Question: Why is it that people try to compare the ancient Sumerian tablets, saying that they are similar to the book of Genesis? Why is it that people try to relate those gods to the God in the Old Testament? Answer: It is difficult to judge the motives of people I have never met. I am […]

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Question:   Speaking with a Jewish acquaintance about Jesus and this was his response…..not sure how to respond just yet but will research it more.  Would love your thoughts.  Note: Answers are interspersed with the claims of this person.  Criticism/claims are in black italics, responses are in blue.   "Romans. They recorded all kinds of insignificant details […]

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Question: I was reading some Wikipedia articles about early Israel and came across and interesting section regarding the origin of Yahweh   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Israel_and_Judah#Religion   Ill let you read it but I’m adding quotes from it that I was hoping you could respond to.   "It is generally accepted among modern scholars that the narrative of […]

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Question: I’m am reading your book,"Reasons for Belief" and I had a question on p.38… Can we be sure about Babylonia Sandhedrin 43a in the Talmud is refering to Jesus of Nazareth? Do we have any Jewish sources confirming that it is Jesus of Nazareth?  The Talmud certainly fits very well with what we know […]

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Question: Is contemporary evidence required to establish the historicity of a person from ancient history, such as Jesus Christ or Alexander the Great? I was wondering if contemporary evidence (besides the Bible) is required to establish authenticity of an ancient historic figure. Answer; I suppose that whether contemporary evidence is required will depend on the […]

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Question: How can historians be sure about specific years in history?  For example, how did you find the decree of Artaxerxes (the king to issue first instruction to rebuild Jerusalem) to have taken place in 458 BC specifically?  I don’t think the Bible mentions these dates. Is there a special way or a tool for this? Answer: There are some […]

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Question:  Can you please explain the Gabriel stone?  How will this affect Christianity?   Answer:   This is a good question.  The "Gabriel Stone" has now been around for a while and it is a good time to begin thinking about its significance.  I have learned from experience that when a new find comes out it is […]

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Question: I wonder just how much evidence some scholars need.  What reasoning is required to decide that these two men (Imhotep and Joseph) were not one and the same?  What are the odds that any two of the facts are about these two would be identical?  What about three, four or five? Well there are even […]

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Question: I learned that the Pentatauch is attributed to Moses was, in fact, a compilation of 4 very different sources, which reflect the interests and biases of the author. This is a highly accepted theory and can be found everywhere in the Pentatauch if you know where to look. Like the story of the ark, […]

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Question:  My question is do we have any answer to the question of the Pharaohs in Genesis/Exodus that some say no names so no way to verify. and because of no names no reliability. Any help on this? Answer: A good question.   For whatever reason, the fact is that Exodus does not name the Pharaoh […]

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Question:  (a very long one!!!)  The books of the Bible are written by people claiming inspiration from God.  Many people claim inspiration from God or supernatural forces. Muslims claim the Koran is divinely inspired, Mormons claim their Book of Mormon is divinely inspired, and I am sure many pagan sects say that their "book of […]

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Question: During your recent trip to teach in Dallas, I mentioned to you an article published recently, challenging the authenticity of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  As promised, here are the links: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885421,00.html?cnn=yes Here is a 2nd article: http://mideast.blogs.time.com/2009/03/18/more-doubts-on-dead-sea-scroll-auth ors/?iid=sphere-inline-bottom While I don’t have a speicfic question, I would appreciate your general opinion of the articles. […]

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Editor’s note: Since this article was written, a new paper which appears to identify Darius the Mede as Cyaxares II the Mede has been published. This appears to more or less settle the question. We recommend you read this paper.  It is at http://www.academia.edu/9787699/Darius_the_Mede_A_Reappraisal Question: Why is it that “The Cambridge History Of Judaism” knows nothing […]

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Question:  1. I was looking a little at a book called "A History of the Jews" by Abram Leon Sachar. He seems to suggest that the Bible’s account of Solomon is incorrect, exaggerated, and biased. He says his genius was never of a moral or spiritual quality, but the Bible says otherwise. He also says […]

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Question: I read an article by a Christian scholar who believes the Egyptian God Imhotep to be none other than Joseph in the Bible, deified and exaggerated to fit Egyptian beliefs. The step pyramid, which was the first pyramid to ever be built in Egypt, is historically credited by the Egyptians to be the work […]

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Question:  I watched a show on Discovery called "Lost Kings of the Bible". They claimed that Goliath couldn’t have worn the armour that the Bible says he was wearing at that time. The show claims that they didn’t wear heavy metal armour on their bodies at that time.   I believe the Bible, however I was wondering about your response […]

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Question:,I read an article by a Christian scholar who believes the Egyptian god Imhotep to be no one else than Joseph in the Bible, deified and exaggerated to fit Egyptian beliefs. The step pyramid, which was the first pyramid to ever be built in Egypt, is historically credited by the Egyptians to be the work […]

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Question: I read an article that on Joshua, claiming that archaeological evidence suggests the cities of Ai and Jerichowere destroyed roughly 1,000 years before the Biblical account of the Israelites’ arrival. Can you comment on this? Answer: The article you referred to is not written by a careful scholarly person, you can be assured of […]

