Archaeology and the Bible.

[Mickiel]

Originally Posted by Ted

Spot

I've only read one thing that Mickiel has written in months but I do enjoy your rebuttals.

Shalom
Ted

When believers rebutt Archaeological evidence of biblical characthers and places, it shows that they are really not believers, but they masquerade as believers, until someone comes along and shows the masquerade.

Peace.

[Mickiel]

The bible stands as a testimony that not all men rejected God. Adam accepted God, Gen. 3:21. Seth's line produced a man like Enoch, who walked with God, Gen.5:22. Noah found grace in the eyes of God when all the rest of mankind had forsaken righteousness, Gen.6:8. Can you imagine that, a whole planet of humans, and only one was a righteous man. This is what Rev. 12:9 means, the whole earth can be deceived by the influence and sway of evil.

Abraham was called a " Friend of God", James 2:23. Moses was known as " The Man of God", Duet. 33:1. David was known as a man after Gods own Heart, Acts 13:22, and through his own flesh came the Lord Jesus Christ, Rom.1:1-4. These men left an impression on history, because God left an impression on them. Job was a man who was " Perfect", only because God showed that if he wanted to, he could create a human who would be perfect all their lives, as was Jesus.

God has not done this to a human that much in history, but I think it is the ultimate destiny of all of humanity, no one is to be left out. Out of darkness and doom, God will recreate all that we know. Thats how he first created the universe, out of darkness and nothing. God is behind the great nothing that even evolutionist can see.

Peace.

[Mickiel]

In 1947 a Judean shepard found the " Dead Sea Scrolls" in the wilderness near the Dea Sea in a mountian cave. This discovery startled the biblical world. In the cave, inside of jars, Leather scrolls were found, fragments of the book of Genesis, the complette book of Isaiah, many portions of Daniel, a commentary on part of the book of Habakkuk, and a discipline manual. Numerous non biblical scrolls were discovered along with hymns.

Radio carbon count dates the linen in which these scrolls were wrapped in, from 175 B.C. to A.D. 225. Paleography, or style of writing, dates them 250 years before A.D. 70. Also found was a cache of over 500 silver coins, which are first century B.C and A.D.

Its of intrest to me how we continue to unearth these kinds of material, and yet people still deny the biblical history of humanity. Its because they really long to remove the bible from our history, which at its root, is an effort to remove God from our past.

Peace.

[Mickiel]

The " Essenes and their Dead Sea Scrolls", contained many books that were not a part of the bible, but gave historical beliefs in humanity during those times. The " Apocrypha", a name given to 14 books, were written during these times. These books were never in the Hebrew Old Testament Canon, were not reconized by the Jews, never refered to by Christ, nor accepted by the New Testament writers and early church Fathers. But Archaeology found them.

The " Pseudepigrapha" were religious compositions written between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200 by authors who attributed them to many well known old testament characthers, and were primarily legendary.

The " Targums" were renderings of the Old Testament Scriptures into Aramaic when this language became common in Palestine after Israel's exile in Babylon.

The " Talmud" is a compilation of Hebrew civil and canonical laws based on the " Torah", or Law of Moses.

All of these have been a part of the history of humanity, a large mixed bowl that really opened the door for Christ comming on the scene. It can be said that " Greek Learning and Culture", Roman Law and Roman Roads, Jewish Monotheism and Synagouges, Jewish Apocalyptic and Messianic hopes prepared the world for the comming of Christ. Divine Providence can be traced everywhere in our long history of religions. Something has planted things all along the way;

And Archaeology is helping us to see these intentional tamperings with humanity.

Peace.

[Mickiel]

Then we have the " Nuzi Tablets". Nuzi was a Hurrian administrative center not far from the Hurrian capital at Kirkuk in northern Iraq. The Hurrians are equivalent to the Horites in the Old Testement, also called Hivites and Jebusites. Excavations were carried out at Nuzi by American teams from 1925 to 1933. The major find was more than 5,000 family and administrative archives spanning six generations, ca. 1450-1350 B.C. They deal with the social, economic, religious and legal institutions of the Hurrians. And they compared these tablets to the information that the bible has in it, the simularity was undeniable.

The tablets tell of practices which are simular to those in the book of Genesis, such as adoption for childless couples, Gen. 25:29, Children by proxy, Gen. 16; 21:1, Inheritance rights, Gen. 25:29, marriage arrangements, Gen. 28, Levirate marriage, Gen. 38;Duet. 25:5. They also demonstrate the significance of the deathbed blessing, Gen. 27:48, household gods, Gen. 31:14. The archaeological find was really an open window to the history already recorded in the bible.

Some Nuzi tablets, called the " Tablets of sistership", revealed agreements in which a man adopted a woman as a sister. In the society of the Hurrians, a wife enjoyed greater protection and a superior position when she also had the legal status of a sister. In such a case, two seperate documents were drawn up, one for marriage and the other for sistership. This may explain why both Abraham, Gen. 12:10,20:1 and Isaac, Gen.26:7, said their wives were their sisters. Adopted them as sisters to give them higher status according to the customs of that day.

