Jesus the boy who changed the world

There have been many events and people who have changed the world: the creation of fire, the invention of the wheel, the invention of gun-powder; the discovery of Penicillin, the splitting of the atom and the decoding of the DNA double helix, not to mention to the invention of the internet that heralded a new digital age of technology. These events and many others like them have all had a profound and important impact upon humanity, technological progress and the advancement of civilization as we know it.

But there is one event – a birth – that changed the world forever and that is no hyperbole. The birth of Jesus is the single greatest event in human history. Luke’s Gospel tells of what a monumental event the birth of Jesus was and would be to the world:

“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

The angel was speaking to shepherds as they watched their flock at night. The significance of this visitation would not have been lost on Jewish audiences as the shepherds were caring for the very lambs that would have been used in the Passover Festival, the annual commemoration of the Passover in Egypt, where God passed over the first born of Israel sparing their lives for the sacrifice of the lamb made in their place. The Passover Lamb therefore was by nature a sacrificial lamb, an innocent life killed in place of the guilty in order to bring salvation for the people of Israel.

The parallelism here between Jesus’ birth and the lambs crazing on the hills awaiting the Passover is no coincidence: Jesus was born to die as the Lamb of God, the One and ultimate, atoning sacrifice for the sin of humanity. Yet this is only part of the reason why Jesus’ birth was the greatest event in human history. Matthew’s Gospel focusses on another aspect of the importance of Jesus’ birth, namely his sovereignty as long-foretold and prophesised Messiah and King of Israel:

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” Matthew 2:1-3

Jesus’ birth was fulfilment not just of Messianic prophecies that spoke of salvation but also of Messianic prophecies that spoke of Davidic Kingship. ‘Messiah’ in Hebrew means “anointed” or “chosen” one of God. The kings of ancient Israel, such as David and Solomon were anointed ones of God and Israel had long been expecting God to fulfil His covenant (promise) with David to raise up an heir to reign over his thrown and kingdom forever. Bethlehem, the small village roughly 6 miles south of Jerusalem, was called the city of David as this was where David was born. Any heir and potential Messiah must therefore have been born in Bethlehem, just as the scribes confirmed to Herod when he inquired of where the Messiah would be born:

“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” Micah 5:2

Jesus then was no ordinary person, He was no mere infant. Jesus was God’s chosen King and sacrificial Messiah to His people. Through Jesus would come salvation and eternal life as well as kingship, justice and peace. John’s Gospel elaborates on the divine nature of Jesus calling Him the Word (of God) made flesh (John 1:14). Jesus is the personification of God’s revelation and Law. The apostle Paul, who encountered the risen Jesus on his journey to Damascus also wrote of Jesus’ unique identity and personhood explaining that in Jesus the fullness of the deity (God) dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9). Jesus, as Scripture tells us, was none other than God incarnate.

Jesus changed the course of human history. Jesus’ birth marked a new way of dating chronology, we still talk today of CE (Common Era) and BCE (before Common Era) referring to His birth. Jesus inaugurated a new religion – Christianity – that would go on to become at this point of writing the world’s largest religion. Jesus has been the focal point of inspiration and influence from the high art of the Renaissance to the pop culture of the 20^th and 21^st centuries as indicated by characters such as Superman and Harry Potter. Jesus has influenced social revolution, theological reformation, religious iconoclasm as well as civil rights. Mahatma Ghandi, leader of Indian independence from the British Empire and devout Hindu once said of Jesus:

“What then does Jesus mean to me? He was one of the greatest teachers humanity has ever had.”

Albert Einstein, physicist and discoverer of the Theory of Relativity famously said of Jesus:

“No man can deny the fact that Jesus existed, nor that his sayings are beautiful…I am a Jew but I am enthralled by the aluminous figure of the Nazarene.”

Again let us return to what the Bible teaches of Jesus, He was given the name Jesus because in Hebrew it means “God saves”; His name was to foreshadow His atoning sacrifice upon the cross. But Jesus was also given a title Immanuel (Matthew 1:23), meaning “God with us”. Jesus who is Immanuel, the Son of David, the Son of God, Messiah and God’s chosen One to be King. Israel was pregnant with hope and expectation for the coming of their Messiah at the time of Jesus’ first coming. Two thousand years later and Christians across the world await patiently with expectation His second coming, not as baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, but as King the rider upon the white horse (Revelation 19:11) who will bring judgement upon Satan and the world.

