Question: The Philistines did not come to Palestine until circa 1200BC at the time of the invasion of the Sea Peoples. How did Abraham & Isaac come to meet them? Answer: I do not know. Believe it or not, I had never noticed this, which is surprising to me. The evidence, as you point out, […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Question: I am currently reading your book on "Reasons for Belief" and I am learning so much new information that has been very faith lifting. I have recently come across a video on CNN about a certain tablet that looked similar to the one you talked about in your book. The reporters are calling it the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: I read someone on your website say archaeology has contradicted the Bible. I’m no expert an archaeology but it does seem that experts tend to disagree on dating and things of that nature, e.g., the dating of Jericho’s fall. is that where someone could make such an argument? Answer: Some go so far as to […]
Question: Have you done any studying on this topic? There is a substitute teacher at my school that has been on 7 Ararat expeditions. He sends me a constant barrage of literature via e-mail. It kind of reads like accounts of people looking for big foot. Do you have any objective sources? Answer: I have […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: Is there physical or hard evidence for Christ? Or, is it all reasoning? Answer: The answer to this question will depend on what you mean by hard, physical evidence. What do you mean by hard, physical evidence? What sort of evidence would this be? How would we judge such date? Are you thinking of […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: Were people literate in the time of Jesus? Answer: This is a good question. As I understand it, the answer will depend on who you are talking about; whether the Jews themselves, or their Roman, Greek and other cultural neighbors. By the time of Christ, the chief institution among the Jews was the Synagogue. […]
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 […]
First Kings records a massive outpouring of light and cloud when Solomon’s temple was dedicated. Is there any record of such an event occurring when the second temple was dedicated? Can you think of any spiritual implications of whether such a miraculous outpouring happened? As far as I know, there is no direct evidence of […]
I have just read an article in which you have stated that a box containing the remains of “James, the brother of Christ, the son of Joseph”. could you please let me know where to find more evidence on this, and other such finds? Thanks The best place to look for material on the “James […]
I was conversing with a friend the other day about the Bible. He said he prefers to read the New Testament over the OT because the latter is less historically accurate. He cited as an example the Hebrew exodus from Egypt: he said that the Egyptians recorded everything (historical events, that is), and there is […]
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” […]
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, […]
Did Christianity originate in Ethiopia? No. Christianity originated in Jerusalem, probably in either AD 29 or AD 33 (the two years which have the Passover fall on the right day to fit the description in the gospel accounts). To be specific, Christianity as a publicly proclaimed religion, began on the Day of Pentecost, forty-nine days […]
I do not see the Ark of the Covenant mentioned in the Bible, after the time of Solomon? What happened to it? Where might it be? Is recovering it of any importance? You are correct, as far as I know, about the last time the Ark of the Covenant is known for sure to have […]
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 […]
I recently viewed a documentary claiming that ancient tablets (older than OT manuscripts) were found in Iraq, telling a story almost identical to Noah’s… and that the soil there showed signs of an ancient flood as well (unlike the land around Mount Ararat). The final conclusion was that Israel received this “story” from the Babylonians […]
Where did Christianity originate? Christianity originated in the city of Jerusalem in present-day Israel. The founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, was born in the small town of Bethlehem, just a few miles southwest of Jerusalem. He was raised in the town of Nazareth in the region of Galilee, about one hundred miles north of Jerusalem. […]
What evidence do we have that the stories on Christianity are real? Unfortunately, this is a rather vague question. I will give a fairly vague answer in response. If you have a more specific question in mind, please send me another question. I am not sure what you mean by “stories” in Christianity? Do you […]
Every one knows the story of Noah and his ark. Some believe it, some don’t, but that is irrelevant. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the fist written story ever found. This epic describes how Gilgamesh took two of each animal plus his family into an ark to avoid a world wide flood sent by the […]
What happen between the Old Testament and New Testament? You should get a copy of my book on Daniel; Daniel, Prophet to the Nations. It is available at www.ipibooks.com There is a lot of material there on intertestamental history. Another source is the book of 1 Maccabbees, which is contained in Roman Catholic Bibles. A […]
I have studied the word Amen. What does it mean and what is the origin of the word? I have read it in the Egypt website that Amen is the ancient name of their god Please Check if it is true. The word amen simply means, so be it or I agree. The etymology of […]
I?m reading “Genesis and the Big Bang” by Gerald L Schroeder PhD and was wondering if you noticed that he has a Biblical cumulative age for the earth (post-Adam) of 5763 years. I?ve noticed that the Jewish peoplealso use this age, but when you add up the dates in the Bible, it comes out closer […]
I’m doing a brief study on the foundation of Christianity for our Bible study group and have been browsing your website. Am I correct in that in accordance with Jewish burial customs Jesus’ body would have been wrapped similar to that of an Egyptian mummy? If so would that not be further evidence against the […]
I recently watched a tv show about Moses, and it was discussing the Red Sea Crossing. They claimed that Moses never led the children of Israel through the “Red Sea,” but through an unknown sea. They also said the original Hebrew for Red Sea was Yam Suph which meant Sea of Reeds, and the “Red […]
