2021 - Genesis account of Sodom and Gomorrah proven true

[lifepsyop]

A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

"We present evidence that in ~ 1650 BCE (~ 3600 years ago), a cosmic airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age city in the southern Jordan Valley northeast of the Dead Sea. The proposed airburst was larger than the 1908 explosion over Tunguska, Russia, where a ~ 50-m-wide bolide detonated with ~ 1000× more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. A city-wide ~ 1.5-m-thick carbon-and-ash-rich destruction layer contains peak concentrations of shocked quartz (~ 5–10 GPa); melted pottery and mudbricks; diamond-like carbon; soot; Fe- and Si-rich spherules; CaCO3 spherules from melted plaster; and melted platinum, iridium, nickel, gold, silver, zircon, chromite, and quartz. Heating experiments indicate temperatures exceeded 2000 °C. Amid city-side devastation, the airburst demolished 12+ m of the 4-to-5-story palace complex and the massive 4-m-thick mudbrick rampart, while causing extreme disarticulation and skeletal fragmentation in nearby humans. An airburst-related influx of salt (~ 4 wt.%) produced hypersalinity, inhibited agriculture, and caused a ~ 300–600-year-long abandonment of ~ 120 regional settlements within a > 25-km radius. Tall el-Hammam may be the second oldest city/town destroyed by a cosmic airburst/impact, after Abu Hureyra, Syria, and possibly the earliest site with an oral tradition that was written down (Genesis). Tunguska-scale airbursts can devastate entire cities/regions and thus, pose a severe modern-day hazard…

…It is worth speculating that a remarkable catastrophe, such as the destruction of Tall el-Hammam by a cosmic object, may have generated an oral tradition that, after being passed down through many generations, became the source of the written story of biblical Sodom in Genesis. The description in Genesis of the destruction of an urban center in the Dead Sea area is consistent with having been an eyewitness account of a cosmic airburst, e.g., (i) stones fell from the sky; (ii) fire came down from the sky; (iii) thick smoke rose from the fires; (iv) a major city was devastated; (v) city inhabitants were killed; and (vi) area crops were destroyed."


A brief overview of the event:
Sodom and Gomorrah: Biblical Archaeology - YouTube


The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

- Genesis 19:23-29



A couple points:

#1. A common argument of atheists and professing Christians alike is that the book of Genesis (and the OT generally) is essentially mythological, or an attempt to communicate spiritual lessons through barely historical myths and legends. Yet here in the earliest chapters of the Bible we have an entirely accurate historical account of the cosmic destruction of a major city beside the Dead Sea.

#2. The discovery of the existence and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah will likely do nothing to convince people that the Old Testament may actually be true, even those people who previously insisted that the account of Sodom and Gomorrah was mythological, people who used such examples to argue for the unreliability of scriptural accounts.

This is because the commitment to denying the historicity of the Old Testament is philosophical and not actually based on science or evidence. We don’t want these OT accounts to be true because it makes God’s judgment over the earth too real and tangible, and humans are rebellious to this truth. We much prefer to reduce the Bible to spiritual metaphors and moral myths. It lets us maintain some sense of authority over our world and our lives. When we finally accept that the God of the Bible rules over the history of the earth just as he rules the present and the future forevermore, we increase our faith and trust in Him as the ultimate truth.


For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
- John 5:46-47

 

[Thatgirloncfforums]

It sounds like the occupants died instantly. I'm grateful for that

A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

"We present evidence that in ~ 1650 BCE (~ 3600 years ago), a cosmic airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age city in the southern Jordan Valley northeast of the Dead Sea. The proposed airburst was larger than the 1908 explosion over Tunguska, Russia, where a ~ 50-m-wide bolide detonated with ~ 1000× more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. A city-wide ~ 1.5-m-thick carbon-and-ash-rich destruction layer contains peak concentrations of shocked quartz (~ 5–10 GPa); melted pottery and mudbricks; diamond-like carbon; soot; Fe- and Si-rich spherules; CaCO3 spherules from melted plaster; and melted platinum, iridium, nickel, gold, silver, zircon, chromite, and quartz. Heating experiments indicate temperatures exceeded 2000 °C. Amid city-side devastation, the airburst demolished 12+ m of the 4-to-5-story palace complex and the massive 4-m-thick mudbrick rampart, while causing extreme disarticulation and skeletal fragmentation in nearby humans. An airburst-related influx of salt (~ 4 wt.%) produced hypersalinity, inhibited agriculture, and caused a ~ 300–600-year-long abandonment of ~ 120 regional settlements within a > 25-km radius. Tall el-Hammam may be the second oldest city/town destroyed by a cosmic airburst/impact, after Abu Hureyra, Syria, and possibly the earliest site with an oral tradition that was written down (Genesis). Tunguska-scale airbursts can devastate entire cities/regions and thus, pose a severe modern-day hazard…

