IS THE BIBLE TRUE?Extraordinary insights from archaeology

and history

Written by: Jeffery L. ShelerPresented by: Minah, Viviane, Caroline, Jennifer

U.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT, OCTOBER 25, 1999

EXTRAORDINARY INSIGHTS

Jeffrey Sheler introduces his audience with describing a day being an archaeologist.The findings can lead to mere discoveries and excitement while spending a day looking for something but did not leads to disappointments. Modern archeology has affirmed the historical core of the Old and New Testament – putting together key portions of the stories and making sense of it all.

IMPORTANT KEY TERMS - Fundamentalists- one who dismisses evolution as a

satanic deception - Atheistic Naturalists- one who asserts that science

offers only the window on reality and seeks to discredit religious belief as ignorant superstition.

- Theistic evolution – a view that considers evolution - Middle Bronze Age (200-1500B.C)- roughly the period

many scholars believe to be the patriarchal era. - Anachronism- a thing belonging or appropriate to a

period other than that in which it exists

IMPORTANT KEY TERMS - “Ur of the Chaldeans”- a city in southern

Mesopotamia, or modern day Iraq - Mesha Stele- a basalt monument that

commemorates a military victory over Israel. - Central Proclamation of the Hebrew Bible- when

God delivers Moses and the Israelite people from Egyptian bondage and leading them to the Promised Land of Canaan.

- Anachronisms- a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists

IN THE BEGINNING • The universe is the handi-work of a divine

creator who has given humanity a special place in his creation.

• Modern debate has concluded to little more than a shouting match between extremists on both sides – fundamentalists and atheistic naturalists.

• One might assume the views supported by creationists- that God created the universe in 6 days, as a literal reading of Genesis 1.

THE BEGINNING

IN THE BEGINNING • Theory was.. In the beginning, God created the heavens

and the Earth. Augustine wrote The Literal Meaning of Genesis ,which

argued that the days of creation were not created until the fourth day, which had nothing to do with time

• He stated that God made everything either in fully developed form while others were made in "potential form" which developed over time to the condition in which they are seen today.

• People understood Genesis more about the relationship between God and creation than as presenting a scientific or historical explanation of how and when creation occurred.

IN THE BEGINNING The story of the flood was another one of the stories that the

author had speculations about. • Those who take everything literal believe that God

unleashed a worldwide deluge that destroyed all air-breathing life on Earth except for those creatures taken aboard the ark in divine judgment against a creation gone bad.

• While most biblical scholars consider the story of the Flood a myth, many conservatives have little difficulty imagining that God could pull off precisely what the Genesis story describes. As with the Creation narrative, the evidence and arguments from science stack up overwhelmingly against a literal interpretation of the Flood story. 

IN THE BEGINNING

AGE OF THE PATRIACHS • The book of Genesis traced Israel’s ancestry to Abraham, a

man who God promised will be ancestor of multitude of nations.

• God’s promise and Israel’s ethnic identity are passed from generation to generation

• Modern archaeology has found no evidence to corroborate the biblical account.

• No inscriptions or artifacts relating to Israel’s first biblical ancestors have been found/recovered

• Some scholars contend that the patriarch stories contain anachronisms.

FLIGHT FROM EGYPT The story of Exodus covers God delivering Moses and the

Israelite people from Egyptian bondage and leading them to the Promised Land of Canaan. It was called the “central proclamation of the Hebrew Bible”

• Inscriptions from ancient Eygpt contain no mention of Hebrew slaves, the plagues that the Bible says preceded their release, or of the destruction of the paraoh’s army during the Israelites’ crossing of the Red Sea.

• Many scholars argue that the lack of direct evidence is insufficient reason to deny that the Exodus actually happened.

FLIGHT FROM EGYPT

EGYPTIAN INSCRIPTION

THE RULE OF DAVID • The reigns of King David and his son Solomon united

monarchy marked the glory years of ancient Israel. This is marked in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and

2 kings and 1 and 2 chronicles • This period marks the beginning of an era of

stronger links between biblical history and modern archaeological evidence.

