Dr Paul Allen

Are the Bible’s Stories True? Archaeology’s Evidenc e Michael D. Lemonick December 18, 1995  In another part of the world, it would have been a straightforward public works project. A highway was too narrow to handle the increasing traffic flow, so the authorities brought in heavy equipment to widen it. Partway through the job, however, a road-leveling tractor uncovered the opening to a cave no one knew was there. Work came to an immediate halt, and within hours, a scientific swat team descended on the site to study it. That’s the law in Israel, where civilization goes back at least 5,000 years, and a significant archaeological find could lurk under any given square foot of real estate. Almost every empire since the beginning of Western history has occupied these lands or fought over them, or at least passed through — Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, Crusaders — leaving behind buildings, burial places, or artefacts. This is why there were about 300 active digs

THE WALLS OF JERICHO So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the trumpet sound, and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell flat. Then the people went into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.  Joshua 6:20 It is one of the most dramatic events chronicled in the Old Testament, but for generations, scholars have debated whether the Israelites’ assault on Jericho was fact or myth. Over the past three decades, the consensus has gone against the biblical version. The late British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon established in the 1950s that while the ancient city was indeed destroyed, it happened around 1550 B.C., some 150 years before Joshua could have shown up. However, archaeologist Bryant Wood, who wrote in the March/April issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, claims that Kenyon was wrong. Based on a re-evaluation of her research, published in detail only recently, Wood says that the city’

  I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.  (2 Corinthians 12:9–10, TM) At twenty-two, Christopher Nolan was already hailed as a literary genius. With Britain’s coveted Whitbread Prize for his autobiography, Under the Eye of the Clock, his work has been compared to that of James Joyce and W.B. Yeats. Yet it takes Christopher Nolan a quarter of an hour to write one word. Born with severe cerebral palsy, he spends much of his life strapped in a wheelchair, his face and limbs subject to uncontrollable spasms. He can’t speak, but he can type. As a child, he cried bitterly that he was not like other children until his mother said, “Listen here, you can see, you can hear, you can understand, and you’re loved by me and your dad just as you are.”  Gradually, he looked at his limbs and decided that he liked himself! What a decision! He shifted his attention away from his limitations and focused on what was possible—what he could do with his life. He says, “My mind is lik

  Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.  (Deuteronomy 34:7) During his last years, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale wrote: “The longer I live, the more convinced I become that neither age nor circumstances need deprive us of energy or vitality. Although I have retired from my church, I occupy my working hours with Guideposts Magazine, speaking, and writing books. I go to bed as early as possible and rise early. I try to eat sensibly, exercise regularly, and avoid bad habits of all kinds. I mentally repudiate physical, mental or spiritual decline and disability. I trust in the living God, and I recommend the same to anyone who desires a long and healthy life.” The Bible says, “The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning” (Job 42:12). Your age is not a problem to God so long as your faith is strong. Noah didn’t start building the ark until he was 500, went into it at 621, came out of it at 622, and helped to s

  As his custom was, he went into the synagogue.  (Luke 4:16) If you want to be like Jesus, study His habits and make them yours! Your talent doesn’t determine your future. The brilliant young actor, River Phoenix, died in a drug-induced convulsion on Hollywood Boulevard, because he couldn’t “kick” his habit. If you want to know what your future holds, keep a diary of your daily habits for a month, and then you can write your own obituary. Do you want to be like Jesus? He rose before any of His disciples to pray. He wouldn’t have thought of facing the day without it! Imagine, He did, but we don’t! David said, “Morning, noon, and evening I will pray … and He shall hear my voice” (Psalms 55:7). That sounds like a habit! Do you pray even five minutes a day? That’s less than one-half percent of your waking hours. During Prohibition, Congress ruled that anything that contained less than one-half percent alcohol was “non-intoxicating.” That means you can’t feel the effects; it doesn’t change