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Question: Where can I find balanced information on historical/theological reading of the Word? As a born again, Bible-following Christian for 22 years, I’m always excitied to read of some archaeological development that sheds light on people, times and/or places of the Bible. But I’ve also I’ve read enough about what archaeology has not been able […]

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Question: How can we know the date of an event or writing from thousands of years ago if the date was not recorded at that time? For example, someone may say, “this was written around 58 AD”. How can we know that for sure? Or even when someone says, “the book of ____ was written […]

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Question:,Do we have any archeological evidence to back-up the long lifespans of Genisis? If lifespans were commonly long back then wouldn’t at least some skeletons from that range of time show evidence of great age?,Answer:,There is no physical evidence supporting the several hundred year life spans listed in Genesis. Not as far as I know. […]

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Question: Ezekiel 26;14 says that Tyre will never be rebuilt but it is there to this day and HAS been rebuilt. Can you explain this? Answer: Yes, but not on the original site. The original site is still basically a bare rock, even today. It has been excavated. The rock Tyre stood on lies just […]

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Question: I detect an anachronism in the burial practice described in 2 Chron 16:14. To the best of my knowledge there is no Jewish custom recorded elsewhere regarding this clearly ongoing practice. What therefore is its explanation? Answer We do not know all the cultural practices of the Philistines. If the Bible were to mention […]

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Question: I would be interested to see any paper trail that takes us back to 1300BC as far as archaeological evidence that supports the Bible. Response: Paper? Paper was invented by the Chinese some time in the early centuries AD. (just teasing… forgive me) Have you read me book, Reasons for Belief? I make the […]

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Question: There is evidence of proto-Israelite settlement in Canaan around 1400BC. The Iron Age in Canaan is dated to 1150BC at the earliest. How then can Moses be the author of Leviticus when he reports God as speaking of iron in 26;19 when it was not to be discovered until 200 years after his death […]

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Question: I just want to get your opinion on the ten ossuaries that were found in Israel, apparently belonging to the family of Jesus of Nasareth. I watched part of the Discovery Channel program, and I am certainly intrigued. Answer: It is my opinion that the ten ossuaries, or bone boxes, found in Israel have […]

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Question: According to Jer 43 Egypt would be conquered by Babylon, but secularhistorians attribute this conquest to the Persians. Do you have any infoon this? Answer: Your information is correct. The Persians/Medes did conquer Egypt under Cambysses, the son of Cyrus in 525 BC. However, the Persians were not the first to conquer Egypt. The […]

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Question: Can you help with history of city of Corinth and at present what’s their condition? Answer: Corinth is on the isthmus separating the Peloponesian peninsula from mainland Greece. For this reason, it was in important and wealthy city from ancient times. During the 500’s BC it played a role as the or one of […]

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Question: I read your response in the questions and answers archive (in the Church History section) where someone asked how we can be sure that the apostles were martyred, according to non-Christian sources. You said there’s only one non-Christian source (Antiquities of the Jews) which describes the death of an apostle. This is Josephus’ account […]

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Question: What is your view on the widely held belief that the conquering of the Canaanites at Jericho is not supported by the archeological excavations and finds at Jericho? The Israelites were supposed to have entered Jericho in 1407 BC, but many archeologists believe they didn’t enter until 1230-1220 BC. Kathleen Kenyon’s research in 1952-1958 […]

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Question: I am currently a college student and have taken several religion courses. Often I find information that bothers me. One is that it is often very biased due to the teacher. What has been bothering me recently is some information that has been presented to us, and claimed as “factual.” It is said that […]

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Question: I just recently shared my faith with a man who claimed you cannot trust the Bible as it is just a theory. He also holds that history has been altered and that the stories of the New Testament were most likely alteredt. I told him about the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in […]

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Question: I am doing an apologetics project to help me answer the questions of critics and am struggling to find a decent secular source on Jewish burial practices in the first century. The reason that I am seasrching for this is that I am currently looking at different versions of the swoon theory and the […]

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I just read the article by Professor Geisler about early monotheism and had a few questions. I’m guessing that the author is assuming that Adam and Eve were the first ‘homo sapiens’ , and that the levant civilizations, particularly that of the ancient ‘habiru’ was the very first. I have read that the Chinese and […]

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Note: This is a very long question. The answer is several paragraphs down the page. I am presently taking a Comparative Religion course on the New Testament and have been struggling with some of the themes that have surfaced so far. Our course text is “The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to Early Christian Writings” […]

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Could you make a good summary for the evidences to support the Luke 2 account of the census decreed by Caesar while Quirinius was ruling that would have forced Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem from Nazareth? I have read so much about the topic. I do see support that it could have happened, […]

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There is increasing argument that many of the sayings of Jesus (the Lord’s, prayer for example) had already been recorded in early historical manuscripts. They suggest that Jesus simply borrowed them. Is this true? In order to answer this question, I would need specific examples. If you have some specific claims about Jesus repeating the […]

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