But it's a rather unsatisfactory form of proof for most of us. The "proof" is that Ama told you it was true.
However, you have some very, very, odd statements, some of which are demonstrably false, but which seem connected to this date.
I understand that there is modern day divine revelation involved with God telling Ama all sorts of things, but surely you are close enough to mainstream Christianity to accept that the Bible is sort of the granddaddy of all divine revelations, and that further revelation may complete what is told in the Bible, but not contradict it.
Given that, it's very hard to reconcile any calendrical claims that put Passover and Rosh Hashanah so close together. Leviticus 23 says that Passover is in the first month, and Rosh Hashanah et al are in the seventh month. It would be very odd, and very un-Jewish, if the Jews were to have set the date of one of those holidays based on one calendar, and the other based on a different calendar.
Furthermore, you assert that the date of Passover was fixed in Nisan only during the calendar reform of 358 AD. However, the Mishnah places it in Nisan, and that set of works was completed no later than AD 200. I would be very surprised to learn that it was ever in any month other than Nisan, ever, but I must admit that the only definitive documents I could find were in the Torah, and they all said "the first month". The Mishnah have generally been accepted as being written during the period of 200 BC to 200 AD, so it is conceivable that the date of Passover was not fixed in Nisan until after the time of Christ, but I think you will find no source outside of divine revelation via Ama that agrees witht that idea.
Purim, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter. It is now and always has been in the month of Adar. This is established firmly in the Bible itself, in the Book of Esther. Of that, there can be no doubt unless you assert that the Bible is just plain wrong. If you were to make such an assertion, I'm sure you would find much support for it here, but it might undermine your other positions.
Finally Dedication (Hanukkah) appears to always have been on 25th Kislev. I say "appears" because there is some tiny bit of wiggle room on that point. The festival is only known from the time of the Maccabees, and at that time it was fixed at 25 Kislev. You have asserted that there was an earlier festival that celebrates the original dedication of the first temple. There's no documentary evidence for this that I am aware of, but perhaps Ama has said it is so? Who am I to argue with a prophet of such standing?
In summary, many of your calendrical assertions appear to be in direct contradiction to the Bible. Given that, I think you would find it difficult to convince Christians that Ama could possibly have given a more accurate version of the various timelines than the widely accepted version of events.
@Meadmaker, #285
Ama just gave the August 17 crucifixion and May 23 birth dates, without year, to older listeners. I learned about them in 1983 when I first went to the session hall in Metro Manila. It was only in 1999 when we connected to the Internet that I checked if there is any ring of truth in them.
Yes, Meadmaker, the August 17 crucifixion date is odd because since I was a child, we have been observing the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday sometime in March or April, but not in August. In my study from 1999 to 2003, I mainly used the Holy Bible.
The Holy Bible is not only the “granddaddy of all divine revelations” but it is the only one that came from the only true God.
As I said, the Israelites were using two kinds of calendars when Jesus was crucified. Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Feast of the Dedication were in the purely lunar calendar, whereas Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkoth were in the lunisolar calendar.
Actually, during the lifetime of Jesus from 33 BC to 1 BC, the years when Passover was in the month of Tishri (the seventh month) were in 8 BC, 7 BC, and 6 BC.
Did you know that the Egyptians used at least two calendars: a civil solar calendar and a religious lunar calendar? They did not use any lunisolar calendar.
The Israelites learned only about the lunisolar calendar from the Babylonians during their exile in Babylon in the seventh century BC. From Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 15, page 465, column 2: “There is no reference to the New Year’s day in the Bible. After the conquest of Jerusalem (587 BC), the Babylonians introduced their cyclic calendar and the reckoning of their regnal years from Nisanu 1, about the spring equinox. The Jews now had a finite calendar year with a New Year’s day, and they adopted the Babylonian month names, which they continue to use.”
Later, when we discuss the nativity of Jesus, we will touch on Purim.
The Feast of the Dedication was in the lunar calendar. It was celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month. Prior to the crucifixion of Jesus, it was held on the following dates: Adar 15, 3757 (March 11, 4 BC), Adar 15, 3758 (March 1, 3 BC), Adar 15, 3759 (February 19, 2 BC), and Shevat 15, 3760 (February 8, 1 BC). John 10:22-23 state: “And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.” This happened on February 8, 1 BC.
