Critics who brush off the Bible as a compilation of mythology and legends, do so overlooking the fact that archaeologists have made thousands of discoveries over the past century that have verified hundreds of details in the Bible. The articles, audio, books, and videos in the link below explain some of these exciting discoveries and why you can be confident in the Bible.
View the Dead Sea Scrolls online here:
The traditions of ancient peoples throughout the world share in common the inclusion of flood stories. The Mesopotamian accounts have garnered the most discussion since they are culturally closer to the Biblical material than any of the other non-Scriptural narratives. The most famous of the many ancient flood stories is the Mesopotamian flood account, the Babylonian version, found in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (seventh century BCE) as part of the larger Epic of Gilgamesh.
In this epic, Gilgamesh searches for a man named Utnapishtum (the equivalent of the Biblical Noah), whose story is then recounted. When one of the highest gods, Enlil, becomes annoyed by the cacophony of noise coming from human beings, he decides to inundate and destroy them all in a catastrophic deluge. Enki, the god of waters, reveals Enlil’s intent to the mortal Utnapishtum, directing him to construct an enormous boat and load it with pairs of animals. Instructed not to reveal the reason for this mystifying building project, Utnapishtum is further commanded at a critical point to take his wife on board with him. For seven harried days and nights Utnapishtum and his wife are tossed about in this vessel as floodwaters engulf the earth. When the waters finally subside, the boat lodges atop a tall mountain. Utnapishtum sends out a dove, a swallow and a raven, the last of which fails to return, apparently having located nourishment.
Is the Bible just another one of many ancient creation stories, or is it different?
The Lord God, the Almighty . . . made the whole universe”—Revelation 4:8,11 NJB
In contrast to the Biblical creation narratives, ancient creation stories from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Syria-Palestine do far more than try to explain how the physical world came into being. Creation myths often elevated the particular god of a particular shrine to supremacy over all other gods in order to validate the prestige of that deity, that shrine or the city in which the shrine was located.
There are only two Biblical references to the “Nephilm” (Genesis 6:4 NIV); Numbers 13:33 NIV). In Genesis 6:4, they are the “giants on earth in those days” before the flood, “the mighty men . . . of renown” (Genesis 6:4 NKJV). The Israelite spies’ “bad report about the land” of Canaan used the term “Nephilm” to describe “people . . . of great size” (Numbers 13:32,33 NIV), from whom the Anakites were claimed to have descended. Upon glimpsing these imposing inhabitants of Canaan, ten of the twelve spies became demoralized and terrified. The “Nephilim” the ten spies spoke of at Numbers 13:33 may have been similar in appearance to the Rephaites, a race of strong, tall people with whom the Anakites are compared in Deuteronomy 2:20,21.
Is Textual Criticism something that is critical of the Bible’s text, something that shows the Biblical text is unreliable? Or, is Textual Criticism something positive, or, favorable, toward authenticating the Bible’s text as being genuine, reliable, and trustworthy?
It is popularly believed today that the Bible has been copied and re-copied so many times over the centuries that is text is unreliable, and no one can be sure of what was in the originals. Is there any truth to this?
Pseudepigrapha, meaning “false title,” refers to Jewish books that falsely claimed to have been written by Moses, Enoch, Abraham or some other ancient hero of the faith. Most pseudepigrapha, or books by fake authors, were written between 250 BCE and 200 CE. A few examples are as follows:
The New Testament writers avoided this material, although Jude is often claimed to have made use of it in two places. In verse 9 he alluded to a story concerning Michael and the devil that is found in a version of The Assumption of Moses (as noted by Clement and Origen; the actual text is lost). Also, in verse 14 Jude quoted from 1 Enoch 1:9: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones.” lt is possible that through God’s providence some pseudepigrapha have preserved some genuine traditions and that Jude was able to discern the true from the false. Given the nature of these books, however, it would be perilous to treat them as reliable sources. It is also helpful to keep in mind that citation of a given work by a Biblical writer does not in and of itself imply endorsement. Paul cited pagan poets (Acts 17:28; 1 Cointhians 15:33; Titus 1:12), and Jude’s references to 1 Enoch do not imply that he thought the book had canonical authority.
There are several different endings to the Gospel of Mark found in the various Greek manuscripts. Most Greek texts and several ancient translations conclude with the ending familiar to us as Mark 16:9-20. The earliest Greek manuscript with that ending is from the fifth century, but evidence from the church fathers suggests that it was already in existence during the second century. Many scholars feel, however, that the vocabulary and themes of the traditional ending are inconsistent with the rest of the Gospel.
“Your new birth was not from any perishable seed, but from imperishable seed, the living and enduring Word of God. For all humanity is grass, and all its beauty like the wild flower’s. As the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord remains for ever. And this word is the Good News that has been brought to you”—1 Peter 1:24,15 NJB
“This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate”—John 21:24 NLT
The historical accuracy of the Luke-Acts two-volume work is frequently challenged. Scholars dispute such issues as the dating of the reign of Quirinius (Luke 1:5; 2:2) and references to Palestinian geography (Luke 4:44; 17:11) and raise additional historical questions regarding the numerous speeches in Acts (e.g., Acts 2:14-36) and the harmonious portrayal of the early church (Acts 4:32-35). The most critical historical objection to Acts concerns the details of Paul’s ministry. Although certain passages suggest that Luke was a traveling companion of Paul (Acts 16:10-17; 27:1—28:16), some scholars deem this tradition untenable on the basis of perceived difficulties in harmonizing the life and perspective of Paul as presented in Acts with details about his life found in his letters.