幸好沒有影響她參與社運的決心，「佢決定繼續留喺教會裏面，因為佢相信，有朝一日可以改變其他信眾嘅睇法， tune（調節）返正大家。」

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我最憎呢 d 嘢. 反高鐵而唔俾人受洗就估然係唔得, 而官方答案: "信仰未夠深, 未適合受洗", 亦同樣不知所謂. 受洗要信仰夠深, 到底聖經邊度有咁講過? 夠唔夠深, 到底又係由邊個決定? 你叫蘇穎智嚟同我 debate 下, 我一樣可以證實佢信仰同聖經知識未夠深. 我過去十幾年全職讀聖經研究同神學, 都未敢自覺"信仰夠深". 自以為信仰夠深o既人, 恐怕只係無知吧?

Are We Servants of God like Aaron? [sermon script]

最近我有兩份教會工去見, 兩間教會都叫我去星期日去講下道. 聽日將會係第一次, 我會講出埃及記 32, 尋日練習咗幾次, 錄低咗.