…It is worth speculating that a remarkable catastrophe, such as the destruction of Tall el-Hammam by a cosmic object, may have generated an oral tradition that, after being passed down through many generations, became the source of the written story of biblical Sodom in Genesis. The description in Genesis of the destruction of an urban center in the Dead Sea area is consistent with having been an eyewitness account of a cosmic airburst, e.g., (i) stones fell from the sky; (ii) fire came down from the sky; (iii) thick smoke rose from the fires; (iv) a major city was devastated; (v) city inhabitants were killed; and (vi) area crops were destroyed."


A brief overview of the event:
Sodom and Gomorrah: Biblical Archaeology - YouTube


The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

- Genesis 19:23-29



A couple points:

#1. A common argument of atheists and professing Christians alike is that the book of Genesis (and the OT generally) is essentially mythological, or an attempt to communicate spiritual lessons through barely historical myths and legends. Yet here in the earliest chapters of the Bible we have an entirely accurate historical account of the cosmic destruction of a major city beside the Dead Sea.

#2. The discovery of the existence and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah will likely do nothing to convince people that the Old Testament may actually be true, even those people who previously insisted that the account of Sodom and Gomorrah was mythological, people who used such examples to argue for the unreliability of scriptural accounts.

This is because the commitment to denying the historicity of the Old Testament is philosophical and not actually based on science or evidence. We don’t want these OT accounts to be true because it makes God’s judgment over the earth too real and tangible, and humans are rebellious to this truth. We much prefer to reduce the Bible to spiritual metaphors and moral myths. It lets us maintain some sense of authority over our world and our lives. When we finally accept that the God of the Bible rules over the history of the earth just as he rules the present and the future forevermore, we increase our faith and trust in Him as the ultimate truth.


For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
- John 5:46-47

 

[SilverBear]

The Illiad details the ten year war that lead to the destruction of the mythical city of Troy. At least it was mythical until archeologists discovered it in 1871. Does this make the Hellenistic religion of the ANcient Greeks true?

 

[dqhall]

A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

"We present evidence that in ~ 1650 BCE (~ 3600 years ago), a cosmic airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle-Bronze-Age city in the southern Jordan Valley northeast of the Dead Sea. The proposed airburst was larger than the 1908 explosion over Tunguska, Russia, where a ~ 50-m-wide bolide detonated with ~ 1000× more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. A city-wide ~ 1.5-m-thick carbon-and-ash-rich destruction layer contains peak concentrations of shocked quartz (~ 5–10 GPa); melted pottery and mudbricks; diamond-like carbon; soot; Fe- and Si-rich spherules; CaCO3 spherules from melted plaster; and melted platinum, iridium, nickel, gold, silver, zircon, chromite, and quartz. Heating experiments indicate temperatures exceeded 2000 °C. Amid city-side devastation, the airburst demolished 12+ m of the 4-to-5-story palace complex and the massive 4-m-thick mudbrick rampart, while causing extreme disarticulation and skeletal fragmentation in nearby humans. An airburst-related influx of salt (~ 4 wt.%) produced hypersalinity, inhibited agriculture, and caused a ~ 300–600-year-long abandonment of ~ 120 regional settlements within a > 25-km radius. Tall el-Hammam may be the second oldest city/town destroyed by a cosmic airburst/impact, after Abu Hureyra, Syria, and possibly the earliest site with an oral tradition that was written down (Genesis). Tunguska-scale airbursts can devastate entire cities/regions and thus, pose a severe modern-day hazard…

…It is worth speculating that a remarkable catastrophe, such as the destruction of Tall el-Hammam by a cosmic object, may have generated an oral tradition that, after being passed down through many generations, became the source of the written story of biblical Sodom in Genesis. The description in Genesis of the destruction of an urban center in the Dead Sea area is consistent with having been an eyewitness account of a cosmic airburst, e.g., (i) stones fell from the sky; (ii) fire came down from the sky; (iii) thick smoke rose from the fires; (iv) a major city was devastated; (v) city inhabitants were killed; and (vi) area crops were destroyed."


