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 d...

The following article is adapted from the  ESV Archaeology Study Bible —a new study tool that roots biblical text in its cultural and historical context.  1. Rosetta Stone In 1798, Napoleon invaded Egypt. He brought with him a scientific team of scholars and draftsmen to survey the monuments of the land. The most important find of the expedition was the Rosetta Stone. It proved to be valuable as the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics . The stone dated to the period of Ptolemy V (204– 180 BC ) and was inscribed in three scripts: demotic, Greek, and hieroglyphic. The Greek, well known to scholars at the time, proved to be a translation of the ancient Egyptian language on the stone. Translation of hieroglyphics marked the beginning of the study of ancient Egyptian texts and grammar and provided the basis for modern Egyptology studies. 2. Dead Sea Scrolls In 1947, shepherds stumbled upon a cave in a rugged, arid area on the western side of the Dead Se...

Were believers under the Old Covenant permanently indwelt with the Holy Spirit ? Was Spirit baptism an Old Testament reality? No. While the Holy Spirit regenerated sinners in the Old Testament, the indwelling of the Spirit in the hearts/lives of believers began at Pentecost . I am a dispensationalist, and I see the church as beginning in Acts 2 . I am a progressive, leaky, modified dispensationalist, but even in my compromised form, I cannot imagine any understanding of the uniqueness of the church that simultaneously rejects the uniqueness of Spirit baptism and indwelling. In the Old Testament, God dwelt corporately with his people in his temple. This changed under King Manasseh ’s reign, when the glory of the Lord left the temple. In the New Testament the glory of the Lord returns, but not to a temple made by human hands. Rather, he returns to the a new temple consisting of every believer. This is a radical change from the Old Covenant, as no longer is the glory of the L...

English: Roman Triumphal arch panel copy from Beth Hatefutsoth, showing spoils of Jerusalem temple. עברית: העתק של שער הניצחון של טיטוס (מוצב במוזיאון התפוצות) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Gessius Florus loved money and hated Jews. As Roman procurator , he ruled Judea, caring little for their religious sensibilities. When tax revenues were low, he seized silver from the Temple. In 66, as the uproar against him grew, he sent troops into Jerursalem to crucify and massacre some of the Jews. Florus’s action sparked the explosion of a rebellion that had been sizzling for some time. For the previous century, Rome had not handled the Jews very well. First Rome had propped up the hated usurper Herod the Great. For all the beautiful public buildings he erected, Herod could not buy his way into the people’s hearts. Herod’s son and successor, Archelaus, was so bad that the people cried to Rome for relief. Rome obliged by sending a series of governors—Pontius Pilate, Felix, Festus, and Flo...

Without the Roman Empire , Christianity might never have spread so successfully. You could say the empire was a tinderbox awaiting the spark of Christian faith . The empire’s unifying elements aided in the expansion of the Gospel: Roman roads made travel easier than it had ever been before; throughout the realm, people spoke Greek; and the mighty Roman army kept peace. As a result of the increased mobility, pockets of migrant craftsmen settled for a time in a major city— Rome , Corinth, Athens, or Alexandria—then moved on to another. Christianity stepped into an open climate, religiously. In a sort of “new age” movement many people had begun to embrace eastern religions—the worship of Isis, Dionysus, Mithras, Cybele, and others. Worshipers searched for new beliefs, but some of these religions had been declared illegal, because they were suspected of offensive rituals. Other faiths were officially recognized—like Judaism, which had enjoyed a protected position since the days of J...

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) John 5:1–15 Archaeology may support the credibility of Luke , but what do scientists say about John, whose Gospel was sometimes questioned because he referred to locations that couldn’t be verified? Some scholars have charged that if he failed to get these basic details straight, then he must not have been close to the events of Jesus ’ life. Some have even speculated that John may have been written well into the second century. These charges, however, have been turned upside down in recent years.  For example, John 5:1–15 records how Jesus healed an invalid by the Pool of Bethesda. John provides the detail that the pool was surrounded by five colonnades. For a long time people cited this as an example of John being inaccurate, because no such place had been found. However, in a more recent excavation of the Pool of Bethesda—it lies maybe 40 feet below ground—arc...

Istanbul Archaeological Museum - Oriental pavilion. The tablet containing the Qadesh treaty between the Hittites and the Egyptians (1269 BC.) - Picture by: Giovanni Dall'Orto, May 28 2006. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 1 Chronicles 1:13–16 During the past 300 years, skeptics have tried to claim that many of the peoples listed in the Bible never actually existed. However, archaeology and other historical references have served to validate the accuracy of the Bible’s account. The Hittites provide a good example. The Bible makes about three dozen references to the Hittites, but critics used to charge that there was no evidence that such people ever existed. Now archaeologists digging in modern north-central Turkey in the city of Boghazkoy (called Hattusa by the Hittites) have discovered a large archive library belonging to the Hittites that includes letters, military instructions and laws. As the great archaeologist William F. Albright declared, “There can be no doubt that a...

English: Fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah Русский: Бегство Лота из Содома (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Deuteronomy 29:22-24  If we can trust the Bible when it tells us about straightforward earthly things that can be verified, then we are more likely to trust it in areas where we can't directly verify it in an empirical way. There have been thousands-not hundreds-of archaeological finds in the Middle East that support the picture presented in the Biblical record. There was a discovery not long ago confirming King David . The patriarchs-the narratives about Abraham , Isaac and Jacob -were once considered legendary, but as more becomes known, these stories are increasingly corroborated. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was thought to be mythological until evidence was uncovered that all five of the cities mentioned in Genesis were, in fact, situated just as the Old Testament said. As far as their destruction goes, archaeologist Clifford Wilson says there is "permanent evi...