CHAPTER II CONTENTS VIEWS ABOUT THE BIBLE ARE FICTION
CHAPTER II
CONTENTS
VIEWS ABOUT THE BIBLE ARE FICTION
The Bible was
written based on the facts that were known at the time. All Scripture is
scientifically and historically accurate, and the scientific and historical
implications of the Bible are constantly being clarified and confirmed by
modern archaeological finds. In the 19th century skeptics and archaeologists
accused the Bible of making fictitious statements when referring to the
Hittites, because there is not a single extra-Biblical evidence for that
nation.
One of the
theologians, S Wismoady Wahono, in his book Here I found: instructions for
studying and teaching the Bible, says that the Bible does have historical
stories that are supported by facts. But in the Bible there are also stories
that are difficult to find factual support. The stories about the ancestors of
the Israelites are more of a saga than a historical one. Saga is a historical
story that is not accompanied by facts. Saga reflects the intuitive internal
understanding of a society regarding the facts of society's life itself. The
saga reflects more on historical experience than official reports on history
Higher
Critism (High Criticism) they examine or test the Bible in terms of history,
the form of the subject matter and the arguments of other books, where they
criticize the writing of this Bible in the same way as criticizing other
secular books. Basically this high criticism is also used correctly will
establish and prove that the Bible is not the imagination of the writers and
will lead to the true truth based on historical evidence, be it in the form of
archeology, etc. However, in its development, this Higher Critical theological
thought doubts the truth of the Bible as a record that actually happened and
God is the author of that writing.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ARCHAEOLOGY TO PROVE
THE VALIDITY OF THE BIBLE
The word
archeology in Indonesian is the equivalent of the English word archaeology. The
word in English comes from two Greek words, namely archaios which means old /
ancient, and logos which means word, case, story, or saying. So it can be
concluded that the meaning of the word archeology is a story / word /
conversation about ancient things. However, the word archeology is more
precisely when applied to historical sources that were not known before various
systematic excavations/excavations by prioritizing archaeological principles to
find them. Archeology is the branch of science that looks at ancient
civilizations, and investigates their history in all fields through the remains
of art, architecture, monuments, inscriptions, literature, language, tools,
traditions and all other surviving examples.
Archeology
has repeatedly confirmed the Bible's accuracy. In earlier years, before the
rapid advances in archeology, skeptics argued that certain peoples and places
were myths and never existed. But those doubts have been removed one by one
through excavation and sweeping of ancient sites. About 200 years ago, a group
of scientists collected 82 Bible "errors". Since then, archeology and
the development of understanding ancient languages and cultural contexts have solved each of these
“mistakes”. God's Word is proven true down to the smallest details.
Speaking of
biblical archeology, in modern times many archaeologists are paying attention
to searches throughout the Ancient Near East to prove the places – with people
and events that took place – as recounted in the Old and New Testaments. In
this regard, the Bible is a rich source of information regarding documentary
material, but it is also often dangerous if excessive reliance on the texts in them
because they involve faith will obscure access to neutrality from their
archaeological value.
The Bible
tells of events that are closely related to humans and certain places. Most of
his teachings are based on personal experience or the history of the nation. So
what is found in the Bible is not abstract truth, but the works and words of
God in the history of His people. It is therefore impossible for us to
understand the Bible properly without knowledge of the history and culture of
ancient times. And to acquire this knowledge, archeology is absolutely
necessary. Through archeology, experts find the remains of ancient relics,
including writings in ancient languages. Thus, we get a variety of information
about human life in the past, including in the Old Testament and New Testament
times. So archaeological discoveries are needed to prove authenticity,
historical and scientific facts.
Indeed,
archaeologists are not absolute rights to state or prove that the Bible is the
Word of God, il so that none of these differences alter a very important
Christian truth. The surviving Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts show very
little difference. These manuscripts have been written with great care so as to
show less variety of readings.” Thus the differences that occur in each
translation cannot be a benchmark that the Bible is the author's work.
ARCEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE ABOUT THE BIBLE
In the Bible,
readers will always encounter names, objects, and circumstances that date back
to ancient times in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Babylon, etc. Then the question of
how the things written in the Bible look like? etc. For example, the stone
knives came from the hill of el'Oreme (on the shores of Lake Genesaret). The
Bronze Age was preceded by the Stone Age; these flint knives date back to the
younger stone age or neolithicum. Such flint knives were used by Joshua, when
he took stone knives to circumcise people (Joshua 5:3). Likewise Zipporah took
a stone knife to circumcise her son (Ex. 4:25).