Do not neglect the birth of Jesus this Christmas, nor underestimate its phenomenal importance to human history and to your very own life; a birth of cosmic proportions that has changed the shape of life as we know it altogether. Jesus is the bridge between heaven and earth.

 David Crowder Band 'O Come O Come Emmanuel'

Zao top 10

My passion for metal music has waxed and waned over the last few years. As my musical taste has broadened to encompass more genres and artists I have found myself desiring to listen to heavy music far less. Yet there are some musical experiences and bands that leave such a profound effect that they become imprinted onto your dna. Zao are one of those bands.

Originally formed as a evangelistic hardcore band, Zao's career took an earth shattering change of direction when current vocalist and soul of the band Dan Weyandt joined in 1997 with 'Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest'. Shortly after 'where blood and fire...' Scott Mellinger joined the band as lead guitarist who soon formed a strong musical partnership with then drummer Jesse Smith and Dan Weyandt that has come to define Zao's sound even to this day. Dan Weyandt is my favourite all time metal vocalist and his poignent lyrics have profoundly impacted me.

Here is my top 10 Zao songs from their 'second era' onwards:

10. Praise the War Machine (album The Funeral of God)

9. Truly, truly this is the end (album Funeral of God)

8. 5 year Winter (album Zao)

7. It's hard not to shake with a gun in your mouth (album The Fear is what keeps us here)

6. Savannah (album Liberate te ex infernis)

5. Skin like Winter (album Liberate te ex infernis)

4. Lies of Serpents, a river of tears (album Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest)

3. Desire the End (album Liberate te ex infernis)

2. A last time for everything (album The fear is what keeps us here)

1. The Latter Rain (album Where Blood and Fire bring rest)

Unfortunately there are no videos live or album version of the Latter Rain on youtube so you will have to listen to the album 'Where Blood and Fire...' on spotify or something to hear it. The song is about the Latter Rain of the Holy Spirit prophesized in the book of Joel. The song is basically in two acts, the first is sung in Dan Weyandt's extraordinary metal growls and the second is him speaking far more calmly. I love the journey the song takes the listener on and the spiritual overtones to the lyrics. It is at one and the same time an empowering song about the victory of God over evil and a lament to the spiritual blindness that shrouds modern society, hence the cry to send the Latter Rain. While not all of Zao's songs contain such a strong Biblical message to them, especially with Dan Weyandt's own changing views on faith and religion over the years nevertheless this song will forever be to me one of the greatest all time Christian metal songs.

The Redemption of Jeff Hardy

Controversy is never far from the famous, whose wealth and social status brings them power and opportunities that many of us will never see or experience. Jeff Hardy began his professional career as part of the highly innovative and successful tag team of the ‘Hardy Boyz’ with his brother Matt; together the Hardy Boyz lit up the tag team division in the WWE and were involved in many – now legendary – TLC matches (tables, ladders & chairs). However, even in the beginning there was a quality about Jeff, the greater risk taker of the partnership. Eventually Jeff broke away from his brother and went on to become one of the most popular faces in the WWE. Jeff’s showmanship, coupled with his penchant for high risk, aerial acrobatics was a recipe for success and popularity. His unique ring attire and face paint earned him the nickname the 'charismatic enigma'. Yet, despite his popularity with the fans behind the scenes, Jeff’s personal life was spiralling out of control. Drug abuse resulted in Jeff parting ways with the WWE and joining the then fledgling TNA promotion, which had high aspirations for its future. Jeff was a major signing for them and he spent three years in the company before finally returning to the WWE.

                

 Jeff’s second run in the WWE saw him propelled back into the spot light and after a string of high profile matches the main event, eventually culminating in him winning the world title at Armageddon 2008, in a triple threat match against Triple H and Edge – two of the most decorated men in the WWE. But Jeff would again leave the WWE in 2009 and once more return to TNA in January 2010. TNA had grown since Jeff’s first run with the company and it had also signed Hulk Hogan to the roster, arguably the most famous man in professional wrestling. Jeff’s popularity and achievements with the WWE put him right back into the main event in TNA and at Bound For Glory 2010 Jeff won his first TNA world title after turning heel and joining the now defunct Immortal heel faction. Jeff’s heel world title reign was rocky to say the least; the self-proclaimed ‘anti-Christ’ of wrestling found it hard to turn the crowd on him after being beloved for so many years. His personal demons also resurfaced, ending in a now infamous match at Victory Road 2011 against Sting in which he lost his world title that resulted in Jeff leaving wrestling.