And this is how we use Archaeology to confirm the bible, and use the bible to confirm our human history.

Peace.

[Fyrenza]

Originally Posted by Mickiel

When believers rebutt Archaeological evidence of biblical characthers and places, it shows that they are really not believers, but they masquerade as believers, until someone comes along and shows the masquerade.

Peace.

i, too, am a committed Christian, and i have a question for you ~

When believers "make up" Archaeological evidence of Biblical characters and places,

aren't THEY masquerading as believers?

Don't forget ~ satan is the father of ALL lies...

You seem like a well-meaning person, and if you'd let this thread be a DISCUSSION of the various evidence you've found,

you'd learn what is absolute truth, and what is "guess-timate!"

As Christians, we believe and we don't really need evidence;

the evidence is , well , self-evident.

But, pal? If you're trying to sell non-Christians this bologna, you need to get a grip, get some Christian counselling, and learn how to be a witness ~

a good, true witness.

[Mickiel]

Originally Posted by Fyrenza

i, too, am a committed Christian, and i have a question for you ~

When believers "make up" Archaeological evidence of Biblical characters and places,

aren't THEY masquerading as believers?

Don't forget ~ satan is the father of ALL lies...

You seem like a well-meaning person, and if you'd let this thread be a DISCUSSION of the various evidence you've found,

you'd learn what is absolute truth, and what is "guess-timate!"

As Christians, we believe and we don't really need evidence;

the evidence is , well , self-evident.

But, pal? If you're trying to sell non-Christians this bologna, you need to get a grip, get some Christian counselling, and learn how to be a witness ~

a good, true witness.

I will NEVER, get this, NEVER even allow a christian to do anything to my learning. There is absolutely nothing a christian can do for me. I will get my learning from God, and nothingelse. I will get my counseling from God and nobodyelse. I am not getting it from him yet, but until I do, I walk alone, I am through with men. I don't need to discuss the things I write about, I couldcareless about others opinions.

I have said this before when christians attack me, and I will continue to say it when they insult me. Thats one reason why I do not like christians, they insult and attack the truth, but yet masquerade as children of God.

Peace.

[Mickiel]

The ancient city of " Mari", located in northern Syria, was a thriving metropolis ca. 2800-1760 B.C. From about 2000 B.C. until its demise in 1760 B.C., Mari was the capitol of the Amorites. Amorites were spread far and wide throughout the ancient near east, including the hill country of Canaan vanquished by the Israelites, Num. 13:29, Josh. 10:6. The French have been excavating Mari almost continuously since 1933.

The major discovery was an enormous palace covering 6 acres, with nearly 300 rooms on the ground level, and as many on a second floor. An archive of about 15,000 texts were found, and in them as well were documents, letters, treaties and religious texts that again confirm the bibles relevance in history.

Peace.

[Mickiel]

With all the advantages of our age, science, medicine, jet and space achievements, one would think the farther back the Archaeologist went the more primitive he would find man to be. This , however, is not the case in my view. Findings at excavations have proved a " Suddenness" with which civilization appeared in the world. I am not one of those believers in God who foolishly believe the earth to be only 6,000 years old, I know that God created the first humans many thousands of years ago. In my view, Adam and Eve were simply the first humans God created that had " Consciousness".

I don't believe the Cro-magnons and Neanderthals , or the " Cave Men",had consciousness, I think God created them sinular to animals, having only instincts to survive. Adam and Eve were created " In Gods Image", meaning they had Consciousness.

Prehistoric civilization shows man building houses, palaces, temples and cities. Archaeologist have expressed surprise and astonishment at the high rate of culture in the very earlist stages of the Egyptians. So God had to have done something " Different to created humans" in order for them to advance so quickly. Well, he gave them Intelligent consciousness, Adam being the " First human created with Intelligence and morality." Cave men didnot have this, they didnot build and construct, they only survived like animals.

And I want to detour into that.

Peace.

[Mickiel]

We have errouneously assumed that Adam and Eve were the first humans God created. No, they were the first " Created in his Image", or the first created with consciousness. The Genesis account simply is not clear enough on human creation. In Chapter one, verse 26, God creates man in his own image likeness, but made him smarter than any other beast. In chapter 2:7, he again creates man, but this time from the dust of the ground, then " Breathed into him" and this man became a " Living Being." So something happened that was differing in these creations, and I think they were millions of earth years apart, but just the next day to God.

I am unsure as to what exactly occured, but through Archaeology and science, I know God created humans far before he created Adam. Adam was not a " Cave Man", when God blew his personal breath into Adam, he " Did something to him", which gave him Consciousness and Reasoning ability, and thats when I believe Humanitys era of Civilization began. We can trace civilization back 6,000 years, construction and reasoning abilitys that are advanced, but not 10,000 years ago, but humans were here 10,000 years ago. And I think thats the missing link in understanding, those humans didnot have Consciousness. They were not advanced, they were not " As we are", the key is consciousness.

Just what is consciousness? Are animals conscious? Are fish conscious?

And I want to go into just what consciousness is.

Peace.