History
provides ample evidence that the Bible's description of life in Egypt, Assyria,
Babylon, Medo-Persia, and others corresponds to reality. Several kings of these
various nations are mentioned in the Bible, and not one is presented in a way
that does not match the known historical facts about these kings. Archeology
also provides ample evidence to corroborate the biblical record. The clay
tablets found in Babylon contain the account of the flood which bears a great
deal of resemblance to the biblical account. The Nuzi sheets, explain the
actions of Sara & Rahel in giving their female servants to their respective
husbands. Ancient Egyptian scripts & alphabets show that people were able
to write more than a thousand years before the time of Abraham. Archeology also
confirms that the Israelites lived in Egypt, that they were enslaved there, and
that they eventually left Egypt. The Tel-el-Amarna tablets prove that the book
of Judges is trustworthy. It is important to note that no archaeological
discovery has ever proven the falsity of a biblical statement.
In fact, more
than 25,000 locations have been found and documents that confirm the accuracy
and reliability of the Bible's record of events, community groups, chronology
of events, and so on. Archaeological research continues today, and many
archaeologists actually use texts from the Bible to help them find historical
places.
In line with
that view, the view of Dr. Criswell examines the Bible and its history with
evidence: no greater miracle has been found on earth than this, which has not
been unearthed by archaeologists but has been confirmed by the Bible. They have
excavated each mound and then described ancient sites on the Fertile Crescent
plain from Babylon down to Egypt. And every artifact they have ever dug up and
found, every potsherd (such as a jar), every inscription, every cuneiform,
every hieroglyphic fragment, all of them without exception support the truth of
the Bible. Previously they had said, "When the Bible says: Moses wrote, it
is something "impossible", impossible, because at that time no
writing had been found, or at that time people could not write. Then the
archaeologists started digging, the sand dunes in Egypt, they dug and found the
Tel El-Amarna Tablets. Then in southwest Syria they dug and found Ugaritic
literature at Ras Shamra. Then they finally found a library containing many
Cuneiform Tablets in Ebla. And now we know that the found writings show that
more than a thousand years before Moses, many people had already started
writing.
Regarding the
Hittites who were attacked by the skeptics that the tribe was not real. Then
the archaeologists began to dig, and they found the ruins of this Hittite
empire. The great empire before Egypt was the Hittite kingdom, then the
Egyptian kingdom, then the Babylonian empire, then the Assyrians, then the
Babylonians again, then the Persians, then the Alexander or Greek empires, and
then the Romans. But the first great empire that ever existed was the Hittite
kingdom.
They
(skeptics and critics) mock and ridicule the Book of Daniel which records that
the last king of Babylon was Belshazzar. They believe they have solid evidence
that this historical record in the Bible is wrong. Because no name of
Belshazzar ever lived to be the last king of Babylon. And they had the Cylinder
of Correction which they found in their excavation. They made it as evidence.
In Cyrus' list of all Babylonian kings, the last king was Nabonidus. Then the
archaeologists began excavating the mounds of earth in Babylon, and they found
all the tablets written in Cuneiform. And found a biography of Belshazzar. His
father, Nabonidus, did not like to be in court, and he lived by springs in the
Arabian desert, and his son, Belshazzar, reigned as king of his kingdom.
The Bible has
proven itself to be true again! Then all the scholars scoffed and said that
John could not possibly have written the fourth Gospel. His theological
thinking was too advanced to be written in the first century. It could not have
been written before two hundred and fifty years after the time of Christ. And
while almost all faithless academics and false theologians were shouting, on a
mound in Egypt a papyrus was found written about 95 A.D. and this papyrus
quotes the 18th chapter of the Gospel of John. Archeology will always prove the
truth of God's Word. And when archaeologists dug in, they found out that it
actually corroborates the truth of God's Word, the Bible.
Some
examples of the many archaeological discoveries that confirm the Bible's
accuracy include:
1. Notes on Events:
a. The walls of the temple of Amun
confirm the attack of the Egyptian king Sishak, against Israel in 1 Kings
14:25-26
b. The Mesa inscription confirms
Moab's resistance to Israel recorded in 2 Kings 3:4-27.
c. The walls of the Palace of
Sargon II confirm Ashdod's defeat recorded in Isaiah 20:1
d. The record of food rationing
that took place in Babylon confirms the arrest of Joachiah recorded at 2 Kings
24:15-16; 25:27-30
e. Cyrus Cylinder's liberation of
the captives of Judah (supporting Ezra 1:1-4) is confirmed by Cyrus Cylinder.