A brief overview of the event:
Sodom and Gomorrah: Biblical Archaeology - YouTube


The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

- Genesis 19:23-29



A couple points:

#1. A common argument of atheists and professing Christians alike is that the book of Genesis (and the OT generally) is essentially mythological, or an attempt to communicate spiritual lessons through barely historical myths and legends. Yet here in the earliest chapters of the Bible we have an entirely accurate historical account of the cosmic destruction of a major city beside the Dead Sea.

#2. The discovery of the existence and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah will likely do nothing to convince people that the Old Testament may actually be true, even those people who previously insisted that the account of Sodom and Gomorrah was mythological, people who used such examples to argue for the unreliability of scriptural accounts.

This is because the commitment to denying the historicity of the Old Testament is philosophical and not actually based on science or evidence. We don’t want these OT accounts to be true because it makes God’s judgment over the earth too real and tangible, and humans are rebellious to this truth. We much prefer to reduce the Bible to spiritual metaphors and moral myths. It lets us maintain some sense of authority over our world and our lives. When we finally accept that the God of the Bible rules over the history of the earth just as he rules the present and the future forevermore, we increase our faith and trust in Him as the ultimate truth.


For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
- John 5:46-47

Recent Italian archaeological digs confirm the Hyksos walls of Jericho were destroyed c. 1550 BC.

With the recent theory of Tel el Hammam being destroyed c. 1650, that puts Abraham’s nephew Lot seeing his wife turned into a pillar of salt, while trying to flee Sodom, a hundred years before Joshua’s conquest.

 

[lifepsyop]

The Illiad details the ten year war that lead to the destruction of the mythical city of Try. At least it was mythical until archeologists discovered it in 1871. Does this make the Hellenistic religion of the ANcient Greeks true?

Well firstly it shows that the people relegating the testimony of the ancients to the realm of mythology may not actually know what they're talking about, even though they style themselves as the experts of history. Other nations besides ancient Israel spoke of Sodom and Gomorrah as well, as we would expect of such a catastrophic spectacle. When big, extraordinary events happen, people usually talk about them.

To address your question... It is the person of Jesus who, centuries later, steps into the world of men and claims to be one with the very God of the Old Testament who created the heavens and the earth, and Jesus was actually killed for that claim. (Matthew 26:64) And perhaps the story would have stopped there, if not for the fact that three days after his execution, he walked out of the tomb he was buried in and presented his resurrected body to many eyewitnesses. These witnesses chose a life of persecution and death, swearing to the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. Now in practically every nation and town on the earth, this middle-eastern commoner who died like a humiliated slave is regarded as the King of the universe. It is an enigma with no parallel in the history of world religions.

It is this Jesus who consistently upheld the truth of the Old Testament.

Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
- Matthew 10:15

How many times have I heard professing Christians claim that in referencing the chapter of Sodom and Gomorrah (or any other OT account), Jesus was only teaching a moral lesson that the ancient Israelites expressed through mythology (in this case, to resist sexual immorality)... Now here is the scientific evidence staring us in the face that Sodom and Gomorrah was quite real, as was its fiery destruction from the heavens, just as the Bible claims.

 

[SilverBear]

To address your question... It is the person of Jesus who, centuries later, steps into the world of men and claims to be one with the very God of the Old Testament who created the heavens and the earth, and Jesus was actually killed for that claim. (Matthew 26:64) And perhaps the story would have stopped there, if not for the fact that three days after his execution, he walked out of the tomb he was buried in and presented his resurrected body to many eyewitnesses. These witnesses chose a life of persecution and death, swearing to the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. Now in practically every nation and town on the earth, this middle-eastern commoner who died like a humiliated slave is regarded as the King of the universe. It is an enigma with no parallel in the history of world religions.

It is this Jesus who consistently upheld the truth of the Old Testament.

Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
- Matthew 10:15

How many times have I heard professing Christians claim that in referencing the chapter of Sodom and Gomorrah (or any other OT account), Jesus was only teaching a moral lesson that the ancient Israelites expressed through mythology (in this case, to resist sexual immorality)... Now here is the scientific evidence staring us in the face that Sodom and Gomorrah was quite real, as was its fiery destruction from the heavens, just as the Bible claims.

