The Bible: Archaelogical Finds

Old Testament

(1) Dead Sea Scrolls (discovered 1947-56, Qumran, Israel). Provided our oldest copies of almost all books of the Old Testament and confirmed reliability of the transmission process.

(2) Taylor Prism (discovered 1830, Nineveh, Iraq). Corroborates the compaigns of Sennacherib found in 2 Kg 18:13-19:37; 2 Ch 32:1-12; Is 36:1-37:38.

(3) House of David Inscriptions (discovered 1993-94, Tel Dan, Israel). Earliest mention outside the Bible of King David, who some scholars habe held to be a fictional character.

(4) Cylinder of Nabonidus (discovered 1854, Ur, Iraq). Corroborates Belshazzar as last king of Babylon as recorded in Daniel 5:1-30; 7:1; 8:1.

(5) Sargon Inscriptions (discovered 1843, Khorsabad, Iraq). Confirms the existence of Sargon, King of Assyria, Isaiah 20:1, as well as his conquering of Samaria (2 Kings 17:23-24).

(6) Tiglath-Pileser III Inscriptions (discovered 1845-49, Nimrud, Iraq). Corroborates 2 Kings 15:29).

(7) Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser (discovered 1846, Nimrud, Iraq). Depicts Jehu, son of Omri, oldest known picture of an ancient Israelite.

(8) Moabite Stone (discovered 1868, Palestine). Corroborates 2 King 3.

(9) Ketef Hinnom Amulets (discovered 1779, Jerusalem). Contains the Hebrew text of Numbers 6:24-26 and Deuteronomy 9:7. This is the oldest instance to date of of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, 7th-6th century BC.

(10) Seal of Baruch (discovered early-mid 1970's, Jerusalem). Contains the phrase "belonging to Beruch son of Neriah," Jeremiah's scribe, 6th century BC.

(11) Epic of Gilgamesh (discovered 1853, Nineveh, Iraq). First extra-biblical find that appears to reference the great flood of Genesis 7-8.

(12) Weld-Blundell Prism (discovered 1922, Babylon, Iraq). Contains a list of Sumerian Kings that ruled before and after the great flood; the kings that pre-dated the flood are attributed enormous life spans reminiscent of, though greater than, the lifespans of pre-flood inhabitants of the Bible.

(13) Siloam Inscription (discovered 1880, Jerusalem). One of the few extinct Hebrew writings from the 8th century BC or earlier.

(14) Gedaliah Seal (discovered 1935, Lanchish, Israel). Corroborates 2 Kings 25:22

[size=6]New Testament

(1) The Pilate Stone Inscription (discovered 1961, Caesarea Maritima). Confirmed the existence and office of Pilate.

(2) The Delphi, or Gallio, Inscription (discovered 1905). Fixed the date of Gallio's proconsulship at AD 51-52, providing a way of daiting Acts 18:12-17, and as a result, much of Paul's ministry.

(3) Caiaphas Ossuary (discovered 1990, near Jerusalem). Confirmed the existence of Caiaphas.

(4) Sergius Paulus Inscription (discovered 1877, Paphos, Cyprus). Confirms the existence of Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus encountered by Paul and Barnabus in Acts 13:7.

(5) Pool of Siloam (discovered 2004, Jerusalem). Site of Jesus' miracle recorded in John 9:1-11.

(6) Skeleton of Yohanan (discovered 1968, Jerusalem). Only known remains of crucifixion victim; corroborates the Bible's description of crucifixion.

(7) Rylands Papyrus P52 (discovered 1920). Oldest universally accepted manuscript of the New Testament, a small fragment of John's Gospel dated by papyrologists to AD 125.

(8) Bodmer Papyrus II (discovered 1952, Pabau, Egypt). Contains most of John's Gospel and dates from AD 150-200.

(9) Magdalene Papyrus (discovered 1901, Luxor, Egypt). Contains fragments of Matthew and has been dated as being earlier than 70 AD, though there is debate concerning the date.