               

 If this was where Jeff Hardy’s career ended, it would have been the stuff of Shakespearian tragedy – a man with natural born talent, charisma and the ‘IT’ factor that so many wrestlers aspire and work so hard to have, some never even finding it, only to throw his career away because of his inability to control his vices. I must admit that after Victory Road 2011 I had given up on Jeff. He had been a wrestler I had grown up watching and while respected his in-ring ability had never truly got behind him with all his personal issues. This was his curtain call, his final act and the end of his chances. His unprofessionalism had finally become too much for me and I was glad to see him gone.

That was then.

In August 2011, Jeff returned to TNA and begun his ‘redemption’. At first I was dubious; but then it struck me: as a Christian I believe in redemption. I believe in the importance and power of grace and forgiveness. Suddenly, the parallels between the Gospel and Jeff Hardy’s career became apparent to me. It would have been hypocritical of me to write off Jeff Hardy when God had so graciously forgiven me. The Bible teaches that all who come to Christ in faith become adopted children of God (John 1:12). If then I had been given a new life in Christ and forgiveness for my sin; then surely, professionally, Jeff Hardy deserved his chance for redemption. Jesus taught to forgive other people their sins that God may also forgive us (Matthew 6:14, Luke 6:37). This was Jeff’s opportunity to earn the forgiveness from TNA and from his fans.

Jeff’s redemption has been one of the most real things about wrestling in a long time. In an industry known for its larger than life characters and superhuman feats, reality is often suspended. But Jeff’s return to TNA in August 2011 marked a very important turning point in his career. Jeff’s redemption has not just been a story, told and narrated through the way he has been booked and the commentators at ring-side. It is real. Jeff's personal life has changed for the better; having become a father Jeff has cleaned up his life. Professionally, over the last year Jeff has been in some of the best matches on PPV; he has had some excellent performances against former world champion Bobby Roode and Kurt Angle and earlier this year won the prestigious Bound for Glory series at No Surrender guaranteeing him a match against the world champion in the main event at Bound for Glory, TNA’s biggest PPV of the year. Jeff has definitely given back to TNA; his performances have improved dramatically and are arguably on the same level they were at during his peak when he won the WWE world title in 2008.

At Bound for Glory 2012 Jeff Hardy regained the coveted TNA world title from Austin Aries, his first world title win as a face in the company. This victory has the potential to mark a new era in Jeff’s career; one that will see him fulfil his potential as a performer and as a champion. Time will tell whether this world title run will be his Indian summer but come what may, the moral of Jeff Hardy's career is that redemption is an essential part of life. We all are human with our flaws and vices. We all have the potential (being made in the image of God) to become outstanding people of good judgement, wisdom and righteousness. We all deserve a second chance. But more than that, Jeff Hardy's career is testiment to the fact that we all need grace. Grace is undeserved favour. TNA didn't have to take Jeff back onto their roster. But they showed him grace to prove himself once more. Through Jesus Christ God has demonstrated His remarkable grace that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). We are saved by grace alone (Ephesians 2:5). 

Fabricating Jesus

In a time of post-modern individualism and moral relativism, the nature and person of the historical Jesus is of critical importance to our understanding and faith (or lack of) in the Jesus Christ of the 4 New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Rather than writing a straight forward book review of 'Fabricating Jesus', I thought I would highlight some of its conclusions. 

The 'Gnostic Gospels' or extracanonical gospels that have been popularized by Dan Brown's the Da Vinci Code have become a very controversial area of scholarly debate. Some scholars believe these extracanonical gospels (not found in the Bible) actually pre-date, or at least their ideas and teachings pre-date those found in the New Testament. Evans looks at five such gospels - the gospel of Thomas, Mary, Peter, the Egerton gospel and the secret gospel of Mark. The dates of these Gnostic Gospels are all firmly placed within the second century. The gospel of Mary is dated to 160 AD, Peter 170 AD, the gospels of Egerton and Thomas 180 AD. In contrast scholars believe the New Testament Gospels were all composed in the first century - Mark is the earliest either between 50-60 AD, potentially only 20 years after the death of Jesus. Matthew and Luke were written a little later as they share similar content, which scholars believe has come from an extant source called 'Q' and were likely to have been written between 75-80 AD; and finally John was written between 90-95 AD.

