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"Historical Evidence" Article Items

Recent archaeological discoveries present historical evidence supporting the Biblical narrative.  These historical events help to place Scripture in its appropriate historical context.

For example, most Christians would not care about various Egyptian, Babylonian, Syrian, and Assyrian invasions of ancient Israel.  However, Scripture is filled with descriptions concerning Israel’s battles with their enemies.  Eventually, Israel would be conquered and taken captive, only to emerge a stronger nation.

The last few decades have seen an explosion in archaeology throughout Israel, uncovering artifacts supporting the Biblical narrative.  The timing of this historical evidence through archaeology is also consistent with the Biblical narrative.

Some of this historical evidence has been uncovered through the Sifting Project.  This project meticulously sifts discarded debris from illegal excavations on the Temple Mount.  Professional archaeologists head it but often use volunteers to do the tedious sifting looking for ancient artifacts.

Ancient Secular References to Jesus
The historicity of Christ is supported by secular writers.

Posted on July 9, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Biblical Names, Historical Evidence

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I have discussed several ancient secular references to Jesus 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 for 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 am only going to evaluate secular, extra-Biblical sources for the historicity… Read More »

Hardening Your Heart
Hardening of the heart is an expression going back to the ancient Egyptians. A heavy heart when weighed against a feather could mean a dismal future in the afterlife.

Posted on July 4, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Historical Evidence, Philosophical

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One of the most common colloquialisms is about hardening your heart.  According to Merriam-Webster, it means to stop having kind or friendly feelings for someone or caring about something. It would probably surprise most people that the expression derived from ancient Egypt and is important in the Biblical narrative. Hardening Your Heart Ancient Egypt was a place of customs that seem very strange to us today.  Many of these ancient customs are related to religious rituals the Egyptians followed concerning the afterlife. The Weight of the Heart ceremony was a procedure that the Egyptians believed occurred after death when you… Read More »

The Three Doomed Cities
The gospel is told in the stars in the constellations of the zodiac. These constellations are ancient in origin but many of the original names are Hebrew..

Posted on June 26, 2021 by

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

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There are three doomed cities pronounced by Christ in the New Testament.  These particular cities had seen more miraculous events and the personal teaching of Christ for years, and yet they failed to understand.  They could not see the meaning of what was right before their eyes. Many readers are familiar with Christ’s pronouncement against Jerusalem, For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before your, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave… Read More »

Historical Reliability of the Gospels
Bible with Hands

Posted on June 20, 2021 by

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

The historical reliability of the gospels offers another means for determining their historicity.   There are two means for determining the authenticity of any  historical account. The first is the most obvious; does the historical account have events that can be corroborated by multiple accounts.  This becomes progressively more difficult as the historical account becomes more remote.  Sometimes corroborating accounts become lost to history due to their loss or destruction.  Think for example of all the historical accounts that were lost during the destruction of the ancient Alexandria papyrus library. The second means for determining the reliability of an ancient historical… Read More »

Textual Reliability of the Gospels
Bible Image

Posted on June 12, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Historical Evidence, Textual

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The reliability of the gospels is extraordinarily important to establish.  If they are not a reliable record of what actually happened during Christ’s life, then they would hold little value.  This is why the reliability of the gospels has been such an area of intense interest to theologians throughout church history. Skeptical authors have always held that the four gospels are folklore – just tales of epic stories that in reality represent a gross exaggeration and manipulation of actual events.  This is thought to have been done by ancient scribes interested in magnifying their country’s history.  These skeptics believe that… Read More »

Age of the Old Testament
Shrine of the Book houses the ancient Isaiah Scroll written about 200 BC including Isaiah 53 which gives a description in great detail about Jesus Christ - the coming Messiah.

Posted on April 16, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Historical Evidence, Philosophical, Textual

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Dating the Age of the Old Testament The age of the Old Testament has been debated for the past two hundred years – it is a very controversial and very important topic.  Traditionalists say the Old Testament was written many hundreds of years before Christ by the authors attributed to each book.  For example, the Torah (first five books in the Bible) was written by Moses, the Psalms mostly written by David, Proverbs written by Solomon, and the major and minor prophetic books written by their respective prophet. Recent handwriting analysis published in peer-reviewed journals lends credence to the traditional… Read More »

Restoration of Israel
Jerusalem has been conquered many times through history; in this blog it was conquered in 586 BC by the Babylonians who destroyed the city and Temple.

Posted on February 18, 2021 by

Categories: Biblical History, Historical Evidence

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The restoration of Israel is one of the most important Biblical prophecies to be fulfilled.  Israel had been destroyed centuries earlier by the Romans and its people dispersed throughout the world.  Jerusalem – the capital city – was destroyed. The Romans wished to destroy all memory of the ancient city of Jerusalem that was renamed Aelia Capitolina and then rebuilt in the style of a typical Roman town.  The new Roman city would be inhabited by Romans, and the city dedicated to Jupiter – one of the Roman gods. The Roman emperor had become so enraged with the Jewish revolts… Read More »

Zircon Crystals
The early Earth was bombarded by a series of asteroids which periodically liquefied the rocks on Earth.

Posted on October 16, 2020 by

Categories: Archaeology, Historical Evidence

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Zircon Crystals and Earth’s Age Zircon crystals are thought to represent some of the oldest surviving materials on earth.  The ancient earth was a very inhospitable places imaginable with soaring heat due to the constant bombardment of our planet by asteroids and comets.  The surface was molten rock, constantly heated by these collisions releasing huge amounts of heat which quickly melted any solidifying rock. Zircon crystals are some of the toughest materials on the planet.  Scientists have located some of these crystals in ancient rock sprouting from the ground in the Jack Hills range located in Western Australia.    These… Read More »

Yitzhak Kaduri
Kaduri was the most senior rabbi in Jerusalem who quoted the Messiah as Jesus.

Posted on September 21, 2020 by

Categories: Biblical Names, Historical Evidence, Textual

One of the most remarkable – and controversial – news stories out of Israel concerns the renowned Ultra-Orthodox teacher of Israel – Yitzhak Kaduri. He was apparently a remarkable man revered by Jews all throughout Israel as a man of God and was a rabbi’s rabbi. He was born on July 9, 1898, in Baghdad as Yitzhak Diba who studied the Torah and the Kaballah, and was considered very intelligent.  He memorized much of the Scriptures and texts and was able to give advice to those who would ask. Everybody who knew the rabbi recognized him as a great man… Read More »

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