(10) Chester Beatty Papyri (discovered 1931-35, Cairo, Egypt). Three papyri dating from AD 200 that contain most of the New Testament.

(11) Codex Vaticanus (discovered in the Vatican Library's earliest inventory [1481]). Dated AD 325-50 and contains nearly complete Bible.

(12) Codex Sinaiticus (discovered 1859, Mt Sinai, Egypt). Codex contains nearly complete New Testament and over half of the Old Testament (the books at the beginning of the Bible appear to have been lost to damage), dated AD 350.

(13) 7Q5 (discovered 1955, Qumran, Israel). Possible fragment of Mark that can be dated no later than AD 68 which would mamke the oldest extant New Testament fragment confirmed.

(14) Galilee Boat (discovered 1986, near Tiberias, Israel). The boat, 30' x 8', held approximately 15 passengers and would be like the boats Jesus' disciples used in crossing the Sea of Galilee. Carbon 14 dating places the boat between 120 BC and AD 40.[/size]

JIA without the colors.

Is it me, or is half this forum becoming ushome's copy/pasted threads and/or posts vs. everyone else's actual opinions and words?

Quit breaking up the forum Yoko.

*waits for others to come in and argue*

Gone With the Wind talks about real places and real events, but it is still a fictional story.

Originally posted by DigiMark007

JIA without the colors.

Is it me, or is half this forum becoming ushome's copy/pasted threads and/or posts vs. everyone else's actual opinions and words?

Quit breaking up the forum Yoko.

*waits for others to come in and argue*

Oh cool it! Please. I didn't "copy and past" the information in this thread. I typed all from the "Apologetics Study Bible," which I purchased weeks ago. Regardless, why all the fuss?

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Gone With the Wind talks about real places and real events, but it is still a fictional story.

The Bible--Old and New Testaments--make statments about "history." And Archaelogy helps establish the validity of the Bible. For example, read: "The First Temple Seal Found in Jerusalem." How you resort to stories like "Gone with the Wind," in comparison to the Bible is ridiculous, and it shows you bias towards the Bible. You don't even respect a 3,500 year old book, if only for its time and impact on the world.

General propaganda for one or another of the local solutions (philosophies and religions) is superfluous – or much rather, a menace. The way to become human is to learn to recognize the lineaments of God in all of the wonderful modulations of the face of man.

Originally posted by ushomefree
Oh cool it! Please. I didn't "copy and past" the information in this thread. I typed all from the "Apologetics Study Bible," which I purchased weeks ago. Regardless, why all the fuss?

nw that u can quote, maybe, just maybe u could work on lowering the font size of most of your posts to say.....normal levels

Originally posted by DigiMark007

Is it me, or is half this forum becoming ushome's copy/pasted threads and/or posts vs. everyone else's actual opinions and words?

There's nothing wrong with that. A lot of opening posts begin with a news article or a Youtube clip. It's a way to get a discussion started.

Originally posted by Quiero Mota
There's nothing wrong with that. A lot of opening posts begin with a news article or a Youtube clip. It's a way to get a discussion started.

when you do it every thread you start for the last 10-15 threads it is a problem

Originally posted by Quiero Mota
There's nothing wrong with that. A lot of opening posts begin with a news article or a Youtube clip. It's a way to get a discussion started.

I appreciate the fair comment; thank you very much.

Originally posted by ushomefree
The Bible--Old and New Testaments--make statments about "history." And Archaelogy helps establish the validity of the Bible. For example, read: "The First Temple Seal Found in Jerusalem." How you resort to stories like "Gone with the Wind," in comparison to the Bible is ridiculous, and it shows you bias towards the Bible. You don't even respect a 3,500 year old book, if only for its time and impact on the world.

Before I show respect for the bible, I need to put it into perspective. It is a far more serious set of books then Gone With the Wind, but it is just a book written by humans. It is no better or worse than any holy book.

The bible is an extraordinary book. It has shaped the world in profound ways. But we humans are really good as finding patterns in randomness. We can see faces in a stucco wall. We evolved with this trait to survive. The person who can see the predator in the bushes first, lives, and has children that can see patterns.

