"From the beginnings of what we call biblical archeology, perhaps 150 years ago, scholars, mostly western scholars, have attempted to use archeological data to prove the Bible. And for a long time it was thought to work. [William Foxwell] Albright, the great father of our discipline, often spoke of the "archeological revolution." Well, the revolution has come but not in the way that Albright thought. The truth of the matter today is that archeology raises more questions about the historicity of the Hebrew Bible and even the New Testament than it provides answers, and that's very disturbing to some people."
The lack of Archaeological and Historical evidence for the truth of the Bible is a study which any young Christadelphian should delve into. Not only is it incredibly interesting, it should open up questions in the mind of any young person considering joining the Christadelphian community. I can`t remember during my years within the community ever hearing talks covering these subjects. I suppose such talks would have led to too many questions about the truth of the Bible record.
ReplyDeleteHaving recently been looking again into the historical, geographical and archaeological evidence about the early Israelites/Canaanites, I was reminded that it was a time of widespread polytheistic worship, when at that time those peoples would often worship more than one god, earthly gods, Baal for instance, and others. It seems that it was not until after the return from captivity in Babylon 500/600 BCE that the idea of worshipping one god only, an Almighty God, came into being. This change was possibly an idea for establishing in the minds of the people that they were one nation, worshipping one powerful god, and gained from their experience of the Babylonian god, Marduk, who was the chief god over all the other gods worshipped there. After which the "only one god" ,the Israelite`s god, became the norm for them, and this god was written into their manufactured history. This view of their history is not what Christadelphians believe or teach.
DeleteI think Rob Hyndman's chapter on this is worth reading: https://robjhyndman.com/unbelievable/ch11/
ReplyDeleteI went to many of his talks. They were interesting. But, like he says, the focus was only on certain parts of Bible history, and that wasn't clear to me as a believer.