Posted on 01/19/2016 8:21:50 AM PST by fishtank
Modern Archaeology and Genesis
by Brian Thomas, M.S. *
Evidence for Creation
With so many loud voices in our culture asserting that Genesis is a myth, one would think archaeologists have uncovered clear evidence that refutes it. On the contrary, some incredible archaeological finds confirm key events in Genesis.
In the 1970s, archaeologists discovered tablets made before 2000 B.C. at Ebla in northern Syria. Among them were found creation tablets1 that say, “Lord of heaven and earth: / The earth was not, you created it; / The light of day was not, you created it.â€2
Cylinder seals are tiny stone rollers with carved three-dimensional reverse images that the ancients would roll across wet clay to impress picture patterns onto the clay before baking it in a kiln. One of the oldest seals shows a seated woman reaching for one of two fruits hanging from a tree. A man also reaches for fruit opposite her, and behind her a serpent slithers. It has every key element from the Fall of man found in Genesis 3.
(Excerpt) Read more at icr.org ...
See my post #19.
Oh, and the 10 Commandments are just that - commandments. They are to be taken literally. There’s no stoning there, just simply precepts like not worshipping idols, honoring your parents, not lying, stealing or committing adultery. Not much that is complicated, and thus no need for allegory.
The state of the universe and its origin is orders of magnitude more complex - and allegory is necessary (and allegory isn’t falsehood, mind you, just an oversimplified means of explaining something complex).
Alas, just looking up at night strains the viability of the “young Earth” theory.
I don’t think Genesis is wrong per se, just that it was the creation story as tellable to someone not having the understanding needed to make sense of it being told any other way.
You can’t say the Earth is 10,000 years old _and_ say that anything we see is more than 10,000 light years away. ...and there’s a lot up there that’s obviously more than 10,000 light years away.
Oh, and BTW, the 10 Commandments appear nowhere in Genesis. They are in Exodus 20:1–17, and then again at Deuteronomy 5:4–21.
I think that the Garden of Eden story comes from Mesopotamia. So does the Gilgamesh story.
This is the place where Abraham came from so there’s the link to pass them on orally.
Got it ... when Genesis says The Lord God created the world in 6 days its allegory. When the same thing is said in Exodus in the context of the Ten Commandments its to be taken literally.
Nice answer.
The logic you have presented here is certainly valid.
Having said that, if one understands that the archaeology that was mentioned in this article is nothing short of amazing, in that the “odds” of finding corroborating materials after 4000 years of burial is quite small indeed.
But the loneliest number is the number one.
can you answer my question first? Did he alegorically stop the sun in the sky or literally stop the rotation of the earth?
Learn to distinguish between moral commandments on the one hand, and descriptions of how the universe/world were created on the other. The Bible is primarily about morality, not science or history.
While morality isn’t always dirt simple, things like “don’t worship other gods” and “don’t make graven images of Me” and “don’t commit adultery” and “don’t steal” are pretty simple - you know those things when you see them. The creation of the universe is anything but simple, but it still needed to be described in some fashion, and we needed to be reminded about it every once in a while, in order to establish the authority of G-d to give commandments to us (”Hey, you puny humans, I created everything, including your ancestors. I own this planet and you, and I can tell you what, when and where to do whatever I’d like to - and you’ll listen, or else”). There is really no other purpose to describing the Creation in the Bible. Again, it isn’t a science book, its about morality.
Perfectly said. I can’t understand why young earth creations get so obsessed with the creation. The only thing that matters to us about how God created the universe and life on Earth is that HE DID. And therefore he is indeed the ultimate power. How creation was done or how long it took or whether we evolved or were poofed into existence has nothing to do with our salvation. If you are Christian the teaching of Christ and obedience to them is everything. Christ only talks about the creation when referring to the fact that his father did create the universe not how.
Wouldn't there be two other choices for your conjecture?
He could have literally stopped the sun in the sky or allegorically stopped the rotation of the earth ...
Then of course BOTH must be a consideration.
And I am not sure of what your actual point it.
So Ill bite just out of curiosity and go with "He literally stopped the sun in the sky." ...
While morality isn’t always dirt simple, things like “don’t worship other gods†and “don’t make graven images of Me†and “don’t commit adultery†and “don’t steal†are pretty simple - you know those things when you see them.
You should go back and read the entire Ten Commandments passage ... esp. the part about the Sabbath ... since you are arguing for literalism of the commandments ... perhaps then you will see your glaring inconsistency.
If you take the numbers from Chapter 5 of Genesis, with Adam living 930 years, and go through to Methuselah, you will discover that there were only about 1-2 generations between Noah and Adam, as Methuselah died very shortly before the Flood.
This leads one to believe that there weren't as many re-tellings by people who heard it from other people as you'd like to believe. Adam probably recounted the story himself multiple times--to multiple generations.
And since the Holy Spirit inspires Scripture, I'd say it's pretty accurate.
I was referring to this.
"Cylinder seals are tiny stone rollers with carved three-dimensional reverse images that the ancients would roll across wet clay to impress picture patterns onto the clay before baking it in a kiln."
the sun doesn’t move though our sky and you know it. When presented with irrefutable evidence of allegorical pronouncement in the Bible you lack the intellectual honesty to admit it. Once you accept allegory in Joshua, you must accept it as possible elsewhere.
Go feast on the four-legged,winged creatures referenced in leviticus, if you can find one.
Normal physics ... yes, I agree ... but isn't it obvious that a miracle occurred in Joshua? Or do you deny miracles are possible?
When presented with irrefutable evidence of allegorical pronouncement in the Bible you lack the intellectual honesty to admit it.
THAT is irrefutable evidence? No worries ... God is not required to operate according to the laws of physics at every instant of time. Isn't that totally apparent to you when reading Joshua?
Was the resurrection of Jesus Christ a literal historical event ... or is that allegory too?
Once you accept allegory in Joshua, you must accept it as possible elsewhere.
And then you are free to allegorize anywhere you are uncomfortable with the literal understanding of the text.
Do you believe the Ten Commandments are allegorical?
God is the laws of physics
that’s deep ...
you are waffling. the issue is, are some passages allegorical. Clearly, the one I cite in Joshua is. You can try to distract the conversation away from that obvious fact but I won’t play along. Accept that the Bible uses alegorical imagery and is far from inerrant or continue to waffle. I will not be distracted from the point I am making and that you cannot refute.
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