Daily Archives: January 12, 2008

Theology Matters . . . It Always Matters

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Seminary, writes some excellent material relating to Christianity and modern culture; that is, the Christian Worldview as it relates to other Worldviews.

In his most recent blog, Mohler reviews a book by George Weigel, a prominent Catholic intellectual and commentator. Weigel’s book, Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism, shows the importance of taking theology seriously in dealing with the threat of jihadism. I recommend that you read Dr. Mohler’s comments here.

“An amazing experience”

An Associated Press report by Anne Gearan is headlined “Bush Visits Biblical Holy Sites.” You may read the entire article here. The article says,

Bush retraced the steps of Jesus and his disciples in the ancient town of Capernaum and gazed out on the nearby Sea of Galilee, where the Bible says Jesus walked on water and calmed a sudden storm by commanding the wind and waves to cease. The waters were crystal blue and calm when Bush visited, leaning in to listen as a brown-robed friar narrated his tour with New Testament passages.

“An amazing experience,” Bush happily said later.

It is an amazing experience for anyone with an interest in the Bible and Jesus. Bush is reported to have said, “I came as a pilgrim.” Many people make pilgrimages to worship at a particular holy site. There is, perhaps, a higher purpose for visiting these sites. On our tours we seek to demonstrate the accuracy of the Bible in describing the Bible land. This involves learning about the geography and topography of the land that help one to better understand the important events that transpired there.

Sunset at Dalmanutha (Mark 8:10) at the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Sunset at Dalmanutha

The photo above was made at sunset from the site known as Dalmanutha, near the Mount of Beatitudes. Dalmanutha is mentioned only once in the New Testament. After the feeding of the 4000, Mark records that Jesus immediately “entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha” (Mark 8:10). In the distance, on the left, you can see the silhouette of Mount Arbel. Then, just to the right of that is the Via Maris (the way to the Mediterranean Sea) from Galilee. The saddle-shaped hill is an extinct volcano known as the Horns of Hattin.

It is “an amazing experience” to visit this land and contemplate these great events.