Archaeology and the Bible

[falcon9]

The source is from a book...   The World Report published some of it and the site posted it.

Indeed, the author, (Jeffery L. Sheler's  "Is the Bible True?"), is a religion editor for U.S. News & World Report - which accounts for their publishing it.  His other books include "Believers: A Journey into Evangelical America", hardly a unbiased commentator on religious matters.

[SherylsShado]

The source is from a book...   The World Report published some of it and the site posted it.

Indeed, the author, (Jeffery L. Sheler's  "Is the Bible True?"), is a religion editor for U.S. News & World Report - which accounts for their publishing it.  His other books include "Believers: A Journey into Evangelical America", hardly a unbiased commentator on religious matters.

so...you're saying various groups of biased archaeologists all decided to go create their own historical "evidence" and there's no unbiased scientist that has yet been able to prove that historical evidence as fake?  And...there's so much of it to work with too...  http://www.bible-history.com/empires/ 

[falcon9]

so...you're saying various groups of biased archaeologists all decided to go create their own historical "evidence" and there's no unbiased scientist that has yet been able to prove that historical evidence as fake?

Nope, if I'd said that, you'd be able to quote where I did.  What I will say instead is that various faith-based archeological investigators have been those who hold pre-existed religious biases, (essentially, having a vested interest to producing some sort of 'evidence', stretched to the breaking point as it is), to support a few minor details in the various biblical stories.  You'll note that such minor details cannot be conflated to supporting any major biblical claims made.  Historical evidence consisting of finding the gate of Solomon at the upper Galilee site does not equate to any biblical accounts concerning that gate as being factual, (e.g., the archeological evidence is that remnants of such a gate were uncovered, not that religious accounts concerning it have any veracity).

[SherylsShado]

so...you're saying various groups of biased archaeologists all decided to go create their own historical "evidence" and there's no unbiased scientist that has yet been able to prove that historical evidence as fake?

Nope, if I'd said that, you'd be able to quote where I did.  What I will say instead is that various faith-based archeological investigators have been those who hold pre-existed religious biases, (essentially, having a vested interest to producing some sort of 'evidence', stretched to the breaking point as it is), to support a few minor details in the various biblical stories.  You'll note that such minor details cannot be conflated to supporting any major biblical claims made.  Historical evidence consisting of finding the gate of Solomon at the upper Galilee site does not equate to any biblical accounts concerning that gate as being factual, (e.g., the archeological evidence is that remnants of such a gate were uncovered, not that religious accounts concerning it have any veracity).

LOL

[falcon9]

LOL

Okay, better example:  no evidence of the Red Sea having been "parted", (by anyone).  This biblical claim of supernatural intervention has no supporting geological evidence.  No biblical claims of supernatural interventions have been supported by archeological, geological or logical evidence to date.

[SherylsShado]

[SherylsShado]

Pharaoh's chariots found in Red Sea?
'Physical evidence' of ancient Exodus prompting new look at Old Testament

Wheel of fortune

Is this a chariot wheel that chased Moses? 

“I am 99.9 percent sure I picked up a chariot wheel,” Peter Elmer tells WorldNetDaily after two diving trips to the Gulf of Aqaba branch of the sea. “It was covered in coral.”

The 38-year-old forklift mechanic from Keynsham, England, traveled to the region with his brother, Mark, after being inspired by videos of explorers Ron Wyatt and Jonathan Gray, who have documented artifacts that in at least one case authorities have confirmed to be a chariot wheel dating to the time of the Exodus.

“I believe I actually sat in an ancient chariot cab,” Elmer said, referring to his time exploring a submerged item in what he describes as an underwater scrapyard. “Without question, it is most definitely the remains of the Egyptian army.”

---Excerpt from http://www.wnd.com/2003/06/19382/

[SherylsShado]

(Excerpt from "The Telegraph",  http://www.ablogabouthistory.com/2010/09/23/evidence-supports-biblical-parting-of-the-red-sea/

An ocean computer model was then used to simulate the impact of a strong overnight wind on the six-foot-deep waters.

The scientists found that an east wind of 63 mph blowing for 12 hours would have driven the shallow waters back, both into the lake and the river channel.

For a period of four hours, this would have created a land bridge about two miles long and three miles wide.

The waters really would have been parted, with barriers of water raised on both sides of the newly exposed mud flats.

As soon as the winds dropped, the waters would have rushed back, much like a tidal bore. Anyone stranded on the mud flats would have been at risk of drowning, said the scientists, whose findings are reported today in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.

Lead researcher Carl Drews, from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said: ''The simulations match fairly closely with the account in Exodus.

[sigmapi1501]

Ummmm... This is a book that has a guy who was born to a "virgin" mother. This same guy disappears for 29 years. He comes back walks on water, dies, comes back to life and THIS is what they are inspecting to determine if the bible is true?

