Archaological validity of the OT

[Guest]

I came across this article recently and I was hoping to gain some input from the christian viewpoint.

http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/jerques.htm

The article is titled "Deconstructing the walls of Jericho".

It goes into a bit of detail regarding current day archaological practises, and one man in particular set out to find scientific proof for the events of the old testament.

As they worked they found quite the opposite.

The figure heads of Isreal are turning a blind eye to this, as it does not support Isreal is the land given by god to the jewish people. That negates any historical claim to land (of course I find these kind of land claims bunk, if that were the case we'd all have to leave and give north america back to the indians).

I'd be very interested to hear the christian perspective on the contents of this article.

 

[cyberjosh]

Crap, I had this long post and I lost it. Arggg.


In summary of what I had previously written the Jericho dispute is based on an examination of its several layers which Archeologists geologically associate with certain time periods (and Jericho is actually one of the oldest cities in the world) and critics will tell you that the layer that represents the period of Joshua's conquest is "undisturbed" while it is only layers above or below that are razed to the ground. This is the source of many chronology disputes and no one can quite agree. But there is sufficient evidence in favor of the conquest of Jerusalem during the period ascribed in the Bible:

http://www.ucgstp.org/lit/gn/gn039/jericho.html

http://www.tektonics.org/gk/jericho.html

Also there is also an excellent book by Leah Bronner called Biblical Personalities and Archeology and she is a competant scholar citing well over 100 sources per chapter and makes a convincing case for Jericho's dating during the time of conquest also.

P.S. Perhaps this thread should be relocated to the science section, but I love all area's of Biblical Archeology and have written a 15 page paper on it before if you would like a copy of it. But I actually put it into web page format if you want to look at it here. About a quarter of the way down are some actual pictures that I added to aid in the visualization of the artifacts I consult in the paper. If you look at it tell me what you think.

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[Gabbylittleangel]

Biblical Archeology: makes for a great Google search!

 

[Gabbylittleangel]

Hi Curious,

About 20 years ago I had a passing interest in the topic. I picked up a few magazines and read some pretty cool articles about things that had been unearthed.

It might interest you, in your search for truth, that there is a very active
'anti-christ' spirit in the world that would like to lead you astray, and take hold of every truth that you find and call it a lie. Just be aware of it, and watch out for the hooks in their bait.

If you are looking for reasons to believe in God, you will find what you are looking for. (I suggest that you start by talking to Him. Simply tell Him that if He is real, you would like to know it)

I will be praying for you.

 

[Guest]

It might interest you, in your search for truth, that there is a very active
'anti-christ' spirit in the world

Can you define the anti-christ spirit you speak of?

 

[Gabbylittleangel]

Can you define the anti-christ spirit you speak of?

Self explanatory. anti-christ = against or opposed to all things Christ. The goal is to keep lost souls from the salvation that God offers. The goal is to keep Christians who have come to Christ from serving Him, and to keep them from reaching others.

No doubt you have known 'bullies' who delight in playing "Keep Away". The sort of people who take something that is yours, and toss it back and forth. Hold it up over your head because they delight in making you jump up to try to grab it. This is the same stupid game that the delights the devil.

The good news is "God rules!" If you want to get hold of God, it can be done.

 

[Guest]

Self explanatory. anti-christ = against or opposed to all things Christ.

I can see it might be a bit subjective. For example, do you believe people who practise other faiths are against christ? How about atheists? In the grand scheme of things, if it is one faith against the other, then there will never be peace in the world.

This is the same stupid game that the delights the devil.

The devil made me do it? It's easy to say that people of different beliefs are wrong and have been tricked by the devil. Don't forget that the devil is a christian invention, or belief, and does not necessarily reflect evil for people who's only crime is a different faith from your own.

The goal is to keep Christians who have come to Christ from serving Him, and to keep them from reaching others.