The gospel of Thomas: The gospel of Thomas was found among the Nag Hammandi Codices in Egypt in 1945. The codices are believed to have been written between 350-380 AD. The codices were all written in Coptic. The teachings found in the gospel of Thomas are very esoteric in nature, in contrast to the teachings of Jesus found in the New Testament. The emphasis in the teachings of Thomas attributed to Jesus is one of knowing (Greek gnosis) rather than repentance and faith. Gnosticism places more emphasis on mysticism than on revelation. There is much evidence to suggest that the teachings found in Thomas do not pre-date the New Testament Gospels: 

1. Thomas knows many of the New Testament writings 2. Thomas contains Gospel material that scholars regard as late 3. Thomas reflects later editing in the Gospels 4. Thomas shows familiarity with distinctive Eastern, Syrian Christianity that did not emerge before the middle of the Second Century. This last point is especially important to understanding how reliable the gospel is as a source of information about the historical Jesus. Syriac language specialist Nicholas Perrin has translated the gospel of Thomas into both Greek and Syriac and has found a remarkable similarity between Thomas and the Syrian Diatessaron written by Tatian, a harmonization of the 4 New Testament Gospels. The Diatessaron was the only version of the New Testament Gospel traditions known to Syrian Christianity of the second century.

The gospel of Peter: Just like in the gospel of Thomas there is evidence in the gospel of Peter of late traditions rather than earlier traditions that pre-date the New Testament Gospels. The Pharisees, priests and elders all lament after the death of Jesus and acknowledge their guilt predicting that the fall of Jerusalem was now imminent. This lacks historical-realism and is evidence of anachronistic embellishment of the later antagonism between Jews and Christians after 70 AD and the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. The gospel also is highly inaccurate when it comes to Jewish customs as the Jewish elders camp out in the cemetery, as part of the guard keeping watch over Jesus' tomb. The fact the in Jewish custom you were ceremonially unclean and defiled for seven days because of corpse impurity not to mention their fear of graveyards at night shows great lack of familiarity and knowledge of the Jewish culture or religion of first century Israel. Further evidence of unreliability and later embellishment can be found in the mythologizing of the resurrection account, complete with talking cross and angels whose heads reach all the way to heaven. It is highly improbable that the gospel of Peter with all its inaccuracies, anachronisms and embellishment represents a more primitive, and therefore more historically reliable source of Jesus. 

The secret gospel of Mark: This supposed gospel is a modern hoax. Little needs to be said here in this blog about the secret gospel of Mark other than the fact that experts in the science of the detection of forgeries have proven this gospel to be a modern hoax, most likely perpetrated by the 'discoverer' of the gospel Morton Smith, who claimed in 1960 to have found it while on sabatical in the Judean wildnerness in 1958. 

Moving away from the scrutiny of the historicity of the Gnostic/extracanonical gospels, the latter part of 'Fabricating Jesus' deals with the issue of pseudo-history and archeology and the rise in popular literature of authors claiming to have discovered the real historical Jesus through decyphering codes and uncovering conspiracies. In 1982 Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln published 'The Holy blood and the Holy Grail', which claimed that Jesus had married Mary Magdalene, had children by her who relocated to France and later married into noble French families. The Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion, a secret society founded in 1099 knew this and were charged with keeping this fact secret. The whole thing was discovered to be a hoax created by Pierre Plantard and his friends, who later admitted to it under oath in a French court of Law leading to Plantard's imprisonment for Fraud. 

It is this book and their other work the Dead Sea Scrolls Deception (another fictitious work, which was disproven by the very Dead Sea Scrolls in question) that inspired Dan Brown to write the Da Vinci Code, who Baigent and Leigh sued for theft of intellectual property. There are also many errors when it comes to Church history and the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the Da Vinci Code, which prove lack of historical scholarship or research, such as the content, origin and date of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Emperor Constantine, the language of the gospel of Philip and the nature of the Coptic codices. I want to finish this blog by quoting Evan's conclusion to what he calls 'hokum history':

Common to this hokum history and these bogus findings are eccentric approaches that competent, trained, historians find utterly implausible. Legends, rumours, forged documents, hoaxes and pyschic intuition hardly constitute the stuff from which sober historical truth will be found...They are not based on credible evidence; they do not follow recognized standards of critical investigation; and they do not offer anything approaching genuine history. (Evans, p. 221, 2007)

 Contrary to many people's cynicism and skepticism, rigorous critical criteria for assessment is used when assessing ancient manuscripts, documents and codices relating to antiquity. The Criteria for Authenticity used by New Testament scholars are as follows: 1. Historical Coherence, 2. Multiple Attestation, 3. Embarressment, 4. Dissimilarity, 5. Semitism and Palestinian background and 6. Coherence (or consistency). For further information on this criteria I recommend you read Evan's book 'Fabricating Jesus' for yourself and learn how the extracanonical works mentioned in the book fail under closer examination and scrutiny.

