Rediscovering The Truth About Creation

The third part of this evaluation concerning the authenticity of the Bible considers the accumulated archaeological data, but before looking at some of that specific data, an above point needs to be reiterated. According to the Liberty Illustrated Bible Dictionary, no archaeological data have ever successfully challenged or refuted the truth of either God's existence, of Jesus and His Resurrection, or of God's Word [1]. In his book, Rivers in the Desert; History of Negev by Mr. Nelson Glueck, this Jewish archaeologist also expressed the same sentiment, noting that archaeology has many times even confirmed the historical accuracy of the Bible [2]. Rather than confuse, distort, or contradict the reality of spiritual matters, many of the archaeological discoveries have actually supported and strengthened research in the Bible. This basic truth should become very obvious in the examples which are presented below.

The first example comes from Mr. McDowell and concerns the discovery of the Ebla Kingdom [3]. The significance of this find does not relate to the accuracy of Scriptures, but rather to the early existence of a "written" Old Testament. Some Bible critics, called higher critics because they attack the validity of the original manuscripts, have claimed that the five Books written by Moses could not have been written by him. They have said that that period, which would have been about 1400 B.C., was too primitive for such advanced writing and also that the actual technique of writing, itself, was still unknown.

These critics have suggested that the five Books in question were actually written much later, somewhere between 538 B.C. and 331 B.C., or perhaps even later than that. However, the discovery of the ancient Ebla Kingdom remains in 1968 has shown that these critics are wrong concerning the beginning of writing!

According to Mr. McDowell, seventeen thousand "written" tablets have been recovered since 1974 from the Ebla Kingdom alone, and this kingdom existed one thousand years before Moses, in the same part of the world! While such a discovery does not prove conclusively that Moses wrote those five Books of the Bible, it certainly does show that he could have. The ability to write existed. He would not have been inhibited by any sort of writing restriction, plus there is not any other evidence that can cast serious doubt on the fact that he did write those Books!

The second example from archaeology comes from what is called the "Lachish Letters." These writings, which were discovered in 1935 by the late Mr. J. L. Starkey, compare closely to the Hebrew-style prose that was written during the time of the prophet Jeremiah [4]. The letters were composed entirely by non-biblical authors and discuss some very specific events surrounding a battle between Babylon and Judah. The battle took place during Jeremiah's lifetime, and the letters even mention him by name. They also mention the existence of a certain "prophet" of that time, though the name "Jeremiah" and the term "prophet" are not explicitly linked together. While such writings may not mean that this Jeremiah was the same prophet to whom they were referring, it is clearly possible that he might have been.

In Jeremiah 34:6-7, Jeremiah, the prophet as well as the writer of that portion of Scriptures, makes a comment about this same battle between Babylon and Judah, this time to indicate that there were only two fortified cities which remained, Lachish and Azekah. According to Mr. J. P. Free, in his book Archaeology and Bible History, Letter IV of those letters corroborates this writing by Jeremiah [5]. The letter also highlights what Jeremiah wrote by showing how Nebuchadnezzar's army was actually closing in on the city. Consequently, in this instance, the archaeological discovery does not oppose Bible higher critics, but it does provide evidence and additional information to support the validity of a very specific Old Testament writing, written during a very specific time period, by a man recognized by the people of those times.

The third and final archaeological example, and possibly the most significant to this generation, is the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. According to Mr. Millar Burrows in his book, The Dead Sea Scrolls, a fifteen-year-old shepherd boy, named Muhammad adh-hib, found the scrolls, yet the exact details of how he found them are sketchy [6]!

Some say that the boy was searching for a lost goat which had wandered into a cave. The boy found the goat, then he saw the scrolls! Some say that the goat went into the cave and that the boy hurled a rock through the cave's opening. Instead of hitting the goat, the rock struck and broke the pottery which contained the scrolls. The shattering of the clay containers made a distinctive noise, so the boy entered the cave to investigate. Then, according to this second version of the story, the discovery was made! Others say that the boy simply entered the cave to seek shelter from a storm, and at that time, he saw them. However, exactly what brought that young man to the cave in question is not important. The important fact, for whatever the circumstances might have been, is that the scrolls were discovered!

The value of this uncovering has been dramatic because when the scrolls were examined, they were found to contain a copy of the Old Testament Book of Isaiah. Before that discovery, the oldest complete Hebrew manuscript, which had been dated to about 916 A.D., was one called the Massoretic text.

Those who study ancient writings and inscriptions are called paleographers. According to Misters Geisler and Nix, paleographers have dated this new Book of Isaiah, the one which was found within the scrolls, back to about 125 B.C., making it over one thousand years older than the previous oldest [7]. More than that, though, a close comparison between the two different copies amazingly showed that they were almost identical!

The exact percent of consistency was given at ninety-five percent, which is considered by all to be phenomenal. Mr. Gleason Archer, in his book A Survey of the Old Testament, says that the five percent variation was nothing more than a slip of the pen or an occasional spelling which had changed between the two writings [8]. Neither of these causes for differences, however, has caused any doubt or concern about the accuracy of the two works. They were prepared over a millennium apart, but were exact in nearly every detail.

As one might imagine, archaeology has been like a good friend over the years to Bible proponents. Despite uncovering many ancient civilizations and making other fascinating discoveries, nothing that they have found has ever disproved anything recorded in the Bible. The three instances noted above are just a small sample of all that has been substantiated by archaeologists. At the same time, the Bible has even helped those individuals in some of their efforts!

In I Kings 9:26, for example, the town of Ezion-Geber was described as being "near lath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea." Archaeologists were able to use that information to locate the remains of that town. Before consulting Scriptures, they had not even known that it was there, but with the help of God's Word, they were able to quickly find the ancient city and do their research. In similar fashion, archaeologists have also used the Bible to aid them in discoveries of and about Nineveh, the city where the Prophet Jonah was sent to preach. They have even uncovered information about Belshazzar which corroborates the writings that are found in the Book of Daniel, Chapter Five.

With all the above having been said, imagine the many archaeological facts which support the Bible and consider again the irony of the Big Bang theory and the Theory of Evolution! On the one hand, we have two theories from science which may sound good but cannot be proven. Yet, in our society, they are treated as fact and elevated to the level of the intellectual. On the other hand, we have a simple story about God, Jesus, and the Bible, a story which in almost every aspect proves itself, a story which has never been disproved, and a story which is often substantiated by secular sources. Yet, we never hear a word about any of these so-called matters of the Faith! Such things are treated as unimportant and mindless beliefs to be received only by the unintelligent and the under-advanced. In my opinion, the obvious brainwashing in all this is uncanny, even undeniable!

It is as was stated in Chapter Eight. The system around us, for whatever its reasons, does not want its own citizens to know the truth about God. That conclusion should be obvious. By law, information like that which has been conveyed in these past sixteen chapters cannot be shared in a public classroom - not by me, not by anyone! The system around us does not want God to have a fair hearing. They call it religious freedom, but such high talk is really just another way of saying that the system around us does not want people like you and me to have a clear, undistorted choice when it comes to spiritual matters. Like it or not, innocent people, and especially school-aged children, are being intentionally deceived and kept from the truth about God, and this commentary about our system is very troubling!