This doesn't address my question at all

 

[dqhall]

Well firstly it shows that the people relegating the testimony of the ancients to the realm of mythology may not actually know what they're talking about, even though they style themselves as the experts of history. Other nations besides ancient Israel spoke of Sodom and Gomorrah as well, as we would expect of such a catastrophic spectacle. When big, extraordinary events happen, people usually talk about them.

To address your question... It is the person of Jesus who, centuries later, steps into the world of men and claims to be one with the very God of the Old Testament who created the heavens and the earth, and Jesus was actually killed for that claim. (Matthew 26:64) And perhaps the story would have stopped there, if not for the fact that three days after his execution, he walked out of the tomb he was buried in and presented his resurrected body to many eyewitnesses. These witnesses chose a life of persecution and death, swearing to the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. Now in practically every nation and town on the earth, this middle-eastern commoner who died like a humiliated slave is regarded as the King of the universe. It is an enigma with no parallel in the history of world religions.

It is this Jesus who consistently upheld the truth of the Old Testament.

Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
- Matthew 10:15

How many times have I heard professing Christians claim that in referencing the chapter of Sodom and Gomorrah (or any other OT account), Jesus was only teaching a moral lesson that the ancient Israelites expressed through mythology (in this case, to resist sexual immorality)... Now here is the scientific evidence staring us in the face that Sodom and Gomorrah was quite real, as was its fiery destruction from the heavens, just as the Bible claims.

If an ancient writer arrived at a town and saw evidence of fire, the writer might come up with a clever story of how this happened.

After archaeologists found the dates of cities in Israel supposed to have been destroyed by Joshua, the city destruction dates did not match known ancient city occupation dates.
Recent Archaeological Discoveries and Biblical Research, Professor William Dever, 1990

The Bible is not 100% accurate, yet Jesus is real. People have witnessed miracles and received inspiration from the Holy Spirit.

 

[lifepsyop]

Recent Italian archaeological digs confirm the Hyksos walls of Jericho were destroyed c. 1550 BC.

No, that was not confirmed. This is a helpful overview of the Jericho dating debate with references.
Biblical Sites: Three Ways to Date the Destruction at Jericho – Bible Archaeology Report

With the recent theory of Tel el Hammam being destroyed c. 1650, that puts Abraham’s nephew Lot seeing his wife turned into a pillar of salt, while trying to flee Sodom, a hundred years before Joshua’s conquest.

These radiocarbon dates are anything but precise. At best they are showing an approximate age +/- 100 or so years margin of error, and certainly should not be used to overrule traditional methods of archaeological dating. (artifacts, pottery, inscriptions, etc.)

Fluctuating radiocarbon offsets observed in the southern Levant and implications for archaeological chronology debates | PNAS
"Although, overall, the 14C offset identified here produces what may seem to be relatively small dating changes, these are revealed to be of a scale that is important for high-resolution chronological work. They are especially important for the contested and detailed chronology debates in archaeological scholarship on the southern Levant region, particularly for those focused on differences of only a few decades to ∼50 y to 100 y in recent “high” (or conventional) versus “low” chronology debates."

So, no... there is actually no compelling data forcing the timeline you suggested. The preponderance of actual archeological evidence at Jericho seems to harmonize quite well with the biblical account in the book of Joshua, (even in the small details) which I'd be happy to explore further.

 

[lifepsyop]

If an ancient writer arrived at a town and saw evidence of fire, the writer might come up with a clever story of how this happened.

After archaeologists found the dates of cities in Israel supposed to have been destroyed by Joshua, the city destruction dates did not match known ancient city occupation dates.
Recent Archaeological Discoveries and Biblical Research, Professor William Dever, 1990

There's been quite a lot more research on Jericho since 1990. Today I think even the opponents to the biblical Jericho timeline no longer make the claim that Jericho was unoccupied.