That is indeed a crime, but it is one of hate and bigotry, which is best served by punishment in secular law. This type of crime is carried out just as easily with people of other faiths, and people of faith against people of non faith. I would call it a crime against humanity.

IMO of course.

 

[Veritas]

For example, do you believe people who practise other faiths are against christ?

I do.

How about atheists?

Yup, they are against Christ too.

In the grand scheme of things, if it is one faith against the other, then there will never be peace in the world.

A world without people of faiths would certainly not be a peacful one. If all were for example, agnostics, there would still not be peace in the world. I suggest that it would be even worse than it is now. There would not even be a sense of morals to keep us from killing eachother. Nope, man brings too much strife upon himself to ever live at peace with one another. In any event, I think we should be more concerned about the relationship between God and man and that which has the potential to last beyond this life. You see, the Good News is that God has brought peace between man and God in Christ! Jesus want's to be your friend! Now! God wants you to live with Him, He loves you! Thats it! Simple!

Can you believe it! ;)

 

[Gabbylittleangel]

I can see it might be a bit subjective. For example, do you believe people who practise other faiths are against christ? How about atheists? In the grand scheme of things, if it is one faith against the other, then there will never be peace in the world.

Mat 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

The peace will come when Christ returns and separates His people from the wicked. There will never be peace for the wicked.

The devil made me do it?

Not what I said.

It's easy to say that people of different beliefs are wrong and have been tricked by the devil. Don't forget that the devil is a christian invention, or belief, and does not necessarily reflect evil for people who's only crime is a different faith from your own.

Don't forget that you are on a Christian web site where people hold Christian beliefs. Truth is truth wether it is believed or not. The 'only crime'
that you refer to, has eternal consequences. When the criminals stand before the judge, you want to have the right lawyer.

That is indeed a crime, but it is one of hate and bigotry, which is best served by punishment in secular law. This type of crime is carried out just as easily with people of other faiths, and people of faith against people of non faith. I would call it a crime against humanity.

The hate is for sin, and the bigotry is against wickedness. Secular law once based on God's law, has become confused and is unrighteous. Why so much support for 'people of other faiths'?

...and you lost me in the statement highlighted in orange.

 

[Vic C.]

Back to the OP:

Backspace the link provided and it brings you here:

http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/

Middle East & Islamic Studies Collection


:robot:

 

[cyberjosh]

Curious,

Did you get a chance to look at my personl website which had my paper on Biblical Archeology? I left a link for it in my last post.

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[Guest]

Hi Cybershark

Sorry for not getting back sooner, i've been quite busy lately.

I did have a chance to look at it briefly. I want to read it more thoroughly before commenting on it. It looks like you did a very complete job and I do not want to comment until I have thoroughly had a read.

I'm impressed with the amount of work you did on it though, and I will spend the time to read it thoroughly.

 

[Guest]

Don't forget that you are on a Christian web site where people hold Christian beliefs.

My apologies, you are quite correct. Sometimes I forget where I am and get a little over zealous.

Why so much support for 'people of other faiths'?

I hold the same support for people of other faiths as I do for every flavour of christianity. Ultimately, my "support" is for people, humans in general, as I am one of them. Since I have not made a decision on any particular faith, or even if I consider myself a deist or not, I consider any crime to any person of equal consequence, irregardless of which god they pray to.

 

[Guest]

Curious,

Did you get a chance to look at my personl website which had my paper on Biblical Archeology? I left a link for it in my last post.

God Bless,

~Josh

Ok I read it a few times, and I'm quite impressed. The only comment I can make is that it is slanted towards the christian viewpoint, obviously, and rightfully so. A good look at the topic at hand, and methodically done, with some good comparisons. Are you a researcher? What do you do for a living?