• The Mesha Stele is a basalt monument from the ninth century that commemorates a military victory over Israel—this one by the Moabite king Mesha.

MESHA STELE

THE RULE OF DAVID • Modern archaeology uncovered a wealth of

information about the Philistine “sea people” thoroughly consistent with their portrayal in the Bible.

• The Bible depicts the Philistines as expert metallurgists as archaeologists have found material evidence that the Philistines were expert metalworkers.

THE DAYS OF JESUS Comparing to the earlier eras of Old testament history the days

of Jesus are a fleeting moment. During the last four decades discoveries have been made with

wealthy data about the story of Jesus and the birth of Christianity • Explorers found the skeletal remains of a crucified man in a

burial cave near the Nablus road outside of Jerusalem. An analysis of the remains found that their condition dramatically corroborated the Bible’s description of the Roman method of execution.

• While one later analysis drew some different conclusions about how the man died, similarities to the biblical account were affirmed.

DAYS OF JESUS

THE DAYS OF JESUS • With the remains of a crucified contemporary

of Jesus found in a family grave, it is clear that at least on some occasions the Romans permitted proper interment consistent with the biblical account.

• A few decades later, the discovery of the Pilate Stone has been widely acclaimed as a significant affirmation of biblical history because it confirms that the man depicted in the Gospels had the responsibilities and authority that the Gospel writers ascribed to him.

THE ROAD AHEAD • Because of archaeology, the Bible no longer

appears as an absolutely isolated monument of the past. Instead, it has been firmly fixed in a context of knowable history, linked to the present by past ancestors.

Just as archaeology has shed some new light on the Bible, the Bible in turn has often proved a useful tool for archaeologist to reveal new discoveries

• As the future unfolds, the more archaeologists will learn about the Bible and its history.

AUTHOR’S THESIS? Jeffery’s Sheler’s thesis is that although the

Bible tells the story of how everything came to be, there are some myths that were made up along the way from oral traditions, so not all of the stories told are nonfiction.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE - “While most biblical scholars consider the story of the

Flood a myth, many conservatives have little difficulty imagining that God could pull off precisely what the Genesis story describes.”

- “Listening to some of the rhetoric today, one might easily assume that the views espoused by creationists”

- “Augustine argued that the days of creation were not successive, ordinary days -- the sun, after all, according to Genesis, was not created until the fourth "day" -- and had nothing to do with time”

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE “Nor are there references in other ancient records to

the early battles and conflicts reported in Genesis.” - “While there may, indeed, be no direct

material evidence relating to the biblical patriarchs, archaeology has not been altogether silent on the subject.”

- “Yet, archaeologists have found no direct evidence to corroborate the biblical story”

- “There is no indication, outside of the Bible, that Moses existed.”

What disciplines play a role in the author’s

discussion? History plays a major role in the author’s

discussion because everything that the archeologists discover is something apart of the past.

Those artifacts help them discover the truths of our history and a better understanding of the future.

Using sciences help archaeologists put those artifacts and clues together with a sense of know what they are doing.

Particular conflicts the author raises about religion and

disciplines Conflicts that usually occur is when people take

the Bible literally. They take in every word for word.

Even though its hard to accept the Bible, people still do it because a lot of things don’t make sense and contradict each other, so people rather pick and choose what they believe in.

Questions the Article Raises regarding our studies of the

book of Genesis? Some questions that get our attention about

our studies of the book of Genesis is that:

Why would authors write stories in the Bible, including the Genesis, if the things in it aren’t true?

ANSWER? It should be things that archaeologists or any

other person can prove outside of the bible alone. People might put these non proven stories in the Bible because it might lead archaeologists somewhere in their discoveries and if people look deeply into the stories, they might find a connection with something else, which leads to something new.

SURVEYIS THE BIBLE TRUE

YESNOSOMEWHAT

YES:9 PEOPLE (19%)

NO:16 PEOPLE (33%)

SOMEWHAT:23 PEOPLE (48%)