10 Holy Grail
The mystery: Where is the Holy Grail?
According to Christian mythology, the Holy
Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by
Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess
miraculous powers. The connection of
Joseph of Arimathea with the Grail legend
dates from the late 12th century in which
Joseph receives the Grail from an
apparition of Jesus and sends it with his
followers to Great Britain. Belief in the
Grail and interest in its potential
whereabouts has never ceased. Ownership
has been attributed to various groups
(including the Knights Templar, probably
because they were at the peak of their
influence around the time that Grail stories
started circulating. There are cups claimed
to be the Grail in several churches, for
instance the Saint Mary of Valencia
Cathedral, which contains an artifact, the
Holy Chalice (pictured above – note, only
the top “cup” portion is original),
supposedly taken by Saint Peter to Rome in
the first century, and then to Huesca in
Spain by Saint Lawrence in the 3rd
century. The Valencia chalice does hold
some merit as a contender for the true
grail as it has been scientifically asserted
to have been created between the 4th
century BC and the first century AD in the
Middle East. Other stories claim that the
Grail is buried beneath Rosslyn Chapel or
lies deep in the spring at Glastonbury Tor.
Still other stories claim that a secret line
of hereditary protectors keep the Grail, or
that it was hidden by the Templars in Oak
Island, Nova Scotia’s famous “Money Pit”.
9 Ark of the Covenant
The mystery: Where is the Ark of the
Covenant?
The Ark of the Covenant is a container
described in the Bible as containing the
tablets of stone on which were inscribed
the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron’s
rod and manna. The ark was kept in
Jerusalem until the Babylonians plundered
and destroyed the temple. From then, the
Ark entered the domain of legend as it
vanished forever. Some of the theories for
where it may be are: Intentional
concealment by the priests under the
Temple Mount; Intentional removal from
Jerusalem in advance of the Babylonians;
and Removal of the Ark by the Ethiopian
prince Menelik I. Modern excavations near
the Temple Mount in Jerusalem have found
tunnels, but digging beneath the Temple
Mount is heavily restricted. One of the
most important Islamic shrines, the Dome
of the Rock, sits in the location where the
First Temple of Solomon is alleged to have
stood. According to the Bible, King Solomon,
when building the temple, had the Ark of
the Covenant put on a platform which could
be lowered down into a tunnel system if the
Temple were ever overrun. This would make
it a plausible location.
8 Sodom and Gomorrah
The mystery: Were they real cities and if so
where are they?
For the sins of their inhabitants Sodom,
Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim were
destroyed by “brimstone and fire from the
Lord out of heaven” (Genesis 19:24-25). In
Christianity and Islam, their names have
become synonymous with impenitent sin,
and their fall with a proverbial
manifestation of God’s wrath. The
historical existence of Sodom and Gomorrah
is still in dispute by archaeologists. The
Bible indicates they were located near the
Dead Sea. Possible candidates for Sodom or
Gomorrah are the sites discovered or
visited by Walter E. Rast and R. Thomas
Schaub in 1973, including Bab edh-Dhra,
which was originally excavated in 1965 by
archaeologist Paul Lapp. Other possibilities
also include Numeira, es-Safi, Feifeh and
Khanazir, which were also visited by Schaub
and Rast. All sites were located near the
Dead Sea, with evidence of burning and
traces of sulfur on many of the stones and
a sudden stop of inhabitation towards the
end of the Early Bronze Age.
7 Garden of Eden
The mystery: Where is the Garden of Eden?
While the majority of Biblical scholars and
theologians consider that the story of the
Garden of Eden is most likely not literal,
some people do believe that the place
existed in reality. Furthermore, the Bible
gives directions to the location. This has
led to many attempts to locate the garden.
The creation story in Genesis relates the
geographical location of both Eden and the
garden to four rivers (Pishon, Gihon,
Tigris, Euphrates), and three regions
(Havilah, Assyria, and Kush). There are
hypotheses that place Eden at the
headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates
(northern Mesopotamia), in Iraq
(Mesopotamia), Africa, and the Persian
Gulf. While the true location is a mystery,
there is a particularly fascinating twist to
this tale: Ethiopia is mentioned as being
near or surrounding the Garden of Eden in
Genesis 2:13 (“And the name of the second
river is Gehon: the same is it that
compasseth all the land of Ethiopia.”).
Since 1974 Paleontologists have excavated
six million years of life and conclude that
Ethiopia is the scientific location of human
origin, a scientifically true Garden of
Eden.
6 Bible Codes
The mystery: The Bible appears to contain
coded messages; is this a coincidence?
The Bible code, also known as the Torah
code, is a series of messages alleged to
exist within the Bible text, that when
decoded form words and phrases supposedly
demonstrating foreknowledge and prophecy.
The study and results from this cipher have
been popularized by the book The Bible
Code.
The primary method by which purportedly
meaningful messages have been extracted
is the Equidistant Letter Sequence (ELS).
To obtain an ELS from a text, choose a
starting point (in principle, any letter) and
a skip number, also freely and possibly
negative. Then, beginning at the starting
point, select letters from the text at equal
spacing as given by the skip number. For
example, the bold letters in this sentence
form an ELS. With a skip of -4, and
ignoring the spaces and punctuation, the
word SAFEST is spelled out backwards. Bible
codes proponents usually use a Hebrew
Bible text. The use and publication of
“predictions” based on Bible codes has
succeeded in bringing about popular
awareness of the codes, most notably based
on the work of journalist Michael Drosnin.