'Fabricating Jesus' deftly and eruditely dispells many myths regarding contemporary Jesus research and exposes the agendas and special pleading of many very liberal and skeptical New Testament scholars. Jesus is not just a myth with which we have the right, intellectually or spiritually to create in our own image, for the satisfaction of our own imagination. Once you ignore and reject the canonical Gospels you find yourself in a land of inaccuracy, anachronism, fantasy and myth. The Jesus of the Gospels and the historical Jesus are one and the same; they are synonymous and interchangeable. 

The Kingdom of God

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” 

Mark 1:15

Is there anything more profound than the personification of the rule, law and deity of God almighty in the person of Jesus Christ? Jesus' words in Mark chapter 1 are pregnant with hope and joy. The Kingdom of God occupied much of Jesus' teaching and was at the centre of his mission. Wonderfully, the kingdom of God is not just some heavenly dream but a temporal reality. When Jesus proclaimed the time is "fulfilled" he was not referring to the end of the world (evidently) but that hundreds of years of messianic prophecy was fulfilled in him:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." 

Isaiah 9:6 

Again in allusion to this glorious fulfilment of prophecy Jesus boldly proclaimed to the Pharisees:

"Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

 Luke 17:20-22

What does the kingdom of God mean? How do you define it? The kingdom of God can be understood as the 'rule of God'; in other words God's law having preeminence and power over the world. This rule was inaugurated in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. When asked by John's disciples if Jesus was the messiah, Jesus responded by affirming his fulfilling of messianic promises and the manifestation of the reality of the kingdom of God:

"Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them."

Luke 7:22 

Jesus manifested the very restorative and rehabilitating power of the kingdom of God. Under God's rule and sovereignty there is justice for the oppressed, healing for the lame and life that has overcome the grip of death. In God's kingdom there is also banishment and freedom from the evil that ultimately originates from Satan and his demonic legion:

"But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Matthew 12:28

Truly the kingdom of God is the purest, most noble, virtuous and glorious of pursuits. Through faith in Jesus, the power and rule of the kingdom of God is manifested through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost to the Church. The Holy Spirit, the very Spirit that raised Christ from the dead: the very Spirit of Jesus himself (Matthew 28:20). This kingdom is the greatest prize any person can ever conceive to be awarded or earn, as Jesus himself enunciates in his parables:

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Matthew 13:44

Here the kingdom of heaven is synonymous and interchangeable with kingdom of God. Experiencing the glory of the kingdom of God is filled with inexplicable joy and happiness. It is a path - the 'way' as the early Church referred to it (Acts 9:2); it is the "ancient path" that God through Jeremiah instructed Israel to seek out and walk upon:

"Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16

How does one experience the kingdom of God? Only through Jesus who as mentioned above is the incarnation of God almighty and the personification of the kingdom of God. Jesus is the messiah prophesied thousands of years ago, Israel's true king as Pilate declared as he nailed the sign to Jesus' cross that read in Aramiac, Greek and Latin "King of the Jews" (John 19:19).

How incredible that the God of the universe, creator and sustainer of all life - that this transcendant, holy, pure and all powerful being would manifest His essence, the very Shekinah glory of His being and the authority and sovereignty of His rule in the person of Jesus Christ! 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Matthew 6:33

Review: The Dark Knight Rises (contains spoilers)

Don't read this review if you don't want to learn specific details about the plot. You have been warned!

If the Dark Knight redefined the superhero genre then the Dark Knight Rises revolutionises it. This is comic book story telling on an unprecedented scale. The Dark Knight Rises is not just the third film in Christopher Nolan's reboot. This is the final chapter in Nolan's trilogy. A true trilogy is a rare thing nowadays - many movie franchises are protracted in order to generate as much income for Hollywood as they can. But The Dark Knight Rises truly ties together the threads woven in Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. The continuity with the previous two films is one of the strongest features of the Dark Knight Rises and one of its biggest triumphs. 

In Bane you have at last a villain with both a physical and theatrical presence on screen. Every scene Bane is in, like a gravitational pull, his presence is felt and you sense the fear eminating from each character as they tread with trepidation even at the sound of his name. Bane's voice, a point of contention when the prologue was released last year, is to Bane what the facial scars were to the Joker and gives his character added mystery and intrigue. There is something innately sinister about not being able to discern someone's real voice. Bane's distorted dialogue and monologue really helps to establish the uniqueness of the character, which was always going to be a hard act to follow after Heath Ledger's posthumously oscar winning performance as the maniacal Joker.