Jesus didn’t say, “I am finished.” He said, “It is finished.” Why? Because He was just getting started. It’s a solid reminder about the meaning of our Savior’s last words on the Cross. The work of His walk may have ended on Earth, but Jesus’ steps would continue into perpetuity. Another reason the reminder needs to be bookmarked for many believers is that sometimes, people misquote the Bible–unintentionally or manipulatively. Inside the numbers of the Bible, there are: 66 books 1,189 chapters 3,294 questions 6,468 commands 8,810 promises 31,102 verses And depending on the version you read, there are over 783,000 words What do all those numbers have in common? Every word connected to a number has been misquoted, ignored, misappropriated, taken out of context, misunderstood, twisted into a pretzel, or flat-out put into a lie at some point in history. It’s crucial to understand the sacred words in the Bible. According to theologians, only 1,500 to 2,000 words in the New Testament can be a

 Can we see God? Why is God invisible?

Issues of conscience and preference require careful consideration to maintain unity and love within the church. Understanding these categories helps Christians respect diverse opinions and avoid unnecessary conflicts, promoting a more unified and loving community. Is it an issue of conscience? Conscience issues arise when someone abstains from something that is neither sinful nor foolish, influenced by biblical wisdom and personal experience. Even among like-minded believers, circumstances colour perspectives. The influence of your personal experience can make it difficult for you to imagine how others could operate differently in good conscience. No wonder the New Testament commands believers to respect and tolerate diverse opinions on issues in this category (Rom 14:13). Christians must submit their consciences to God (Rom 14:5–7) and seek to build one another up in love (Rom 14:19), even as they exercise liberty with discretion (Rom 14:20). Is it an issue of preference?   The key to

On its own, it’s hard to make sense of Jesus’ eye-lamp metaphor. However, the ambiguity fades when our interpretation of “the eye is the lamp of the body” involves reading Jesus’ words in context. He’s using imagery from the Hebrew Bible to say that one's spiritual health can be assessed in part by observing the way one uses material possessions. First, this single sentence belongs to a large body of teaching found in Matthew 5-7, known as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus talks about the body’s eye-lamp in a section of the sermon that focuses on the dangers involved with wealth. This context helps us see that his metaphor specifically speaks to our relationship with money and possessions. Second, as a Jewish teacher, Jesus appeals to common idioms in the Hebrew Bible. Seeing how biblical authors use the metaphorical language of “light-filled” versus “dim” eyes—or “good” versus “bad” eyes—can help us gain a deeper understanding of Jesus’ intended message. For Jesus, the eye becomes an

“Wars will continue to flare up between sinful human beings as long as they live in this fallen world, in which Satan is at work…. Christ himself declared there would continue to be ‘wars and rumours of war’ [Matthew 24:6]…. Only when he returns in glory to bring this world to its end and fully subjugate Satan will war cease.” So says The Lutheran Study Bible, “Divine Warfare,” p. 376. That doesn’t mean we have to like it. We must acknowledge that we’re stuck with warfare, hoping and praying to keep it manageable. But that’s a tall order at the moment, considering that nine countries now hold a total of 12,000 nuclear weapons. The Current Top 10 Most Deadly Conflicts Granted, Russia and the U.S. hold more than 90 per cent of those 12,000 weapons. But as tensions escalate around the globe, that’s hardly reassuring. Here are the most violent conflicts currently being waged around the planet, with their minimum estimated fatalities over the last two years: Russia vs. Ukraine: 98,000 Israe

  Who is Luke and why is he important? Luke was acquainted with and traveled with the apostle  Paul . Not only did Luke travel with Paul outside the land of Israel, he also visited Israel and may have become personally acquainted with members of Jesus’s family, including his mother Mary and his brother James. Between them, Luke and Paul wrote more than half of the New Testament. This makes Luke hugely important for Christianity. Where does the Bible refer to Luke? Luke’s name appears three times in the Bible. All three occur in the New Testament, and all three are found in letters written by Paul ( Col 4:14 ;  2 Tim 4:11 ; Phil 24). In  Colossians 4:14 , Paul refers to Luke as “the beloved physician.” In  Philemon 24 , Luke is listed along with Mark, Aristarchus, and Demas among the apostle’s “fellow workers.” Both of these references occur in what we know as Paul’s Prison Letters, for they were written while the apostle was detained either in Caesarea Maritima, on Israel’s coast, or i