Israel: Sensation or forgery? Researchers hail dramatic First Temple period finding

"If I say 446 BCE, I am trying to a date in a calendar system that you are familiar with, but not assume that you follow christianity"

two points:

1) Who says that you have to be a christian to use the christian calendar? Its use in no way assumes that either the writer or reader follows that faith any more than my reading the Chinese zodiac means that I'm Chinese.

2) If people wish to use our calendar system, but have a fixation that they not be in any way contaminated with christianity in the process, then they should use some other calendar. To do otherwise is essentially to say: "I want to use this calendar for the practical reason that it is the most common one in use, but I don't want to be associated with its creators in any way or give its creators credit for its creation." That, is plagarism (and its a plagarism that is driven by a type of bigotry, I might add).

Vizzini: So, it is down to you, and it is down to me...if you wish her dead, by
all means keep moving forward.
Man in black: Let me explain...
Vizzini: There's nothing to explain. You're trying to kidnap what I have
rightfully stolen.
Man in black: Perhaps an arrangement can be reached?
Vizzini: There will be no arrangements...and you're killing her.
Man in black: But if there can be no arrangement, then we are at an impasse.
Vizzini: I'm afraid so. I can't compete with you physically, and you're no
match for my brains.
Man in black: You're that smart?
Vizzini: Let me put it this way: Have you ever heard or Plato, Aristotle,
Socrates?
Man in black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons!
Man in black: Really! In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits.
Vizzini: For the princess? To the death? I accept!
Man in black: Good, then pour the wine. [Vizzini pours the wine] Inhale this
but do not touch.
Vizzini: [taking a vial from the man in black] I smell nothing.
Man in black: What you do not smell is Iocaine powder. It is odorless,
tasteless, and dissolves instantly in liquid and is among the more
deadly poisons known to man.
Vizzini: [shrugs with laughter] Hmmm.
Man in black: [turning his back, and adding the poison to one of the goblets]
Alright, where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends
when you decide and we both drink - and find out who is right, and who
is dead.
Vizzini: But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine it from what I know of
you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own
goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his
own goblet because he would know that only a great fool would reach for
what he was given. I am not a great fool so I can clearly not choose
the wine in front of you...But you must have known I was not a great
fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine
in front of me.
Man in black: You've made your decision then?
Vizzini: [happily] Not remotely! Because Iocaine comes from Australia. As
everyone knows, Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And
criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not
trusted by me. So, I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
Man in black: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
Vizzini: Wait 'till I get going!! ...where was I?
Man in black: Australia.
Vizzini: Yes! Australia! And you must have suspected I would have known the
powder's origin,so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in black: You're just stalling now.
Vizzini: You'd like to think that, wouldn't you! You've beaten my giant, which
means you're exceptionally strong...so you could have put the poison in
your own goblet trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly
not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my
Spaniard, which means you must have studied...and in studying you must
have learned that man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far
from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front
of me!

Man in black: You're trying to trick me into giving away something. It won't
work.
Vizzini: It has worked! You've given everything away! I know where the poison
is!
Man in black: Then make your choice.
Vizzini: I will, and I choose...[pointing behind the man in black] What in the
world can that be?
Man in black: [turning around, while Vizzini switches goblets] What?! Where?! I
don't see anything.
Vizzini: Oh, well, I...I could have sworn I saw something. No matter. [Vizzini
laughs]
Man in black: What's so funny?
Vizzini: I...I'll tell you in a minute. First, lets drink, me from my glass
and you from yours.

[They both drink]

Man in black: You guessed wrong.
Vizzini: You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched
glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha, you fool!! You fell victim to
one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a
land war in Asia; and only slightly less well known is this: Never go
in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!

[Vizzini continues to laugh hysterically. Suddenly, he stops and falls right
over. The Man in black removes the blindfold from the princess]

It could be, he says, the most significant archaeological finding yet in Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.

Isn't that what they said a few months ago about the burial box of "James, the brother of Yeshua"?

When I lived in Israel, in the 1970's, I heard the tale of a rabbi (told to me by his daughter) who, back in the 1930's, was taken by a Bedouin to a place out in the desert and shown a cache of items which he recognized as ancient basins, vessels and salvers which had been used for services in the Temple. Not wanting these holy objects to fall into the hands of antiquities traders or archaeologists, he buried the cache and destroyed all the landmarks leading to it.

I could tell you what happened to the Bedouin, but then I'd have to kill you.

In his conversation with Ha'aretz, Dr. Barkai noted that "the problem here is that circumstances of the finding are not clear..."

We know why that is the case.

Excavations by Arab/Muslims are destructive to any culture other than their own. Once again, it's their insecurities about themselves vis a vis other cultures, their denigration of anything that isn't Arab/Muslim and their propensity for lying.

A personal anecdote:

While living in Libya some years ago, I had the opportunity to descend into a dig of an early Christian church being excavated in Tripoli. My mother, the Swiss ambassador's wife and myself crawled down ladders to get to it.

We were surely among the few non-Libyans who were able to go there. To be on a site which had not seen the light of day for almost 2000 years is a truly awe-inspiring experience. I doubt that much has been recovered since then as Ghaddhaffi has taken power. The ambassador's wife who knew the archeologist said he told her that an ancient Greek oil lamp was thrown against a wall by some Libyan official who indicated that it was of no interest because "it was not Arab."

"Hijacking?" The purpose of FR is to post news items and to comment on the items and the media's portrayal of the story. I noticed something in the story that I thought needed to be discussed. Hardly a hijacking. If you don't like my discussion, you don't have to post about it. Just read and move on.

As for the point of my comments: There are three types of people who use "BCE" when stating dates:

1) Elitist liberals who want to use the calendar but who do not want to be associated with the religion of the peasants in fly-over country.

2) Members of other religions who want to use the calendar but who harbor a conscious or subconscious dislike of Christianity.

3) Weak-willed people who go along with the flow because they are intimidated by folks in categories #1 and #2.

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