NEWLY DISCOVERED CHURCH

NEWLY DISCOVERED CHURCH


Dear readers,

I thank you so much for your patience right now. As we have shared with you before we have had many mishaps since we started writing this. Again tonight the computer decided to eat up the article. I have my notes and will rewrite them tomorrow.

I am sorry for making you wait another day. Please forgive me rEcj

I am including a wonderful article that was on the Internet just a few days ago that is reason to celebrate. If you missed it, I hope you will enjoy reading about it.

God Bless We are yours in Christ
rECj/ljg

Newly discovered inscription 'to God Jesus Christ' at Megiddo dates from 3rd century
In 2005, the remains of an ancient church were discovered in the grounds of the prison at Megiddo, Israel.

This church, which measures 10 meters by 5, has mosaics on the floor including fish – the fish was used as a symbol of Christianity before the cross.

Most importantly, one of these mosaics includes an inscription with the words ‘to God Jesus Christ.’
The church was used by Roman soldiers stationed at Megiddo, and was part of a large building complex which included living quarters for Roman officers, ritual baths, and a bakery.
Archaeologists have dated this church building to around 230 AD. This means it is the earliest Christian church building discovered in Israel – and the inscription is the earliest inscription anywhere mentioning Jesus Christ.

Armageddon Church

I understand that the mosaic mentions a table. I would like to elaborate on the meaning of this finding, but first, perhaps its best to talk about the beginning of Christianity. Perhaps the most important thing about Christianity's origin, is that not much is known about it. In the Roman empire of the first century lived several million Jews but only a couple of thousands Christians. Today, Christianity is the most wide spread religion in the world, yet we know so little of its origin, and whatever we do know about the early Christians comes from Christian origins, and is suspected to be somewhat biased.

Textual evidence surviving from that era is very hard to find. Leather, the paper of ancient times, doesn’t preserve very well, so most of the texts are found on mosaics. From what I have seen, the mosaic text is in a very good shape, and this kind of luck is quite uncommon.

Researchers of Christianity argue about the origin of the Eucharist. Many of them think that the early Christians did not perform the Mass ceremony as it is preformed today. It is thought that they ate a communally meal. The early Christians were few, so perhaps it comes as no surprise that they could gather around a single table. This communally meal, in which bread and wine were served to the members sitting around the table, is considered the origin of the Mass ceremony. Later the table became the altar. This is the significance of the Megiddo prison finding which is considered to be one of the most ancient churches yet to be found. For the first time archeological evidence mentions a table and not an Altar to be used for the communion rite. This may be the origin of the rite, or a transition stage before the table has been transformed to an Altar.

Again, the significance of the finding of the Megiddo prison is that for the first time there is an objective mention of a table and not an Altar, which sheds light on the origin of the Altar in Christianity. Gathered around the table, the early Christians sat and ate the communally meal, which may be the origin of the Communion ceremony. Archaeological evidence that sheds light on the origin of the Altar and the communion rite, found in a maximum security prison- well you've got yourself another episode of Indiana Jones.

God Bless
rECj/LJG

I am sorry I am so late getting this on the site today. My computer is on a fit too. LJG