RE: The Paradox of Power....
September 26, 2015 at 6:41 pm
(This post was last modified: September 26, 2015 at 6:42 pm by Jenny A.)
(September 26, 2015 at 6:25 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: Archaeologists keep finding evidence that supports the Old and New Testaments; this find dates back 3,000 years or so:
Israeli archaeologists may have found fabled Maccabees tomb
By DANIEL ESTRIN
Sep. 21, 2015 4:32 PM EDT
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b2dd69492...abees-tomb
Your description is a trifle overblown. From your source:
Quote:Israel's government Antiquities Authority said Monday that an ancient structure it began excavating this month on the side of a highway appears to match ancient descriptions of the tomb of Jewish rebels who wrested control of Judea from Seleucid rule and established a Jewish kingdom in the 2nd century B.C.http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b2dd69492...abees-tomb emphasis added
Scholars in Israel's quarrelsome archaeological community tend to agree that the site, in an Israeli forest west of Jerusalem and a short walk from the West Bank, is a significant burial site but reserve judgment about its connection to the Maccabees. Now the Antiquities Authority, which sometimes relies on private funding to help finance digs, is soliciting donations so it can keep searching for evidence.
"We still don't have the smoking gun," said Amit Reem, a government archaeologist who helped lead the dig.
* * *
Oren Tal, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University who was not involved with the dig, said the mosaic cross is not necessarily a significant clue. He said the burial niche may have been converted into a Byzantine chapel, where a cross would have been standard.
But he agreed with Reem about other characteristics that correspond to the biblical account and to an account by ancient historian Josephus Flavius. Both describe the Tomb of the Maccabees as a tall structure that could be seen from the Mediterranean Sea, featuring columns and seven pyramids.
* * *
Reem said he cannot yet date the site to earlier than the 5th century A.D. He wants to excavate more, to look for an inscription or architectural elements that could associate the structure with the time of the Maccabees.
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Most of the OT is either unverified archeologically, or positively falsified like Exodus or the conquering of Canaan. Undoubtedly some of the history in it is true. But since so much clearly isn't, it's hardly a reliable source, let alone a good source with which to prove the supernatural.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.