Course Content
A review of part 1 of Tim Mahoney's new film, Journey to Mount Sinai.
From his childhood experiences, Timothy Mahoney inherited from his mother a biblical worldview. That view takes the Bible as the true and reliable Word of God. Its stories are true—as are its characters. It shows the way to salvation.
With this foundation, Mahoney has used his talents as an investigative film maker to go to the lands of the Bible in search of tangible proof of some of its biggest stories. His earlier films show proof of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt and then the Exodus under Moses—confirming the evidence as recorded in Scripture.
Mahoney is not afraid to interview the skeptics as well as believers of the biblical accounts. His interview style combines the sincerity of a disciple and believer, with a non-threatening approach. He interviews professionals from both sides of the argument and brings out differing perspectives of the Bible. He highlights the available evidence—from archaeology, history and linguistic studies—to present what he terms “patterns of evidence” to come to the truth.
Mahoney's latest films, “Journey to Mount Sinai” Part 1 and Part 2, are his latest in a journey to uncover and examine the evidence in the controversial debate over the location of the actual mountain on which God gave to Moses the Ten Commandments. Since the fourth century A.D. a traditional site has been at Jebal Musa in the Sinai Peninsula. However, recent theories have highlighted additional possible Mount Sinai locations—with several in Saudi Arabia, not on the Sinai Peninsula.
As you will see in his films, there is a considerable body of both biblical and geographical evidence to sort through to come to any definitive conclusion. Has the Christian world been wrong for centuries? Does new evidence demand that a different location best fit all the evidence? You'll have to see the films to decide.
The first film, Part 1, will be released for two nights on Oct. 17 and 18, to be followed in 2023 with Part 2. Beyond Today will be planning to interview Mahoney for another in its series of Beyond Today Interviews. Look for these interviews in January 2023.
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
Peter serves at the home office as Media and Communications Services operation manager.
He studied production engineering at the Swinburne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and is a journeyman machinist. He moved to the United States to attend Ambassador College in 1980. He graduated from the Pasadena campus in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and married his college sweetheart, Terri. Peter was ordained an elder in 1992. He served as assistant pastor in the Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, California, congregations from 1995 through 1998 and the Cincinnati, Ohio, congregations from 2010 through 2011.
