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Israel Holy Land Tour - Any Recommendations?

MDalby

By MDalby
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MDalby Rising Star

MDalby

Posted
Posted

My wife and I are looking into booking a tour of Israel and maybe Rome or Egypt. 

We really want to maximize the religious experience and insight we can gain from the tour. 

Any recommendations are appreciated. 

mrmarklin Experienced

mrmarklin

Posted
Posted (edited)

I went on a Morris Murdock tour to Israel that was LDS oriented in 2015. It also covered three days in Rome. 

 

It it was very religious. I didn’t go back to church for six weeks after that. LOL

Edited by mrmarklin
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Maidservant Mentor

Maidservant

Posted
Posted

My mother in law just booked a Glenn Beck Israel tour from Come Sail Away.

Fun For Less is owned by LDS people I think, and they have many tours; likely an Israel one.

RevTestament Grand Master

RevTestament

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, MDalby said:

My wife and I are looking into booking a tour of Israel and maybe Rome or Egypt. 

We really want to maximize the religious experience and insight we can gain from the tour. 

Any recommendations are appreciated. 

i would love to go. Personally, I would focus on an archaeological bent. There is so much to learn. I believe the traditionally accepted site of Ai is wrong. It was probably a nearby site with a Greek Church on it.  i don't believe either site - the orthodox nor "the garden tomb" was the correct burial site of Yeshua. I believe "Golgotha" was on the east side of the city. There is so much to see and explore. I am sure there are some tours that are archaeologically oriented, but I think I would also enjoy Dan Peterson's tour. The newest excavations in the city of David would also be extremely interesting. I have a friend who lives in Israel - maybe one day I will visit. 

changed Veteran

changed

Posted
Posted (edited)

I've been to Israel and Egypt - be careful of the food in Egypt, and buy Canadian hats and t-shirts before going (don't wear anything American).  The pyramids, and Cairo museum are amazing. We did Egypt first, then Israel was like returning to Eden - fresh salad etc.  We had friends there, a different religious group, but educational.  Enjoy!!

We're headed to Mayan ruins this summer :)

Edited by changed
Bernard Gui Grand Master

Bernard Gui

Posted
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1 hour ago, Tacenda said:

I don't know, maybe just want to see another perspective. 

I don’t know about educational cruises, but the others I have been on mostly involve alcohol. It would be nice not having that environment.

Rain Grand Master

Rain

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Tacenda said:

I don't know, maybe just want to see another perspective. 

I think that will depend on who you go with. Some LDS tours also have guides who are not LDS so you get perspective from both.

Rain Grand Master

Rain

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 5/19/2019 at 10:59 AM, RevTestament said:

i would love to go. Personally, I would focus on an archaeological bent. There is so much to learn. I believe the traditionally accepted site of Ai is wrong. It was probably a nearby site with a Greek Church on it.  i don't believe either site - the orthodox nor "the garden tomb" was the correct burial site of Yeshua. I believe "Golgotha" was on the east side of the city. There is so much to see and explore. I am sure there are some tours that are archaeologically oriented, but I think I would also enjoy Dan Peterson's tour. The newest excavations in the city of David would also be extremely interesting. I have a friend who lives in Israel - maybe one day I will visit. 

In one of the church videos with the first presidency and apostles sharing testimony President Hinckley stands in front of the "garden tomb'" and said something like "here" and if I remember right he paused and then said something like "or somewhere near here". 

It always made me wonder why he said that.  To be safe in case that wasn't the burial site? Because he knew it wasn't there and didn't want to offend? 

Matthew Gray in one of his Ed Week classes gave reasons why it wouldn't be the site. 

That was one thing I watched for and told my kids often when we went - we don't really know if this or that thing happened right here.  The walls/building/town isn't that old.  What is important is not that we have it totally right now where something happened, but get a better idea of what it was like and that it did happen. 

So I loved getting all the archaeology and history points because they just enhanced the spiritual.

Edited by Rain
1
RevTestament Grand Master

RevTestament

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Rain said:

In one of the church videos with the first presidency and apostles sharing testimony President Hinckley stands in front of the "garden tomb'" and said something like "here" and if I remember right he paused and then said something like "or somewhere near here". 

It always made me wonder why he said that.  To be safe in case that wasn't the burial site? Because he knew it was there and didn't want to offend? 

Matthew Gray in one of his Ed Week classes gave reasons why it wouldn't be the site. 

That was one thing I watched for and told my kids often when we went - we don't really know if this or that thing happened right here.  The walls/building/town isn't that old.  What is important is not that we have it totally right now where something happened, but get a better idea of what it was like and that it did happen. 

So I loved getting all the archaeology and history points because they just enhanced the spiritual.

Oh, I am all for learning all you can about each site. I am not saying don't go to the traditional site of Ai. Go there. Learn when it was occupied. Then go to the close by site the Greek priests have said is Ai, and learn when recent archaeology shows it was occupied. Learn the issues. Weigh the facts. Was there a place or area called Ai in Joshua's day? I am not saying be a doubter, but I am also not one to just accept what some archaeologist posed was the case some 75 years ago, when there are lots of facts or things which don't fit. I like to learn, so I learn what I can about all the sites in order to see what really fits - I don't accept the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as THE site of Yeshua's burial just because Queen Helena or Emperor Constantine said so. I am willing to weigh evidence against tradition, but I would still like to go to traditional sites as well. And I agree trying to understand more than just the traditional can enhance the spiritual,  which is really my point. Don't just go assuming you are being fed all the "right" info. I would treat it kind of like a mystery begging to be solved... for me that would make it all the more interesting and spiritual. I was not trying to create doubt about the events of the gospel in my above comments, but expressing my own interest in going in seeing/exploring what I can, in order to try to gain a better understanding of how and where events transpired. I fully believe Yeshua was buried just outside the city - just not where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands... I would love to see alternative sites...but I am not saying don't go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre... bits of truth can be had in many places.

