Crazy Ideas

So, today I had an interesting experience. I went shopping in the old city with Peter, which, while interesting, is not the experience to which I refer. That happened as we were on our way home. We passed a guy who then asked if we were American. Peter, being a nice American, turned around and answered. (I generally ignore all queries and comments addressed to me because ya never know what they might want...and I don't want to have to spend a lot of time escaping from someone trying to sell me something.) Anyway, this guy was, well, I'm not really sure what he was. He said he was just "an old cowboy" from New Mexico, I think. He was dressed more like a Orthodox Jew, though he didn't quite fit that part either. Anyway, he started talking to us (well, mostly to Peter) and telling us about his background. I guess he was a preacher for the Church of Christ for a number of years. Apparently he doesn't completely agree with their theology now, however. He started telling us about how the New Testament proves Judaism (or something along those lines), quoting verses like Matthew 5:17-18...mostly completely out of context. And asking questions like, "What did Yoshua say about how to be saved?" and then quoting Jesus' words to the rich young ruler.

Can I just say that I hate it when people ask questions, obviously expecting a certain answer, but you don't think that you can truthfully give them the answer they expect? (And generally they don't give you time to answer anyway.) Or when they say something and ask "Right?" And you want to be agreeable and say "Yes, of course" but you're not sure that you agree, either because you are not sure what they're asking and haven't had time to think it through, or because you might agree with part, but you're afraid that if you agree unconditionally they'll go on to draw further conclusions which you won't agree with at all. As much as I might like people who do this, I really don't like having discussions with them.

Anyway, I'm not quite sure exactly where this guy ended up with his leading questions, but it was some place mighty weird. I think he told us that Jesus Christ is the antichrist. He made a distinction between Yeshua/Yoshua (as Jesus would have actually been called in New Testament days) and the Greek/Englishized name "Jesus." Really rather odd. He emphasized names a lot, using the name of God repeatedly (thus proving that he wasn't really Jewish either).

They say Jerusalem can do odd things to people. I think this guy had some odd ideas before he got here, but I don't think being in Israel has cured him. :)

As Peter said (roughly), I hope I don't start having crazy non-sensical ideas when I get old!

Anyway, now that I've shared that story with you, I should get back to studying for archaeology. Speaking of which, have you ever considered EBIV/MBI aka "The Intermediate Bronze Age"? Well, you should. It really doesn't make sense.