Wednesday June 15th

To start today I would like wish you a happy St. Vit day, and happy birthday to my dad!  Last night we finished our day by hearing from some young missionaries (oops...I can't use that word here because it is against the law to proselytize here) and today we started by going to a ministry called “Bridges for Peace”.  This organization is like a food closet but does far more.  Often among the Jews and Arabs they try to reach it is difficult if not an impossible for them to accept aid from Christians.  It is a wonderful ministry.

From there we went to the Israeli Museum.  We saw a scale model of ancient Jerusalem.  It must have been something to behold back in Jesus' time.  The temple mount would have been impressive even today.

Jerusalem model in Jesus' time

The historic relic we were able to see was some of the scroll fragments that were found at Qumran (near the dead sea...see blog post from day 6).  Portions of the Isaiah scroll was on display.  This is called the shrine of the book.

After our brief visit we continued to the holocaust museum.  We spent a short amount of time there but is was very impacting.

Hall of Remembrance at the Holocaust Museum

The whole trip our guide has been teasing us with the meaning and origin of the Star of David symbol (this is the double triangle star found on the Israeli flag).  One night when I had internet access I google'd it and it did not give a definitive answer.  Actually the symbol has no Jewish significance.  Up until the holocaust the symbol was largely unknown.  Hilter used it to identify the Jews.  So the symbol on the Jewish flag is a Nazi design borrowed from India (FYI the swastika is also a symbol taken from India).  Our guide told us most Jews don't even know this.

Then we went to Bethlehem.  Our guide left us because as a Jew he is not allowed to go there.  Bethlehem is located in the Palestinian occupied territories.

Bethlehem

The political situation here is difficult.  There is no easy solution.  The Palestinian occupied territories are surround by a large concrete wall and there is a check point to pass through.  I've never been to Berlin but it reminded me of the Berlin wall.

In Bethlehem we went to the Church of the Nativity.  This is the “location” of Jesus' birth.

They even have memorial to the “spot” of the birth.  But the church was built some 6 centuries after Jesus' birth.  It was meaningful from the point to know that Jesus was born somewhere here.  From there we went to the Shepard's field.  This is were the Shepard left to go see the baby Jesus.

Jerusalem is a very unique city.  A lot of cultures clash here.  The city goes by over 70 different names.  Everything here, regardless of who you are (Muslim, Jewish or Christian) is so religious.  People make relics and idols out of everything.  I don't even like the term religious.  I think of religion as a man made system that is all about dos and don’ts and about man trying to please God.  I think “true religion” is God reaching down to us, to our level to save us.  That is exactly what Jesus has done.  It is up to us to either accept it or reject it.