List of articles

Articles Concerning the Christian Faith

Historicity of Biblical People – Judah Kings Part Two

King Josiah was a righteous kind of Judah, who removed Baal worship.

Posted on July 24, 2023 by

Categories: Archaeology, Biblical History, Biblical Names

Our prior post noted the historicity of Biblical people, such as Hezekiah.  One of the most famous kings of Juday from the Old Testament is King Josiah. History of King Josiah There are no archaeological records that directly mention King Josiah.  However, a seal bearing the name of Nathan-Melech has been found at an archaeological site in Jerusalem.  He is known from Scripture (2 Kings 23:11) to be an administrative official to Josiah. Most scholars believe in the historicity of King Josiah.  They attribute the absence of documents or artifacts mentioning him to a few documents surviving from this period. … Read More »

Historicity of Biblical People – Judah Kings Part One

Sargon II

Posted on July 3, 2023 by

Categories: Biblical History

Tags: ,

The historicity of Biblical people has been confirmed by archaeological research over the past few decades.  These people are listed in the Biblical Archaeology Society online archives and provide some confirmation of Biblical historicity in general. Some confirmed biblical people through multiple archaeological findings, while others are part of a larger historical narrative (such as Egyptian pharaohs and secular historical knowledge). Hebrew Kings King David Many liberal historians have doubted the existence of the Hebrew kings, preferring to reference them as mythological.  The general explanation suggests that after the Israelis were held captive in Babylon for many years, some returned… Read More »

Literary Evidence About Jesus

The moral arguments asserts there is objective morality;; everything is not subjective.

Posted on February 19, 2023 by

Categories: Biblical History, Historical Evidence

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There is considerable literary evidence about Jesus than any other person or historical event.  There are written materials about the life of Christ, but they are supportive and antagonistic.  This literary evidence can be roughly broken down into three categories: Christians who liked Jesus Non-Christians who liked Jesus Non-Christians who disliked Jesus The modern critics of Christ and his message largely evaluate those non-Christians of the first few centuries after Christ while ignoring the evidence of those supporting his mission.  We will try to critically present the evidence in all three categories to determine their factual nature. Christians Who Liked… Read More »

Apostle Peter and First New Testament

Bible with Hands

Posted on January 28, 2023 by

Categories: Biblical History, Biblical Names, Historical Evidence

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The students of the Apostle Peter confirmed the accuracy of the first New Testament, similar to those of Paul and John. Peter may be the oldest of the original disciples of Christ.  He is also known as Simon Cephas from the Aramaic version of his name.  Peter and his brother Andrew were fishermen and were about their vocation when they first met Jesus.  Peter was a fisherman and likely illiterate with little, if any, formal education and likely illiterate. Mark became very close to Peter, so much so that Peter called him “my son.” (1 Peter 12:12-16).  The early church… Read More »

Apostle Paul and First New Testament

Homeschooling achievement tests tend to be higher than those from public schools.

Posted on January 20, 2023 by

Categories: Biblical History, Biblical Names, Historical Evidence

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The Apostle Paul had many students as he spread the Christian message worldwide.  Many of these students are lost to history, but some names are preserved in his writings.  These students and their spiritual descendants become important links in the chain of custody of New Testament writings. In an earlier post, we discussed how the students of the Apostle John carried the Christian message from John to the first written New Testament in 350 AD.  Each student carried the gospel message from their predecessor and then passed it to their students. A similar situation occurred with the Apostle Paul’s students… Read More »

Apostle John and First New Testament

Ancient preserve fragments from Irenaeus writings.

Posted on January 15, 2023 by

Categories: Biblical History, Biblical Names, Historical Evidence

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The Apostle John is the only apostle who is thought to have escaped martyrdom and provided a link to the first New Testament.  He was the apostle that “Jesus loved,” who was likely the youngest apostle and lived the longest – probably until about 100 AD.  He was the son of Zebedee and Salome and James’s brother (who was probably killed by beheading by Herod Agrippa 1 early in church history in 44 AD).  Some traditions hold that Salome was the sister of Jesus’ mother, Mary.  That would make Salome Jesus’ aunt, and the sons of Zebedee would be Jesus’ first… Read More »

The New Testament Books

King James Version

Posted on January 2, 2023 by

Categories: Historical Evidence

There are twenty-six books in the New Testament that we consider to be an authoritative and accurate representation of events that occurred many hundreds of years ago. Many skeptics point out that the books in the New Testament were written about 325 years before being incorporated into a “canon” or official group of books recognized by the Church.  But how do we know these books were not just “made up” or altered during the intervening centuries?  And why these books, and not others that were known at the time?  This is a crucial question because it speaks to the historicity… Read More »

Historicity of King Hezekiah

King Hezekiah bulla

Posted on December 29, 2022 by

Categories: Historical Evidence

Confirmation of the existence of the ancient Biblical King Hezekiah has been found.  This discovery has been called “one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Israel of all time.” This discovery shows five monumental, new royal inscriptions describing King Hezekiah of Judah, which include dozens of lines and hundreds of letters.  These inscriptions have now been deciphered. King Hezekiah Inscriptions Gershon Galil, a former chairman of the University of Haifa, said the inscriptions mention the name of Hezekiah and document some of the major events during the first seventeen years of his reign.  These events include the water project… Read More »

Secular Eyewitnesses to Christ

Jerusalem

Posted on December 26, 2022 by

Categories: Archaeology, Biblical History, Biblical Names, Historical Evidence

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I have discussed several ancient secular eyewitnesses to Christ in another post evaluating the historicity of Scripture from a broad perspective.  In this article, I am going to concentrate on the evidence substantiating the historicity of Christ. The historicity of Christ is, after all the most important question that must be answered regarding all of Scripture. As Paul said, if the Resurrection of Christ did not happen, then Christians are deluded and, above all, to be pitied.  If Christ did not exist, then neither did the Resurrection. I will only evaluate secular, extra-Biblical sources for the historicity of Christ to avoid… Read More »

The Time of Christ’s First Coming

The Tomb of Daniel is located in Iran but is also venerated by Muslims.

Posted on December 14, 2022 by

Categories: Uncategorized

The time of Christ’s first coming to the day was predicted centuries before.  That is quite a statement, and yet it is true. First-century Jews were looking for the Messiah who would fulfill all the prophecies from the Old Testament.  They knew the time was near when he had to appear.  But how did they know this? Daniel and his Most Famous Prophesy Daniel was a young man carried off to Babylon in 586 BC when King Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem.  Daniel was a very righteous man and received a revelation concerning the timing of the Messiah’s coming.  This is very… Read More »