That is all you are doing is seeing patterns in the words of the bible, but what you are seeing is only in your head.

What you are doing is post-diction, but we have been down this road.

Shakyamunison-

You need to lay off the peyote... grandpa. stupid

Originally posted by Quiero Mota
There's nothing wrong with that. A lot of opening posts begin with a news article or a Youtube clip. It's a way to get a discussion started.

No no, we've been through this. It's fine if it supplements discussion....but sucks when it is their end of the discussion. Which is what ushome's and JIA's posts usually are.

Originally posted by ushomefree
Shakyamunison-

You need to lay off the peyote... grandpa. stupid

Peyote? So, you have nothing to say?

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Before I show respect for the bible, I need to put it into perspective.

Fair enough; but putting the Bible into perspective isn't going to happen all by itself. Apathy is not the answer.

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
It is a far more serious set of books then Gone With the Wind, but it is just a book written by humans. It is no better or worse than any holy book.

You are free to make that assumption, but the Bible asks all its readers to "test" it objectively. This requires effort and sincerity of the reader.

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
The bible is an extraordinary book. It has shaped the world in profound ways. But we humans are really good as finding patterns in randomness. We can see faces in a stucco wall. We evolved with this trait to survive. The person who can see the predator in the bushes first, lives, and has children that can see patterns.

People rising from the dead happens all the time; definitely a pattern.

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
That is all you are doing is seeing patterns in the words of the bible, but what you are seeing is only in your head.

Right... Jesus' tomb really was occupied. The Jewish and Roman authorities didn't reveal Jesus' body because--well, deep down inside--they thought He was a cool guy.

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
What you are doing is post-diction, but we have been down this road.

And applying "postdiction" to the Bible--prophecy specifically--is incredibly shortsighted. I made reasonable efforts to substantiate this claim, but all you ever did was claim (over and over again), "It's postdiction ushome; it's postdiction."

Originally posted by ushomefree
Fair enough; but putting the Bible into perspective isn't going to happen all by itself. Apathy is not the answer.

What does apathy have to do with anything?

Originally posted by ushomefree
You are free to make that assumption, but the Bible asks all its readers to "test" it objectively. This requires effort and sincerity of the reader.

I know the bible. It has been many years, but I used to study it a lot.

Originally posted by ushomefree
People rising from the dead happens all the time; definitely a pattern.

I don’t know what you are talking about. No one has ever come back from the dead.

Originally posted by ushomefree
Right... Jesus' tomb really was occupied. The Jewish and Roman authorities didn't reveal Jesus' body because--well, deep down inside--they thought He was a cool guy.

I’m sorry if what I’m telling you puts everything you believe into jeopardy, but…

Originally posted by ushomefree
And applying "postdiction" to the Bible--prophecy specifically--is incredibly shortsighted. I made reasonable efforts to substantiate this claim, but all you ever did was claim (over and over again), "It's postdiction ushome; it's postdiction."

How is it short sided? I remember me asking you a question, and you not answering the question.

Why does post-diction not apply to the bible?

Originally posted by ushomefree
Shakyamunison-

You need to lay off the peyote... grandpa. stupid

o dear i believe he just made a funny 😛

Tyre still exists.....

LOooooooooooooooooooooooooooLLLLLLLLlllllll

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Before I show respect for the bible, I need to put it into perspective. It is a far more serious set of books then Gone With the Wind, but it is just a book written by humans. It is no better or worse than any holy book.

The bible is an extraordinary book. It has shaped the world in profound ways. But we humans are really good as finding patterns in randomness. We can see faces in a stucco wall. We evolved with this trait to survive. The person who can see the predator in the bushes first, lives, and has children that can see patterns.

That is all you are doing is seeing patterns in the words of the bible, but what you are seeing is only in your head.

What you are doing is post-diction, but we have been down this road.

That's a good point but how does having this evolutionary trait make anything the Bible say any more or less true?