2. Places where events occur:
a. Kuin Baal at Shechem
b. Pools of Gibeon, Heshbon, and
Samaria
c. The water tunnel under Jerusalem
that King Hezekiah dug
d. The magnificent palace of King
Belshazzar in Babylon
e. Susan's magnificent palace
(with memories of Esther and Mordecai).
3. Some of the Characters that
were confirmed:
a. Yehu
b. Hazael
c. Sargon II
d. Esar-haddon
e. Merodakh-Baladan
f. Darius I
g. Herod Agrippa I
h. Pilate
i. Caiaphas.
Scientists confirm archaeological
and philological (linguistic) evidence that the Bible record is accurate.
Archaeological discoveries continue to astonish skeptics who claim that the
Bible is full of errors, even though he has little knowledge of the Bible
record or historical knowledge.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EVIDENCE BIBLE
GOD'S WORD
Even though
the Bible is basically composed of sixty-six different books, written on three
continents, in three languages, over a period of ±1500 years, and by more than
40 authors from various different backgrounds. The Bible remains a unity, from
cover to cover, without contradiction. This unity is different from other books
and is evidence of the divine origin of the words of the Bible as God moved
people in such a way that they recorded what He said.
Other
internal/internal evidence indicating that the Bible is truly God's Word can be
seen in the detailed prophecies recorded in the Bible. The Bible contains
hundreds of prophecies spoken in fine detail relating to the nations, the
nation of Israel, the future of certain cities, the future of mankind, until
the coming of Him who is the Messiah, the Savior of mankind not only for
Israel, but for all. people who believe in Him. Unlike the prophecies found in
other religious books, the Bible prophecies are very detailed and have never
been unfulfilled and will certainly be fulfilled. In the Old Testament, there
are approximately three hundred prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. Not only
was it prophesied where He would be born and from what family, but also how He
would die and rise again on the third day (see the book of the prophet Isaiah).
There is absolutely no logical way to explain the fulfillment of Bible
prophecies except that the Bible is from God. No religious book has the level
and type of prophecy as contained in the Bible.
In addition
to internal evidence that the Bible really is God's Word, there is also
external evidence (from outside) that shows that the Bible really is God's
Word. One of those evidences is the history of the Bible. Because the Bible
provides details of historical events, its veracity and accuracy can be proven
just like any other historical documentation. Through archaeological evidence
and other writings, historical accounts in the Bible have been proven to be
true and correct. Even all the archaeological evidence and manuscripts that
support Bible, making the Bible the most documented book of the ancient world.
The Bible has been repeatedly attacked and attempted to be destroyed, more
often than any other book in history. From Roman emperors like Diocletian, to
communist dictators and modern-day atheists and agnostics, the Bible has
withstood all attacks and is still the most widely printed book. Over time,
skeptics have regarded the Bible as a myth, but archeology has proven the
history of the Bible.
Opponents
attack Bible teaching as primitive and outdated, but the moral and legal
concepts and teachings of the Bible have had a positive influence on cultures
and societies around the world. The Bible continues to be attacked by science,
psychology, and political movements, but it is as true and relevant today as it
was when it was first written. The Bible is a book that has changed countless
lives and cultures in these 2000 years. No matter how opponents try to attack,
destroy or demean the Bible, it remains solid and true and relevant before and
after being attacked. The Bible's accuracy that persists despite various
attempts to damage, attack or destroy it is a clear testimony that the Bible is
truly the Word of God. It is not surprising that however the Bible is attacked,
it will escape and remain unchanged. Didn't Jesus say, "Heaven and earth
will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Mark 13:31). After
seeing the evidence above, we will be increasingly confirmed that the Bible is
a fact that really happened, if there are many questions about the 'error' of
the Bible, then the Bible itself will answer either through archaeological
discoveries or from other things.
So, the
evidence that the Bible is a fact based on archaeological discoveries and the
truth of world history from the information it contains is proof that the Bible
is the Word of God written by so many writers in different places and times but
with one source, namely God Himself.
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