"Archaeologist John Garstang discovered several scarabs and a seal in a cemetery near Jericho. Pictured (from left to right): a scarab of Hatshepsut (c. 1503-1483 BC), a scarab of Thutmose III (c. 1504-1450 BC), reverse side of a seal of Thutmose III, and scarab of Amenhotep III (c. 1386-1349 BC). Collectively they demonstrate that the city’s cemetery was in active use during the time that Kenyon believed that Jericho was abandoned. Photo Credit, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
Pharaohs like Thutmose III and Amenhotep III were popular and revered long after they died. Consequently, their scarabs were copied and collected for many years. Hatshepsut, however, was despised and her name was systematically erased from inscriptions in Egypt in antiquity. Her scarabs are rare because they were not copied or kept as good-luck charms. The rarity of Hatshepsut scarabs makes them excellent chronological indicators.14 In addition to these, Kenyon herself discovered an inscribed cowrie (snail shell), which has been dated to 1485 BC.15 Taken together, the continuous nature of the dates of these scarabs and cowrie demonstrate that the cemetery outside Jericho was actively used through to the end of the 15th century BC.16 This contradicts Kenyon’s claim that the city had been abandoned after it was supposedly destroyed in 1550 BC.

The current lead excavator, Lorenzo Nigro, while espousing Kenyon’s dating, acknowledges that the site was occupied during the Late Bronze Age. He notes, “On the eastern flank of the tell, Garstang retrieved a LB clay tablet preserving an administrative text, which suggests that the city still had a political role, a palace, a ruler, and even an archive.”17

The glyphic and inscriptional evidence demonstrates that Kenyon’s interpretation that Jericho was abandoned at the time of the Conquest of Canaan in 1406 BC is incorrect."

Biblical Sites: Three Ways to Date the Destruction at Jericho – Bible Archaeology Report

There is very strong archaeological evidence for a later occupation and destruction of Jericho that accords with the Biblical timeline, and very weak arguments excluding it. At the end of the day, those who insist the Jericho destruction could *only* have been the earlier date, have not approached a burden of proof by any standards.

Just like the Sodom and Gomorrah discovery... even if the biblical Jericho timeline were proven to you beyond a doubt, it wouldn't really change anything would it? This is about philosophical commitment, not evidence.

 

[lifepsyop]

This doesn't address my question at all

Jesus is what makes the Old Testament claims unique from other ancient accounts, such as the Illiad. Those other accounts may contain a great deal of truth, but none of them have anything like the enigmatic phenomena of Jesus stepping onto the scene, claiming to be the very author of those events in history.

When you study the historicity of Jesus and the gospels and how difficult they would be to fabricate... how the only people that could have fabricated the story were the same people who chose persecution and death rather than deny it was true... The Son of God stepping into history and turning the world upside down. There is nothing else like this.

It is not surprising at all to find the biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah confirmed, because the Word of God says that it happened. At some point, you just surrender to the truth and stop trying to resist it.

 

[dqhall]

There's been quite a lot more research on Jericho since 1990. Today I think even the opponents to the biblical Jericho timeline no longer make the claim that Jericho was unoccupied.

"Archaeologist John Garstang discovered several scarabs and a seal in a cemetery near Jericho. Pictured (from left to right): a scarab of Hatshepsut (c. 1503-1483 BC), a scarab of Thutmose III (c. 1504-1450 BC), reverse side of a seal of Thutmose III, and scarab of Amenhotep III (c. 1386-1349 BC). Collectively they demonstrate that the city’s cemetery was in active use during the time that Kenyon believed that Jericho was abandoned. Photo Credit, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
Pharaohs like Thutmose III and Amenhotep III were popular and revered long after they died. Consequently, their scarabs were copied and collected for many years. Hatshepsut, however, was despised and her name was systematically erased from inscriptions in Egypt in antiquity. Her scarabs are rare because they were not copied or kept as good-luck charms. The rarity of Hatshepsut scarabs makes them excellent chronological indicators.14 In addition to these, Kenyon herself discovered an inscribed cowrie (snail shell), which has been dated to 1485 BC.15 Taken together, the continuous nature of the dates of these scarabs and cowrie demonstrate that the cemetery outside Jericho was actively used through to the end of the 15th century BC.16 This contradicts Kenyon’s claim that the city had been abandoned after it was supposedly destroyed in 1550 BC.

The current lead excavator, Lorenzo Nigro, while espousing Kenyon’s dating, acknowledges that the site was occupied during the Late Bronze Age. He notes, “On the eastern flank of the tell, Garstang retrieved a LB clay tablet preserving an administrative text, which suggests that the city still had a political role, a palace, a ruler, and even an archive.”17

The glyphic and inscriptional evidence demonstrates that Kenyon’s interpretation that Jericho was abandoned at the time of the Conquest of Canaan in 1406 BC is incorrect."