The statement you made doesn't account for the validity of the Bible. Maybe we are very good at finding patterns as part of our very nature, but couldn't it just as easily be argued that the patterns found in the Bible only confirm it's reliability.

The same thing could be used in an argument to support God's existence. I could really want to believe in God on a deep psychological level. I could drive myself insane with indoctrination and chants about God and even create my own version of God. I could be told that it is merely an evolutionary trait that helps me believe these things. But this doesn't tell us if God really exists or not, one way or another.

Back on point, there are more ancient historical records to confirm the reliability of the Bible more than any other ancient historical record. The real question comes down to whether you agree with it's spiritual points, which is a matter of faith and experience. ✅

Originally posted by willRules
That's a good point but how does having this evolutionary trait make anything the Bible say any more or less true?

The patterns are not in the bible, they are in the minds of the reader. There are as many interpretations of the bible as there are people. Why is one interpretation better then another?

Originally posted by willRules
The statement you made doesn't account for the validity of the Bible. Maybe we are very good at finding patterns as part of our very nature, but couldn't it just as easily be argued that the patterns found in the Bible only confirm it's reliability.

Why the bible? Why not the Koran, or some other book? I have seen how people have taken the bible and make it say anything they want. If what you are saying is true, there would only be one pattern in the bible, but that is not the case. Just look at how many types of Christianity there is:

Armenian Catholic Church
Belarusian Catholic Church
Bulgarian Catholic Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
Coptic Catholic Church
Croatian Greek Catholic Church
Ethiopian Catholic Church
Georgian Catholic Church
Greek Catholic Church
Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
Macedonian Catholic Church
Maronite Catholic Church
Melkite Catholic Church
Romanian Catholic Church
Russian Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church (usually called the "Byzantine Catholic Church" in the United States)
Slovak Greek Catholic Church
Syrian Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Church
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
Anglican Church in Thailand
Anglican Church of Australia
Anglican Church of Canada
Anglican Church of Kenya
Anglican Church of Korea
Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Church in Wales
Church of England
Church of Ireland
Church of Nigeria
Church of Uganda
Church of the Province of Burundi
Church of the Province of Central Africa
Church of the Province of Melanesia
Church of the Province of Myanmar
Church of the Province of Rwanda
Church of the Province of South East Asia
Church of the Province of Tanzania
Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
Church of the Province of the West Indies (History)
Church of the Province of West Africa
Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
Episcopal Church in the United States of America
Episcopal Church of Cuba
Episcopal Church of the Sudan
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central America
Iglesia Anglicana de México
Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de las Americas
Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil
Lusitanian Church of Portugal
Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Japan)
Philippine Episcopal Church
Scottish Episcopal Church
Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church
Orthodox Church of Constantinople: the Ecumenical Patriarchate
Orthodox Church of Finland
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
Orthodox Church of Estonia
Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria
Antiochian Orthodox Church
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
Western Rite Vicariate of the North American Archdiocese
Orthodox Church of Jerusalem
Orthodox Church of Mount Sinai
Russian Orthodox Church
Chinese Orthodox Church
Japanese Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Metropolia of Western Europe
Belorussian Orthodox Church
Moldovan Orthodox Church Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric
Romanian Orthodox Church
Metropolis of Bessarabia
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
Cypriot Orthodox Church
Church of Greece
Polish Orthodox Church
Albanian Orthodox Church
Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church in America

Each of these denominations have a slightly different interpretation of the bible. Which one is right?

Originally posted by willRules
The same thing could be used in an argument to support God's existence. I could really want to believe in God on a deep psychological level. I could drive myself insane with indoctrination and chants about God and even create my own version of God. I could be told that it is merely an evolutionary trait that helps me believe these things. But this doesn't tell us if God really exists or not, one way or another.

It sounds like you are agreeing with me.

Originally posted by willRules
Back on point, there are more ancient historical records to confirm the reliability of the Bible more than any other ancient historical record. The real question comes down to whether you agree with it's spiritual points, which is a matter of faith and experience. ✅

I don’t believe this statement. I think it is just propaganda. Can you give examples?