Rain Grand Master

Rain

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, RevTestament said:

Oh, I am all for learning all you can about each site. I am not saying don't go to the traditional site of Ai. Go there. Learn when it was occupied. Then go to the close by site the Greek priests have said is Ai, and learn when recent archaeology shows it was occupied. Learn the issues. Weigh the facts. Was there a place or area called Ai in Joshua's day? I am not saying be a doubter, but I am also not one to just accept what some archaeologist posed was the case some 75 years ago, when there are lots of facts or things which don't fit. I like to learn, so I learn what I can about all the sites in order to see what really fits - I don't accept the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as THE site of Yeshua's burial just because Queen Helena or Emperor Constantine said so. I am willing to weigh evidence against tradition, but I would still like to go to traditional sites as well. And I agree trying to understand more than just the traditional can enhance the spiritual,  which is really my point. Don't just go assuming you are being fed all the "right" info. I would treat it kind of like a mystery begging to be solved... for me that would make it all the more interesting and spiritual. I was not trying to create doubt about the events of the gospel in my above comments, but expressing my own interest in going in seeing/exploring what I can, in order to try to gain a better understanding of how and where events transpired. I fully believe Yeshua was buried just outside the city - just not where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands... I would love to see alternative sites...but I am not saying don't go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre... bits of truth can be had in many places.

You may have misunderstood me. I was pretty much agreeing with you and adding why I thought what you were saying makes the spiritual part of it more rich. 

Our trip wasn't as spiritual as I would have wanted it, but it wasn't because we didn't have member tour guides. It was because I walked a fine line with someone in our group of how spiritual it could be. So I tried doing as much spiritual prep before going and the archaeology and history stuff built on that. 

RevTestament Grand Master

RevTestament

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, Rain said:

You may have misunderstood me. I was pretty much agreeing with you and adding why I thought what you were saying makes the spiritual part of it more rich. 

Our trip wasn't as spiritual as I would have wanted it, but it wasn't because we didn't have member tour guides. It was because I walked a fine line with someone in our group of how spiritual it could be. So I tried doing as much spiritual prep before going and the archaeology and history stuff built on that. 

I am glad you had a good trip, and found the archaeological points added to the meaning for you - I would be the one asking "the hard" questions.... I was just clarifying my points for the reader because I didn't want to be misconstrued as dissing any particular sites. If there is any particular place or part of the trip you found particularly inspiring, intriguing or spiritual for you, I would love to hear about it :)  

cinepro Grand Master

cinepro

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 5/18/2019 at 5:59 PM, MDalby said:

My wife and I are looking into booking a tour of Israel and maybe Rome or Egypt. 

We really want to maximize the religious experience and insight we can gain from the tour. 

Any recommendations are appreciated. 

If I ever went to the Holy Land, I would go with Michael Medved if I wanted a non-LDS perspective:

https://www.discovery.org/israel2019/

I would go with Dan Petersen if I wanted an LDS tour.

Edited by cinepro
rodheadlee Grand Master

rodheadlee

Posted
Posted
On 5/19/2019 at 2:00 PM, changed said:

I've been to Israel and Egypt - be careful of the food in Egypt, and buy Canadian hats and t-shirts before going (don't wear anything American).  The pyramids, and Cairo museum are amazing. We did Egypt first, then Israel was like returning to Eden - fresh salad etc.  We had friends there, a different religious group, but educational.  Enjoy!!

We're headed to Mayan ruins this summer :)

And wear black tennis shoes, only Americans wear white.

1
mrmarklin Experienced

mrmarklin

Posted
Posted (edited)

Some of you guys are hilarious.  There are several sites postulated as the burial, birth etc of Christ.  As well as many places of events that took place.  There is no need to get hung up on any of this.  You will be taken to the places that are postulated as having been the real places, but in many cases your opinion is as good as anyone's (but probably not).  I will say that one certainly gets a feeling that the events portrayed in the Bible certainly happened in the Holy Land.  BTW, Jericho has no walls!

There are churches at almost everyone of these sites, and sometimes more than one!  The place where the Beatitudes were supposedly given has a church donated by the dictator Mussolini!

 

One of the amazing things to me was how many groups of pilgrims there were from all over the world singing and praying at the holy sites.  Our group spent an afternoon in the supposed Garden in Gethsemane and it was very possible it was the actual place.  In the ballpark at least!

Edited by mrmarklin
Calm Grand Master

Calm

Posted
Posted
Just now, mrmarklin said:

BTW, Jericho has no walls!

Of course not, they fell down!

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mrmarklin Experienced

mrmarklin

Posted
Posted
On ‎5‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 2:00 PM, changed said:

I've been to Israel and Egypt - be careful of the food in Egypt, and buy Canadian hats and t-shirts before going (don't wear anything American).  The pyramids, and Cairo museum are amazing. We did Egypt first, then Israel was like returning to Eden - fresh salad etc.  We had friends there, a different religious group, but educational.  Enjoy!!

We're headed to Mayan ruins this summer :)

You do realize that the Maya are many hundreds of years AFTER the Nephites and Lamanites dominated the news in the Americas?

That being said, the ruins are certainly spectacular.  I've been several times to Chichen Itza (among others) and it's truly amazing.

changed Veteran

changed

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, mrmarklin said:

You do realize that the Maya are many hundreds of years AFTER the Nephites and Lamanites dominated the news in the Americas?

That being said, the ruins are certainly spectacular.  I've been several times to Chichen Itza (among others) and it's truly amazing.

I'm not going on a BoM tour (I am inactive), I'm going because it was a cheap airplane ticket, and looked fun :)

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