Biblical Sites: Three Ways to Date the Destruction at Jericho – Bible Archaeology Report

There is very strong archaeological evidence for a later occupation and destruction of Jericho that accords with the Biblical timeline, and very weak arguments excluding it. At the end of the day, those who insist the Jericho destruction could *only* have been the earlier date, have not approached a burden of proof by any standards.

Just like the Sodom and Gomorrah discovery... even if the biblical Jericho timeline were proven to you beyond a doubt, it wouldn't really change anything would it? This is about philosophical commitment, not evidence.

The Italians found the Middle Bronze Age stone wall revetments of the Hyksos rulers. They found Iron Age ruins on the upper portion of the tell. Kenyon found LBA artifacts in tombs. Recent expeditions did not find remains of any Late Bronze Age walls. Early explorers did not have accurate dating technology.

I am waiting for you to find Gomorrah. It is not known that God turns people into piles of salt. Jesus did better than you.

 

[dqhall]

Jesus is what makes the Old Testament claims unique from other ancient accounts, such as the Illiad. Those other accounts may contain a great deal of truth, but none of them have anything like the enigmatic phenomena of Jesus stepping onto the scene, claiming to be the very author of those events in history.

When you study the historicity of Jesus and the gospels and how difficult they would be to fabricate... how the only people that could have fabricated the story were the same people who chose persecution and death rather than deny it was true... The Son of God stepping into history and turning the world upside down. There is nothing else like this.

It is not surprising at all to find the biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah confirmed, because the Word of God says that it happened. At some point, you just surrender to the truth and stop trying to resist it.

If you believe there are no errors in the Bible, should you be making burnt offerings to atone for your sin? You have already rejected parts of the Bible as irrelevant.

 

[lifepsyop]

The Italians found the Middle Bronze Age stone wall revetments of the Hyksos rulers. They found Iron Age ruins on the upper portion of the tell. Kenyon found LBA artifacts in tombs. Recent expeditions did not find remains of any Late Bronze Age walls. Early explorers did not have accurate dating technology.

Both Garstang and Kenyon conducted significant excavations at Jericho. Both were excellent field archaeologists Garstang meticulously analyzed the pottery he excavated and Kenyon carefully improved excavation methodology in general. Yet both differed on their interpretation of the data. While the Carbon-14 data is of no help in determining the date of the destruction of Jericho, the dating of from glyphic/inscriptional evidence and ceramic typology would indicate that Garstang’s original date of ca. 1400 BC is the correct date. This would support the biblical chronology of Joshua’s army destroying Jericho in what we now call the Late Bronze Age I.
Biblical Sites: Three Ways to Date the Destruction at Jericho – Bible Archaeology Report

 

[Semper-Fi]

Uncovering the Bible’s Buried Cities: Jericho

Sodom and Gomorrah Proved!

 

[SavedByGrace3]

If you believe there are no errors in the Bible, should you be making burnt offerings to atone for your sin? You have already rejected parts of the Bible as irrelevant.

Christians know that Jesus is the last sacrifice for sins. All the sacrifices in the OT are no longer applicable.

 

[Chris35]

…It is worth speculating that a remarkable catastrophe, such as the destruction of Tall el-Hammam by a cosmic object, may have generated an oral tradition that, after being passed down through many generations, became the source of the written story of biblical Sodom in Genesis

Just wanted to point out, alot of people say this about the flood as well, but the oppisite could also be true. That noah passed down the story to his children, and their children.

From ther we know they left, and went into other parts of the world, and the story may of been used for their own religions.

Hence why we see babylonian with the story earlier then Christianity, because they just wrote it down first. Doesnt necisarily mean it was made up.

Quite intresting that the stories are similar and use an ark, while i highly doubt there was any eye witness to the ark.

 

[lifepsyop]

In the wilderness, the entire nation of ancient Israel directly witnessed and experienced these cosmic encounters and divine miracles. All around them devastation and yet they were protected by divine providence over and over again. Even after seeing God's miraculous works with their own eyes, they turned away and disbelieved, even assigning their salvation to golden idols created by their own hands.

In a similar sense, a non-believer could be shown that every major event recorded in the Old Testament really actually happened, and it would not necessarily change their mind in the least. Hardened hearts are not softened by scientific evidence. We'll always tell another story to ourselves so that we can keep living by our own authority and what is wise in our own eyes.

 

[Semper-Fi]

The Illiad details the ten year war that lead to the destruction
of the mythical city of Troy. At least it was mythical until
archeologists discovered it in 1871.