The supporting cast are an outstanding feature of this film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character John Blake, a precocious police officer turned detective brings a lot of emotional depth to the film as an honest citizen of Gotham who grew up in an Orphanage idolizing Bruce Wayne who he always suspected of being Batman due to his ability to empathise and understand the trauma and pain of losing his parents. Anne Hathaway's Catwoman is sexy and stylish, while her alias Selina Kyle is more vulnerable and conflicted. The chemistry between her and Batman is tantalizing and scintillating as each scene they are in is filled with sexual tension, mutual respect and a deep moral yearning to create a new life in which deception and violence play no part.

Undoubtedly though the star of this film is the Dark Knight himself Bruce Wayne/Batman. Ultimately this is a trilogy about Bruce Wayne, not Batman. The film starts eight years after the Dark Knight and Batman has gone into hiding having taken the blame for Harvey Dent's death and subsequently becoming villified by the Police. Bruce Wayne has become a recluse, keeping himself to the east wing of Wayne Manor heartbroken and bereaved of his lost love Rachel Dawes. His injuries have caught up with him and now he walks with a cane due to lack of cartillage in his knees. Only the theft of his mother's pearl necklace, and his finger prints from the safe in which they were locked, brings him out of Wayne Manor and back into society as he tracks down Catwoman. Over the course of the film Bruce learns to live and love again but he also learns the hard way about physical suffering combined with accute mental torture. Rashly, Batman challenges Bane to a dual but eight years away from crime fighting Batman is no match for the power and aggression of Bane and so succumbs to his latest adversary's remarkable strength (itself born not of a super serum but his own suffering). Literally a broken man, Bruce Wayne must recover and go through the same suffering Bane himself endured as a young man. 

The character progression of Bruce Wayne is awe-inspiring, this is a story in which Bruce Wayne must go on a journey of self-discovery. Rotting in a prison cell, somewhere in the far East Bruce Wayne must truly learn how to survive and regain the will to win and defeat Bane. When he finally returns to Gotham, which has been overrun by Bane and his henchmen and under the threat of nuclear annhilation, as Bane possesses and is in control of a nutron bomb converted from the core of a nuclear generator, created to give Gotham clean, renewable energy; Batman must confront Bane a second time while saving the city from certain exstinction.

This is a stylish, intelligent, dramatic and epic conclusion to the Dark Knight trilogy. The plot is full of emotion, the script is intelligently written with fantastic interplay between all of the lead characters; the action sequences are mesmerizing and the fight scenes are emotively choreographed and charged. The casting is superb and the acting second to none. I sincerely loved everything about this film and it surpassed even my expectations as a Batman fanatic.

New Evidence for the Historical reliability of the Gospels

This is a very interesting lecture given by Dr Peter Williams regarding new evidence to support the Historical reliability and historiocity of the 4 Canonical Gospels found in the New Testament. Dr Williams arguments are lucid and erudite. I was not familiar with some of this 'new' research and so found the study of correlations both inside and outside the Gospels to 1st Century Israeli names very fascinating. This lecture does not seek to completely discredit all skeptical theories about the fabrication of the Gospels, rather put forward a positive and logical argument for their reliabilty and plausibility. Note the lecture is roughly 53 minutes long.

Overview:

1.       The Chinese Whispers analogy to discredit the 4 Gospels is flawed in many ways.

2.       New research over the last 10 years has found a strong correlation between the most common Jewish names in First Century Israel and those found in the 4 Gospels.

3.       The Gnostic Gospels use of the title ‘Christ’ rather than the name Jesus is an indication of later authorship and lack of connection to the events i.e. not eye witness reports but fabrications.

4.       Use of disambiguation (differentiating between people of the same name) in the 4 Gospels supports evidence that the Gospel writers were highly accurate in their narrative.

5.       Jesus’ teachings are very Jewish in nature, which would be audience specific – the early Church, which was more Gentile, did not use parables as a method of teaching. If the 4 Gospels were not based on reliable, eye witness data then they would have contained more Gentile literary and teaching devices to them.

6.       Obscure geographical locations are used in the 4 Gospels that only people with knowledge of the area/region would have known about. Compared to the Gnostic Gospels, which rarely mention any geographical locations (some not at all and others only the capital Jerusalem).

7.       Test of Botany – mention of specific fauna to particular areas supports the plausibility of the 4 Gospels being written based on eye-witness data.