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King’s Gate Found at Susa Confirms the Bible Book of Esther

July 5, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

Is the Bible reliable? — The king’s gate found at the ancient Persian city of Susa confirms what the Bible says in the book of Esther.

The Bible of Esther is considered fictional by many. Susa (Shushan) was the city of the summer palace of ancient Persian kings. It is the setting of the Bible book of Esther. “At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa” (Esther 1:2 NIV). The discovery of the king’s gate at Susa confirms what is recorded in the Bible book of Esther.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY

A team of French archaeologists working there during the 1970’s discovered some locations mentioned in Esther. One of these very interesting finds is was a large gate at Susa, known as “the King’s gate,” (also called the Great Gate), which is mentioned 11 times in Esther (Esther 2:19,21; 3:2,3; 4:2,6; 5:9,13; 6:10,12). read more

Who Wrote the Book of Zechariah, and When?

June 11, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 6 comments

Who wrote the book of Zechariah? And When was it written? Before the sixteenth century, the writership of the book of Zechariah was unanimously believed to have been written by “the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo,” beginning “in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius” king of Persia, in 520 BCE (Zechariah 1:1 ESV).

Theories of Different Writers

So, who wrote the book of Zechariah? And when was it written? Let’s look at some of the viewpoints about this. read more

Is the Trinity in the Book of Deuteronomy?

May 14, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 2 comments

Is the Trinity in Deuteronomy?

“Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”—The Forgotten Trinity, page 23, by James R. White

Deuteronomy is the final division of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses. Originally it was on one scroll in ancient Hebrew, which did not have vowels. When the Torah was translated in the 3rd century BCE into Greek, which has vowels, it was divided into five books – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy reviews God dealings with Israel, and reviews and restates the Mosaic Law Covenant, which is ratified prior to Israel’s entry into the Promised Land. read more

Gallio Inscription & the Bema Confirm Historical Accuracy of Acts

May 11, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

The historical accuracy of Acts has been questioned, and asserted to be inaccurate. Many discoveries have confirmed the historical accuracy of Acts, two of which are the Gallio Inscription and the Bema in ancient Corinth.

“Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment”—Acts 18:11-12 NIV

The Gallio Inscription, consists of nine fragments found near the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece, in 1908, mentions “Lucius Junius Gallio, my friend, and the proconsul of Achaia.” It is a copy of a letter from Roman Emperor Claudius and indicates that Gallio was the proconsul of Achaia at the time. The inscription further states that Claudius was confirmed Emperor for the 26th time, which dates it to late April/early May of the year 52 CE. read more

How Is The Modern Church Pictured In the Bible?

April 29, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 1 comment

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22 NIV). The messages to the seven churches of Revelation all conclude with the above statement. This indicates that the message is for “everyone” who will “listen to” the word of God, the Bible (ISV). But how is the modern church pictured in the Bible?

Confusing Situation of the Modern Church

Why is Christianity so confusing? Why are there so many diverse groups in Christianity today? Is there only one true Christian religion, group, or denomination, that has God’s special favor, and who are in a “spiritual paradise,” the modern day, one and only, “ark of salvation,” whereas others who are not part of this group are outside of God’s favor, and thus in spiritual darkness? If so, does this one special group contain all the true Christians within it? Or, are individual genuine Christians scattered throughout many diverse groups? Since beliefs and practices among various Christian groups vary widely, and this has caused much “confusion” (Galatians 1:7 NIV), these are questions that need Biblical answers. read more

Should Christians Fight In Wars?

April 19, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

End of the World — Should Christians fight in wars? What does the Bible say? Are there any alternatives?

Should Christians fight in wars? Jesus said there would be “wars” (Matthew 24:6,7).

“The weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ”—2 Corinthians 10:4,5 NRSV

According to the Bible, Christians are to engage in “warfare,” but not with “human” weapons.” They are fighting with “divine power” to “destroy arguments ” and ‘obstacles . . . against the knowledge of God,’ not people. read more

Did an Eclipse Cause Three Hour Darkness at Jesus’ Execution?

April 6, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 1 comment

Did a Total Eclipse cause the three hour darkness at Jesus’ execution?

There was a mysterious three hour darkness during the time when Jesus was being executed. What caused this three hour darkness?

“It was now about noon and darkness came over the land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun”—Luke 23:44,45 NAB

The way the New American Bible (NAB) renders it,as above, one would think that the cause of the three hour midday total darkness was “an eclipse of the sun.” If the possibility of the supernatural is excluded, an eclipse would naturally be the only possibility. Could this have been an actual eclipse? Let’s examine the gospels very carefully regarding this d event: read more

Do Gospels Contradict About the Earthquake & the Stone Moved?

March 16, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 34 comments

Is there any evidence for the resurrection? — Do the gospels contradict about when the earthquake occurred and the stone was moved at the resurrection of Jesus?

Critics claim that the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John contradict about the time when the earthquake occurred and the stone was moved at the time of Jesus’ resurrection.

“I am struck by a certain consistency among otherwise independent witnesses in placing Mary Magdalene both at the cross and at the tomb on the third day. If this is not a historical datum but something that a Christian storyteller made up and then passed along to others, how is it that this specific bit of information has found its way into accounts that otherwise did not make use of one another? . . . all of our early gospels–not just John and Mark (with Matthew and Luke as well) but also the Gospel of Peter, which appears to be independent of all of them–indicate that it was Mary Magdalen who discovered Jesus’ empty tomb. How did all of these independent accounts happen to name exactly the same person in this role? It seems hard to believe that this just happened by way of a fluke of storytelling. It seems much more likely that, at least with the traditions involving the empty tomb, we are dealing with something actually rooted in history”—Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene, p 226, by Bart Ehrman read more

Is the Trinity in the Book of Isaiah?

March 10, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 22 comments

Isaiah is one is the main prophetic books in the Bible, and is quoted in the New Testament more often than any other Old Testament book, except for Psalms. Is the Trinity doctrine in the book of Isaiah?

THE TRINITY ASSERTED TO BE IN ISAIAH

“A cornerstone belief of the Christian faith, the doctrine of the Trinity . . . What is the doctrine of the Trinity? . . . There is only one God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three eternal, coequal Persons where each Person is independently conscious and self-directing but never acting independently of one another and always manifesting the same character attributes and the same nature. Where in the Bible is the Trinity taught? . . . It is taught in 25 of the 27 books of the New Testament and in 13 of the 39 books of the Old Testament”—“Does the Book of Isaiah Teach the Trinity?”, Reasons to Believe (RTB) blogsite, by Hugh Ross, July 20, 2020 read more

When, and by Whom, Was the Book of Isaiah Written?

February 19, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 2 comments

When was the book of Isaiah written?

“The vision which Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah”—Isaiah 1:1 NAB

Until about the last 250 years, the book of Isaiah was generally accepted by Christians as being written entirely by the prophet Isaiah in the latter part of the 8th century BCE. Nowadays, however, many “scholars” think the book was written by various writers over the course of several centuries, citing factors such as differences in subject matter, style, theology, vocabulary, and the viewpoint that predictive prophesy is impossible. The real reason for this is, however, that they don’t think predictive prophecy is possible. While there are a variety of views about the writership of Isaiah, critics often claim that chapters 40-66 were not written by “Isaiah, son of Amos.” However, careful examination of the book reveals that chapters 36-39 are a historical interlude that concludes the first section of the book, chapters 1-35, and introduces the last section, chapters 40-66. This reveals the unity of the entire book. read more