Oh yea, a guy lived in a whale too

[SherylsShado]

 (Want some popcorn falcon9??) 


National Geographic News
Moses may have received some geological assistance when he parted the Red Sea to let the Israelites through, according to the Bible.

In a new study, scientists have determined that a recent tear in Earth's continental crust near the sea is the largest single rip seen since satellite monitoring began.

--excerpt from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060719-red-sea-parts.html

[falcon9]

Pharaoh's chariots found in Red Sea?
'Physical evidence' of ancient Exodus prompting new look at Old Testament

Wheel of fortune

Is this a chariot wheel that chased Moses? 

“I am 99.9 percent sure I picked up a chariot wheel,” Peter Elmer tells WorldNetDaily after two diving trips to the Gulf of Aqaba branch of the sea. “It was covered in coral.”

The 38-year-old forklift mechanic from Keynsham, England, traveled to the region with his brother, Mark, after being inspired by videos of explorers Ron Wyatt and Jonathan Gray, who have documented artifacts that in at least one case authorities have confirmed to be a chariot wheel dating to the time of the Exodus.

“I believe I actually sat in an ancient chariot cab,” Elmer said, referring to his time exploring a submerged item in what he describes as an underwater scrapyard. “Without question, it is most definitely the remains of the Egyptian army.”

---Excerpt from http://www.wnd.com/2003/06/19382/

Without question?  Remnants of something, (which may be a chariot wheel), were found.  This does not mean that such a chariot was part of an Aegyptian army which chased Moses and a bunch of people who were on foot across the desert nor that any Aegyptians drowned in a hypothetical "parting" of the Aqaba inlet of the Red Sea.

"There was a disaster [there] a long time ago," Moller said. "Whatever that is, it's open to interpretation."
One such "interpretation", (using Occam's Razor), is that the Aegyptian armies of that time, would range far and wide, combating various enemies at various times.  It is entirely possible that any chariot parts found were the result of such battles which occurred at times which do not match the timeframe of the alleged "exodus".   Any connection to a chariot wheel and the "exodus" is therefore purely a speculative attempt to force the find to fit a religious hypothesis.

[falcon9]

(Want some popcorn falcon9??) 

Nah, the popcorn is stale.

"National Geographic News
Moses may have received some geological assistance when he parted the Red Sea to let the Israelites through, according to the Bible.

In a new study, scientists have determined that a recent tear in Earth's continental crust near the sea is the largest single rip seen since satellite monitoring began."

--excerpt from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060719-red-sea-parts.html

You omitted this part, from that same article; "The study suggests that the splitting is due to the injection of underground magma (molten rock) into the rift rather than earthquakes happening on tectonic faults", (rather than some dude trained by the Aegyptian priesthood raising a stick and "parting the seas").  Also, the same article states the geologic process, (if that acounts for any "parting"), would have lasted for weeks, not moments.  Even an Aegyptian army missing a few chariot wheels wouldn't need weeks to catch a bunch of hebrews fleeing on foot.

Popcorn stale, got any more Junior Mints?

[falcon9]

(Excerpt from "The Telegraph",  http://www.ablogabouthistory.com/2010/09/23/evidence-supports-biblical-parting-of-the-red-sea/

 
"According to some experts, an ancient branch of the Nile flowed into a coastal lagoon then known as the Lake of Tanis, (just south of the Mediterranean Sea)."

That's a simulation of hypothesized six-foot lake depth, not a much deeper Red Sea, (or Aqaba inlet).  Once again, stretching the 'evidence' so thinly it's more like a redvine licorice than a Red Sea.

[SherylsShado]

You omitted this part, from that same article; "The study suggests that the splitting is due to the injection of underground magma (molten rock) into the rift rather than earthquakes happening on tectonic faults", (rather than some dude trained by the Aegyptian priesthood raising a stick and "parting the seas").  Also, the same article states the geologic process, (if that acounts for any "parting"), would have lasted for weeks, not moments.  Even an Aegyptian army missing a few chariot wheels wouldn't need weeks to catch a bunch of hebrews fleeing on foot.

Popcorn stale, got any more Junior Mints?

I didn't "omit" anything, the beginning of the site source says "excerpt".  

[SherylsShado]

(Excerpt from "The Telegraph",  http://www.ablogabouthistory.com/2010/09/23/evidence-supports-biblical-parting-of-the-red-sea/

 
"According to some experts, an ancient branch of the Nile flowed into a coastal lagoon then known as the Lake of Tanis, (just south of the Mediterranean Sea)."

That's a simulation of hypothesized six-foot lake depth, not a much deeper Red Sea, (or Aqaba inlet).  Once again, stretching the 'evidence' so thinly it's more like a redvine licorice than a Red Sea.

And you presume to know more than "scientific experts" now?