It's all about TRUTH.

IT'S ALL ABOUT TRUTH
Location is determined by position
Evidence will vary by location.
Facts will change according to evidence.
But TRUTH is unchanging.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Long winded answer on Biblical questions...

Twitter gets you a chance to know people. The problem is you are
constrained to 140 characters per tweet, and complex questions can run on
forever. The answers can be even more so.

I was asked, and I can see it's a good question, sincere in its intent -- If
you read the Bible and want to determine if a part of it is true, HOW DO YOU
DO IT?

The answer is, as briefly as possible: It depends! Not specific, I grant
you -- but it depends on what you are researching, or what you want to
validate is true.

This means it breaks down into several possibilities:
1) Existence of a location
2) Existence of a miracle
3) Explanation of how a miracle may have been accomplished
4) Existence of a person
5) What appear obvious errors
6) Proof of future prophecy.

Location is fairly straight forward, I think. Archeological journals,
information on excavations, A good atlas, and a good knowledge of History
could all be needed.
Names of cities can change over millennia. Some, however, such as Jerusalem
have remained pretty much constant over the years. Sodom, Gomorrah, they
vanished. The Garden of Eden vanished. Babylon became ruins. Assyria
became powerful, then diminished. The Ark of the Covenant has vanished.
Where are the mountains of Ararat? And is there any proof that the Ark is
there?
And where is the land of Magog? (It's Russia!)

Thing is, what some would call "Climate Change" is a problem with some areas
Eden was in Iraq. So was Babylon and the hanging gardens (Accepted as
factual by archeologists and historians alike.) Iraq was a garden spot up
until about the time of Lot which was about 3300 BCE. The story says that
God sent 2 angels (Men, Messengers) to warn lot of the destruction to come.
And, you know the story -- Sodom and Gomorrah are gone. So, for Places, now
archeology is best bet.

Existence of Miracles is somewhat harder, although Science has confirmed
that such situations could happen. Moses and the Dividing of the Red Sea
(More accurately called the REED sea, but called Red because it reflects the
mountains of Edom -- and Edom means RED) is one example that science proved
could be done -- they did it in a Lab. The wind would have had to have
been from the east (what the Bible said), and science shows that a powerful
enough, sustained wind would divide such a body of water IF it was over a
shallower area. Such as a ridge in the sea. Guess what. They examined the
sea in the area. There's a ridge! A powerful, sustained wind could cause
water to "pile up" on either side. And, perhaps appropriately, they found
remnants of chariots in the sea in that area.

Destruction of Sodom is another matter -- but the climate change comes into
effect, according to science. Actually, the consensus is (and is born out)
that a meteorite exploded in the area -- it rained down fire and sulfur upon
those in the area. Lot had fled to the mountains. But his wife turned back
and got incinerated. Since the human body is mostly chemicals (Salt, for
one), the pillar of salt seems a logical conclusion.

The Plagues? Check the History channel. They show how it could have been
done -- including the death of the first-born sons of Egypt. Although, it
does seem a little more selective....mainly because it doesn't indicate that
the women got hit, too. And it showed how Elijah could have accomplished
the destruction of the Prophets of Baal with this fire -- how it could have
been kindled.

The Resurrection is only confirmed by those who actually saw Christ alive
afterwards. This one, we must take on faith. It's not a good answer, but
it's the ONLY answer.

The washing of clothes after contact with a dead body? People didn't learn
that until after the Black Plague. But the Bible said so. And the
circumcision on day 8? Turns out that a vitamin which accelerates clotting
doesn't reach acceptable levels until day 8. Too much of "coincidence" if
you ask me!

Now, what about discrepancies? Could Adam lived more than 900 years?
Methuselah?
Well, some records show that some rulers lived "thousands" of years. While
it doesn't seem possible, consider a turtle -- it can live 250 years.
Elephants 100. Parrots, 150.

Could fewer germs been a reason for people to live longer? Or could it be
a different measurement of year? This we may never know.

Verifying people is hard when you go back this far. They generally need be
well connected. Cleopatra, Caesar Augustus, Julius Caesar, Herod... Moses
had his name struck from the books in Egypt. Was this COMMON? No. But at
least one Queen had her name struck from almost all the records in Egypt.
(History Channel). One spot, they actually found reference to the name. So
you can see it DOES happen.

Proof of the prophecies can be seen in the past -- Sodom, Babylon, Rome,
Assyria.

But prove future prophecies? The only way you can do THAT is wait. This
one MUST be on faith.

I hope I've answered your Question, you who call yourself "GodlessAtheist".
If not, Tell me what needs more specification. I'll be glad to give more
specifics -- if I can't, I'll tell you.



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