The Garden Tomb, Sabbath, and More!

Shabbat Shalom!

Greetings on this wonderful Sabbath. Well, I've finally posted the first round of pictures on the wild, wild, web. Please feel free to check out the pics at:

http://photos.yahoo.com/robkol2

Just click on the individual picture for a description of what it is.

In other news, I have discovered the best invention ever. Last night I was able to download Skype (www.skype.com) and talk to my friends Rich and Melissa for free! Thats right, 100% free. As long as you have Skype on your computer I can call you anytime. So please, everyone who wants to talk to me, go by a headset and install Skype on your computer today. It was so good to be able to talk to my friends and cell phones are pretty expensive over here..so it looks like I'll be trying to do all my talking through Skype as I can't afford to pay for a cell phone.

A few nights ago I was listening to a sermon from a Pastor that I respect a lot. He maintains that the Garden Tomb is a more accurate location for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. So I decided to go check it out for myself (I placed the pictures on my yahoo site). The place was beautiful, and it looked much more like the tomb I would picture Jesus being laid in. There is a considerable amount of evidence for this site.

--It used to be a quarry (the Bible mentions that Jesus was crucified in an old quarry)

-- There is a rock cliff that looks just like a skull (the place of the skull or Golgotha that is mentioned in the NT)

-- It was located along a major street (Romans always crucified people along main roads to maximize humiliation.)

-- It was cut out of solid rock and not a natural cave (Matt 27:60)

-- It was sealed by a large rolling stone, as indicated by the large channel outside the front wall (Matt 27:60)

-- Inside there would've been space for several mourners to stand inside the large weeping chamber (Luke 24:1-3, 10)

-- There is a large cistern and winepress which indicate the place belonged to a very wealth man (i.e. Joseph of Arimathea)

-- The burial place is on the right side of the tomb (Mark 16:5)

-- The burial place is visible from the outside (John 20:5)

The one main problem with this site is that it dates back to centuries before the time of Jesus, and the Bible mentions that the tomb of Jesus was a new, unused tomb. So that would place the location more in favor of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I guess the controversy will rage on for the time being. There are a few problems with each site, but it seems like more people still favor the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the original location.

So last night we celebrated our first Shabbat dinner together. Everyone got dressed up and had a beautiful dinner with candles and we recited many blessings to God. At night we had a worship service outside around the fire. I then went into the new city with my friends Angela, Owen, Cindy and Will. We went to one of our favorite restaurants and hung out for a while. Its been great getting to know everyone over here, as it can get really lonely at times. I hope everyone is doing well, feel free to drop me an e-mail at robkol2@gmail.com

Shema,

Rob Kol