Did the drama try to link the flight to Pella to Jesus' advice to flee to the mountains in Mark 13? Pella lay across the Jordan outside Judea rather far from Jerusalem; it also lay at sea level and accessing it involved descending some 150 feet below sea level into the rift valley. Definitely not a flight to the mountains, and it lay on a main road (whereas a flight to the mountains implies a hiding place in the wilderness). Some of those who did flee to the mountains, such as to the fortress of Masada, didn't do very well.
2010 drama: historicity of Christians leaving Jerusalem between Roman wars
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite 32 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Hi Leo! Yes, when they saw Jerusalem surrounded they knew that they needed to "flee to the mountains"!
So, of course, since JC told them to flee to the mountains, they descended into a valley and settled into a prospering Greco-Roman city on a primary trade route.
Thanks for your insight!
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VM44
Is The Watchtower just making things up again?
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elderelite
damn it. the only thing i was looking forward to was shutting my brain off for a while when the lights went down. Now i have to pay attention for the inconsitancys... *sigh*
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Mad Sweeney
By using the term, 'mountains,' Jesus Christ evidently meant that his disciples should flee to a deep rift valley that overlaps with a mountain range.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
EE,
You know how "the brothers" "encourage" the friends to discuss "highlights" from the program afterward? When my sister asked me what I thought of the drama, I told her the truth, that the entire foundation was false. My niece chimed in with historical facts that it was all too contrived.
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BurnTheShips
If we do not accept Eusebius' account as authoritative, there is no way to no for sure where they went at this time, it seems to me.
It would also appear that the Jerusalem church returned from Pella after the end of the war.
In the little that I recall from previous research, most Christians were persecuted out of Jerusalem and Judea years before the first attack
James was killed in Jerusalem only a few years before the war. I think it was 62 AD or 64 AD.
According to 2nd C chronicler Hegesippus, regarding James, we have among surviving fragments quoted inother works:
http://earlychristianwritings.com/text/hegesippus.html
And so he suffered martyrdom; and they buried him on the spot, and the pillar erected to his memory still remains, close by the temple. This man was a true witness to both Jews and Greeks that Jesus is the Christ.
And shortly after Vespasian besieged Judaea, taking them captive.
BTS
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notverylikely
By using the term, 'mountains,' Jesus Christ evidently meant that his disciples should flee to a deep rift valley that overlaps with a mountain range.
It's an inverted mounted. Like a a belly button. Some people have an inverted belly button but they still have a belly button. Look, it's easy. If whatever the WTS says the bible says will happen doesn't happen, the bible clearly means the exact opposite.
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BurnTheShips
By using the term, 'mountains,' Jesus Christ evidently meant that his disciples should flee to a deep rift valley that overlaps with a mountain range.
This makes no sense to me.
Maybe they went to "the mountains" first, then settled in Pella temporarily after a time, then returned to Jerusalem after the war was over.
Also, we don't know if they left as a unit, or piecemeal, in groups.
I read somewhere that the election of James' successor was delayed because of the siege. This would seem to place the death of James very close to the time of the siege.
BTS
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NiceDream
Very interesting! Thank you for the historical background Billy. My sis-in-law shared with everyone how it reminded her of 1973...and then someone asked if she meant 1975. I failed to see how the very short time period in the drama related to waiting many decades for the end to come...only to wait more time for the end to come...and we're still waiting...