The Hellenistic religion particularly consisted of a variety of
spiritual beliefs and practices of the people who existed at the
time of the ancient influence of the Greek culture and the Roman Empire.

Greek gods and goddesses rebranded continued to be worshiped including
the ancient rituals and practices that symbolized their spirituality.
Some rulers even received the divine godly status on themselfes.

They found a Bronze Bull Idol Discovered in Greece,
a “sacrificial offering” to the god Zeus
Zeus, Baal and a Rare Bronze Bull Idol Discovered in Greece

Zeus is the Greek equivalent of the Canaanite-Phoenician god Baal,
that a lot about Baal is recorded in the bible.

Does this make the Hellenistic religion of the ANcient Greeks true?

Can they Predict what is going to happen in the future, and
let us watch and see whether they can foretell it correctly ?

The Bible claims to be the sure Word of God. The taunt of the God
of the Bible to the doubter and Skeptics about other so called gods.

"Yes, state your proofs! “Let us hear what happened in the past,
that we may ponder it, or show me what is yet to be, that we may
watch how it turns out; yes, let us hear what is coming, that we
may be sure you are gods; come, do something or other that we may
marvel at the sight! —why, you are things of naught, you can do
nothing at all!” Isaiah 41:21-24 (Moffatt translation).

“And God said unto Moses: ‘I am that I am …’”
The One True God, who was ‘Against All the Gods of Egypt’
A warning to Egypt, Israel and for us today.

Prophecy Is a PROOF of The God of Israel and his words. Jesus is the
Spirit of Prophecy, and everything came true of his first visit to earth,
no reason to not believe of his second coming prophecy spoken of.

Isaiah 46:9-10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

The Bible says we must test the prophets. If they pass the
test, then we must believe them! (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

The book of Daniel forecast multiple world events. The emergence
of specific kings and the rise and fall of several empires.

Daniel wrote during the sixth century b.c.e., as described in
the text. Critics say the book was written later, after many
of the prophecies had come to pass. They refuse to believe
a divine being for-told the future in advance.

A copy of the book of Daniel was among the Dead Sea Scrolls,
which means it already existed at least in the second century b.c.e.

What about the events Daniel prophesied that occurred after
the second century? He described four successive world-ruling
empires of man (Daniel 2, 7)

first, the Babylonian; second, the Medo-Persian;
third, the Greco-Macedonian; and finally, the Roman.
Daniel prophesies primarily about the Roman Empire.

He foretold the founding of the empire, Daniel also
forecast that it would bring about the destruction
of Jerusalem and the temple (Daniel 9:25-26)

He described the divide between Rome and Constantinople
in Daniel 2:33, 40-41, as well as 10 “resurrections”
after receiving a deadly wound. Daniel 7:7, 19-20, 24.

Daniel also prophesied about the takeover of Rome by three
barbarian tribes, the Vandals, Heruli and Ostrogoths, followed
by the emergence of the Holy Roman empire [church -state].
Can We Trust the Book of Daniel?

Daniel and other prophets record the soon coming Kingdom of God
to earth, to rule with a rod of iron over the nations.
The bible says Jesus returns before man wipes themselves out.
x


Not much has changed, Today an idol is anything we put above God.
Some People worship the work of their own hands Isaiah 2:8.

Today people are talking as if the Earth is an indignant parent,
a sentient being punishing its wayward children. When people stop be-
lieving in God, they don’t believe in nothing; they believe in anything.

When Mother Earth sends us a message. “Nature is suffering"
International Mother Earth Day | United Nations
“Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action,”

a website where people can confess their ecological sins.
Do you blast the A/C? Throw out half your lunch? Tell us where you fall short in preventing climate change

Gaia’s immune system fighting back
'Tip of the iceberg': is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?

the pagan Greek earth goddess Gaia
Gaia - Wikipedia

Pope Francis suggested that covid-19 might be part of nature’s
response to the climate crisis. He gave a special Earth Day message,
and in it he warned, “We have sinned against the Earth.”
Is the Pope a pagan? | MelaniePhillips.com
-

“And I heard, but I understood not; then said I: ‘O my Lord,
what shall be the latter end of these things?’ And he said:
‘Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed
till the time of the end’” (Daniel 12:8-9).

Daniel did not understand everything at that time.
We are now in that prophesied “time of the end”

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a
kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not
be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

Did this address your question I hope ?

