Posted on 12/13/2009 2:41:34 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
For the past 150 years archaeologists have been verifying the exact truthfulness of the Bible's detailed records of various events, customs, persons, cities, nations, and geographical locations. Dr. Nelson Glueck probably the greatest modern authority on Israeli archeology, has said, “No archeological discovery has ever controverted [overturned] a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.”
In every instance where the Bible can be, or has been checked out archaeologically, it has been found to be 100% accurate. The Bible has proven so accurate that archaeologists often refer to it as a reliable guide when they go to dig in new areas. In fact, even though less than 1% of the material available to excavate in the tells in Israel has been excavated, there have been more than 25,000 discoveries within the region known as the "Bible Lands” that have confirmed the truthfulness of the Bible. Entire books have been written on this topic. Allow me to give you three examples.
A. Pontius Pilate
The Bible says that he was the Roman governor of Judea and the man who issued the official order for Jesus to be sentenced to death by crucifixion (Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 18-19). In June of 1961 a team of Italian archaeologists, led by Dr. Antonio Frova, were excavating the Mediterranean port city of Caesarea that had at one time served as the Roman capital of Palestine. It was there in the jumbled ruins of an ancient Roman theater that they uncovered a large 2’ x 3’, 5” or so thick, limestone rock. The inscription on the rock amazed the archaeologists. It read in: “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea, has presented the Tiberium to the Caesareans.” (Scholars believe that the Tiberium refers to a temple or some other kind of public structure named after the Roman emperor Tiberius, who reigned from 14–37 A.D.) This stone is on display today in the Israel Museum as a testimony to the reliability of the Bible.
B. Caiaphas
Caiaphas, the Bible tells us, was the Jewish high priest at the time of Jesus crucifixion. Was he a make believe character? Some thought so, that is until 1990, when the Caiaphas family tomb was accidentally discovered by workers constructing a water park just south of Jerusalem. Archaeologists were hastily called to the scene. When they examined the tomb they found 12 ossuaries (limestone bone boxes) containing the remains of 63 individuals. On the outside of the most beautifully decorated of the ossuaries was inscribed the words: “Joseph son of Caiaphas.” What’s incredible is that Josephus (that Jewish historian of the first century A.D.) in his writings (Antiquities 18: 2, 2; 4, 3) documents that that was actually the full name of the high priest who arrested Jesus, “Joseph son of Caiaphas.” (Saying “son of” was a way of referring to the family name). Inside the ossuary archaeologists found the remains of a someone approximately 60-years-old at the time of his death...the actual bones of Caiaphas, the high priest mentioned in the Bible. Today Caiaphas’ ossuary is also on display in the Israel Museum as a testimony of the Bible’s trustworthiness!
C. David
David of course was the most loved of all of Israel’s kings. Some liberal scholars though had denied that King David was a historical figure because there was no mention of him outside of the Bible. Their skepticism changed in 1993. It was then, at an excavation at Tel-Dan in N. Israel they found a now famous stone with an inscription (in Aramaic) referring to the House of David. In 1994 two more fragments of the same stone inscription were discovered, again mentioning the House of David. In 1995 Time Magazine did a story on this discovery and stated, This writing—dated to the 9th century B.C., only a century after David’s reign—described a victory by a neighboring king over the Israelites…The skeptics’ claim that King David never existed is now hard to defend" (Time, December 18, 1995). It’s because of discoveries like this that men like Millar Burrows, (former Professor at Yale University) stated, “…archaeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the Scriptural record. More than one archaeologist has found his respect for the Bible increased by the experience of excavation in Palestine" (Burrows, Millar. What Mean These Stones? New Haven: American Schools of Oriental Research. 1941, p. 1.). Like I said, there are literally thousands of these archaeological discoveries that point to the Bible being an accurate and trustworthy historical document.
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Archaeology has not proven so helpful for other religious writings. Consider the Book of Mormon. “Not one piece of evidence has ever been found to support the Book of Mormon -- not a trace of the large cities it names, no ruins, no coins, no letters or documents or monuments, nothing in writing. Not even one of the rivers or mountains or any of the topography it mentions has ever been identified.” (Dave Hunt, p.156, In Defense of the Faith; also see p. 107 in The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel). Nothing which demonstrates that the Book of Mormon is anything other than an early nineteeth century piece of American fiction, invented by Joseph Smith has ever been found.
The National Geographic Society stated on August 12, 1998, “Archaeologists and other scholars have long probed the hemisphere's past, and the Society does not know of anything found so far that has substantiated the Book of Mormon.” The Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. has also verified this utter lack of evidence saying in 1996 when they said, “The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in any way as a scientific guide. Smithsonian Archaeologists see no connection between the archaeology of the New World and the subject matter of the Book.”
Oh yes, after taking the bicarbonate I belched up large ammounts of polluting CO2 and must have set off alarms in the scientific community somewhere!
I, too, hate it when I get JRD (Joseph reflux disease)
LOL!
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