Drosnin’s most famous prediction, in 1994,
was the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime
Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, using a Bible code
technique.
5 The Lost Tribes
The mystery: What happened to the lost
tribes?
The phrase Ten Lost Tribes of Israel refers
to the ancient Tribes of Israel that
disappeared from the Biblical account after
the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed,
enslaved and exiled by ancient Assyria.
Many groups of Jews have doctrines
concerning the continued hidden existence
or future public return of these tribes.
This is a subject that is partially based
upon authenticated and documented
historical fact, partially upon written
religious tradition and partially upon
speculation. There have been some bizarre
claims about who may be descended from
the lost tribes. Some claims include the
Irish, Native Americans, British, and the
Japanese. The Kaifeng Jews (pictured
above) in China claim to be descended from
one of the lost tribes.
4 The Pharaoh of Exodus
The mystery: Who was the pharaoh of the
Exodus?
The Pharaoh of the Exodus is the pharaoh
(king) who ruled over ancient Egypt at the
time of the Exodus. More precisely, it is the
question of who this pharaoh might have
been. The story of the enslavement of the
Children of Israel in Egypt, the plagues by
which God forces their release, and their
subsequent escape from a pursuing army at
the Crossing of the Red Sea, is told in the
opening chapters of the Book of Exodus.
The pharaoh of the story is not named – he
is referred to simply as “pharaoh” – and
the question of his identity has been the
subject of much speculation among those
who believe the Exodus to be a real event.
The most commonly imagined figure in
popular culture is Ramesses the Great,
although there is no documentary or
archaeological evidence that he had to deal
with the Plagues of Egypt or anything
similar or that he chased Hebrew slaves
fleeing Egypt. There is also an account
made by Merneptah, in the form of a poem
from the so-called Israel Stele, which
makes reference to the supposed utter
destruction of Israel in a campaign prior to
his 5th year in Canaan: “Israel has been
wiped out…its seed is no more.” There is
basically no evidence to strongly support
the view of any specific Pharaoh as the one
mentioned in Exodus.
3 Noah’s Ark
The mystery: Where is Noah’s Ark?
From at least the time of Eusebius (c. 275 –
339 AD) to the present day, the search for
the physical remains of Noah’s Ark has held
a fascination for Christians, Jews and
Muslims. Despite many rumours, claims of
sightings and expeditions no scientific
evidence of the ark has ever been found.
The search for the ark has been called a
“wild goose chase” by some archaeologists.
Ark searchers have had little to guide them
to the Ark beyond Genesis’ mention of the
“mountains of Ararat”. By the middle of
the 19th century, archaeologists had
identified a 1st-millennium BC kingdom and
region of Urartu, contemporaneous with
the Assyrian empire and the early kingdoms
of Judah and Israel, located in the
mountains of present-day Armenia and
eastern Turkey. Not until the 19th century
was the region settled enough, and
welcoming enough for Westerners, to make
it possible for significant expeditions to
search for the Ark. By the beginning of the
21st century, two main candidates for
exploration had emerged: the so-called
Ararat anomaly (pictured above) near the
main summit of Ararat (an “anomaly” in
that it shows on aerial and satellite images
as a dark blemish on the snow and ice of
the peak), and the separate site at Durup?
nar near Dogubayazit, 18 miles (29 km)
south of the Greater Ararat summit. Here
is an interesting article on the most recent
discovery of petrified timber purported to
be part of one of the walls of the boat.
2 The Beloved Disciple
The mystery: Who was the Beloved Disciple?
One of the biggest mysteries in biblical
scholarship concerns the identity of “the
disciple whom Jesus loved.” According to
the Gospel of John, this was the disciple
who leaned on Jesus during the Last
Supper, and the only male disciple present
at the crucifixion. In addition, John 21:24
implies that the entire Gospel of John is
based on this disciple’s memories. Yet,
oddly, it never gives his name. The other
three gospels don’t give his name either. In
fact they never even mention this “Beloved
Disciple” (as he is often called). They also
say nothing about any disciple leaning on
Jesus during the Last Supper or witnessing
the crucifixion. Their total silence on the
matter only adds to the mystery. A number
of scholars have argued that the Beloved
Disciple was Lazarus, the brother of Mary
and Martha of Bethany, and the man that
Jesus raised from the dead. The reason for
this is the fact that when the sisters
summoned Jesus to help Lazarus, they said:
“Lord, the one you love is sick.” Some
modern theories even claim that Mary
Magdalene was the Beloved Disciple – an
idea which would certainly impress Dan
Brown . [ Source]
1 Authorship of the
Gospels
The mystery: Who wrote the Gospels?
The gospels are probably the most
important part of the New Testament and
until the 18th century their authorship was
generally not regarded as a mystery. But
as modern biblical scholars investigated the
history of the four books, they began to
question the fact that they were written
by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There
is much speculation (mostly based on the
order of the writing of the books) that the
gospels were written by people who know
the apostles, but not by the apostles
directly. This is a mystery that is unlikely
to be solved unless a “master” source
document for the common quotes in the
gospels is discovered which would explain
the anomalies which are spoken of in
support of the non-apostolic author
theories.

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