The other thing i wanted to ask you about is publishing of your work. A friend of mine just opened a website called http://www.divinediscussions.com. The thrust of the site is for the works for any and all faiths to be housed on a single website, with focus on opinion based articles and an interfaith forum (he's also got forums for just those of the same faith, strictley enforced no other faith to engage in argumentative debate there, there is a forum for that). I think he would be pleased to see an article like that up on the site, it would defintately help bolster attendance with some good content. Would you be willing to publish your article on his site if he is agreeable (I already know he'd be frothing for this). If so obviously i'll need to give him your full name with it so appropriate credit can be given.

What do you think?

 

[cyberjosh]

Ok I read it a few times, and I'm quite impressed. The only comment I can make is that it is slanted towards the christian viewpoint, obviously, and rightfully so. A good look at the topic at hand, and methodically done, with some good comparisons. Are you a researcher? What do you do for a living?

Well it is my hobby. I prefer to call my self a Christian Apologist and an amatuer scholar of Theology, Archeology, and Hebrew. A man I know named Jeff Benner who is an electrical engineer by profession studies Ancient Hebrew as a hobby and has actually become a minor authority on the language and has his own extensive site at http://www.ancient-hebrew.org and he has since made an official lexicon based on his findings (comparable but exceeding that of Strong's Concordance/lexicon). I worked with him for a while being a moderator at his site and giving him lexicon suggestions (he actually changed an entry based on a point I made concerning the etymology of a word! 8-) ) and it goes to show that layman hobbyists can enter into the field of scholarship without it being their profession. It is my passion to systematically display a reasonableness behind my faith, in all areas, and I am constantly inspired by ancient scholars and Apologists (like the early Church Fathers, Josephus, Martin Luther, Thomas Aquinas, etc...). I hope to answer any questions you have as thoroughly as possible if it is within my knowledge and power to do so.

The other thing i wanted to ask you about is publishing of your work. A friend of mine just opened a website called http://www.divinediscussions.com. The thrust of the site is for the works for any and all faiths to be housed on a single website, with focus on opinion based articles and an interfaith forum (he's also got forums for just those of the same faith, strictley enforced no other faith to engage in argumentative debate there, there is a forum for that). I think he would be pleased to see an article like that up on the site, it would defintately help bolster attendance with some good content. Would you be willing to publish your article on his site if he is agreeable (I already know he'd be frothing for this). If so obviously i'll need to give him your full name with it so appropriate credit can be given.

No problem, that sounds awesome. When I get the time some time soon I'll PM you my e-mail address and then maybe you can give me your e-mail address also. And actually, speaking of publishing, I'm currently engaged in writing a non-fiction book on the life of Jesus in which I have about 31 pages right now and I hope to get it published eventually. I predict though that it will be a several-year work. I wouldn't mind e-mailing you a copy of it as long as you promise not to sell it off as your idea and work. I would enjoy hearing feedback on it. It's been hard getting my friends to read it though because the first 15 pages are quite scholarly and they dive into Archeology and linguistics associated with Jesus and the NT, but it all paid off one day when a customer from Israel came overseas to test a machine we were building for them at my workplace and he understood all the technical jargon concerning Hebrew in my book perfectly. He was an atheist as far as I could tell but a very nice man and he soaked up every conversation we had. I honestly hated to see him leave, I hope they order another machine from us in the future just so I can see him again. Anyways, I'm well associated with researching and writing. And as a side note I'm writing two Fiction books also, one with about 120 pages thus far and the other with about 60 pages. I love writing my ideas down, and I've thought of minoring in journalism before.

I hope we can continue to talk on these issues.

P.S. I replied to you in your "Christians and Knowledge" thread. I really look forward to getting some feedback from you on what I said so that we can continue to discuss that topic. Thanks.

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[Guest]

Sounds good josh, let me know on that one. I've spoken to my buddies and he's frothing for some theist content, both owners are atheists and therefore can themselves only contribute to the atheist viewpoint, anything else from them would by lying.

Having only one viewpoint on the site would be self defeating. So far there are a couple of atheists, a buhddist, a spiritualist using the site as its very new. No mono theistic types yet, and a contribution from a christian would be very well recieved.