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The Way
by Kevin Pauley
Internal consistency; inerrancy - Evidenced in Archeology
The one who gives an answer before he listens--this is foolishness and disgrace for him. - Proverbs 18:13 HCSB
Two friends met on the street. One said to the other, “I saw a terrible accident yesterday.”
The other responded, “Really? What happened?”
The first man said, “A little old lady ran a red light and got clipped by a white pickup!”
Suddenly a voice spoke up behind them, “That’s not how it happened at all!”
They turned to see a man sitting on a bench waiting for a bus. The witness asked, “What do you mean? Were you there?”
The bench warmer arrogantly answered, “No I wasn’t there, but I don’t need to be there. I know about physics and psychology and I’ve read books on gerontology, so I’m an expert!”
We would mock such a fool yet we routinely listen to them every day – fools who tell us they know better than first-hand witnesses to events that occurred thousands of years ago no less.
For years, Isaiah’s listing Sargon as King of Assyria[1] was mocked. Excavations of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh had never brought up his name. Then, in 1843, a fellow by the name of Botta found a site northeast of Nineveh which was later studied by the University of Chicago. Turns out that Sargon had built his own capital city in 717 BC. However, when he died, his son moved the capital back to Nineveh, leaving all records of his father’s name at the other city.
For years, fools mocked Daniel’s claim that King Belshazzar was the last ruler of Babylon.[2] They claimed that all THEIR sources named Nabonidus as the last king…that is until around 1930 documents were discovered revealing that Nabonidus had decided to take a break from ruling and left his son Belshazzar in charge of the house. When Babylon fell in 539 BC, Belshazzar sat on the throne as co-regent for the absent Nabonidus.
People doubted the Bible’s grasp of the facts when it said that King Solomon obtained sixteen tons of Ophirian gold.[3] They had never heard of Ophir; there was no such place in the middle east according to these so-called experts. Then some broken pottery was found in 1956 at Tell Qasile in Israel that listed a shipment of “gold of Ophir for Beth-Horon, thirty shekels.” Turns out Ophir was a port approximately sixty miles north of Bombay.
Over and over again, the Bible has proved itself to be archeologically accurate. Time and time again, the so-called experts have found themselves with egg on their faces. Yet rather than wiping the egg off, and tipping their hat to the proven reliability of the Scriptures, they continue searching for some way to discount the word of the God of their ancestors.
If this sounds familiar, it is because it an inherently sinful trait woefully characteristic of humans. When the Bible speaks, we need to be silent and listen.
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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