 

[SilverBear]

The Hellenistic religion particularly consisted of a variety of
spiritual beliefs and practices of the people who existed at the
time of the ancient influence of the Greek culture and the Roman Empire.

Greek gods and goddesses rebranded continued to be worshiped including
the ancient rituals and practices that symbolized their spirituality.
Some rulers even received the divine godly status on themselfes.

They found a Bronze Bull Idol Discovered in Greece,
a “sacrificial offering” to the god Zeus
Zeus, Baal and a Rare Bronze Bull Idol Discovered in Greece

Zeus is the Greek equivalent of the Canaanite-Phoenician god Baal,
that a lot about Baal is recorded in the bible.



Can they Predict what is going to happen in the future, and
let us watch and see whether they can foretell it correctly ?

The Bible claims to be the sure Word of God. The taunt of the God
of the Bible to the doubter and Skeptics about other so called gods.

"Yes, state your proofs! “Let us hear what happened in the past,
that we may ponder it, or show me what is yet to be, that we may
watch how it turns out; yes, let us hear what is coming, that we
may be sure you are gods; come, do something or other that we may
marvel at the sight! —why, you are things of naught, you can do
nothing at all!” Isaiah 41:21-24 (Moffatt translation).

“And God said unto Moses: ‘I am that I am …’”
The One True God, who was ‘Against All the Gods of Egypt’
A warning to Egypt, Israel and for us today.

Prophecy Is a PROOF of The God of Israel and his words. Jesus is the
Spirit of Prophecy, and everything came true of his first visit to earth,
no reason to not believe of his second coming prophecy spoken of.

Isaiah 46:9-10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

The Bible says we must test the prophets. If they pass the
test, then we must believe them! (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

The book of Daniel forecast multiple world events. The emergence
of specific kings and the rise and fall of several empires.

Daniel wrote during the sixth century b.c.e., as described in
the text. Critics say the book was written later, after many
of the prophecies had come to pass. They refuse to believe
a divine being for-told the future in advance.

A copy of the book of Daniel was among the Dead Sea Scrolls,
which means it already existed at least in the second century b.c.e.

What about the events Daniel prophesied that occurred after
the second century? He described four successive world-ruling
empires of man (Daniel 2, 7)

first, the Babylonian; second, the Medo-Persian;
third, the Greco-Macedonian; and finally, the Roman.
Daniel prophesies primarily about the Roman Empire.

He foretold the founding of the empire, Daniel also
forecast that it would bring about the destruction
of Jerusalem and the temple (Daniel 9:25-26)

He described the divide between Rome and Constantinople
in Daniel 2:33, 40-41, as well as 10 “resurrections”
after receiving a deadly wound. Daniel 7:7, 19-20, 24.

Daniel also prophesied about the takeover of Rome by three
barbarian tribes, the Vandals, Heruli and Ostrogoths, followed
by the emergence of the Holy Roman empire [church -state].
Can We Trust the Book of Daniel?

Daniel and other prophets record the soon coming Kingdom of God
to earth, to rule with a rod of iron over the nations.
The bible says Jesus returns before man wipes themselves out.
x


Not much has changed, Today an idol is anything we put above God.
Some People worship the work of their own hands Isaiah 2:8.

Today people are talking as if the Earth is an indignant parent,
a sentient being punishing its wayward children. When people stop be-
lieving in God, they don’t believe in nothing; they believe in anything.

When Mother Earth sends us a message. “Nature is suffering"
International Mother Earth Day | United Nations
“Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action,”

a website where people can confess their ecological sins.
Do you blast the A/C? Throw out half your lunch? Tell us where you fall short in preventing climate change

Gaia’s immune system fighting back
'Tip of the iceberg': is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?

the pagan Greek earth goddess Gaia
Gaia - Wikipedia

Pope Francis suggested that covid-19 might be part of nature’s
response to the climate crisis. He gave a special Earth Day message,
and in it he warned, “We have sinned against the Earth.”
Is the Pope a pagan? | MelaniePhillips.com
-

“And I heard, but I understood not; then said I: ‘O my Lord,
what shall be the latter end of these things?’ And he said:
‘Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed
till the time of the end’” (Daniel 12:8-9).

Daniel did not understand everything at that time.
We are now in that prophesied “time of the end”

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a
kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not
be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

Did this address your question I hope ?

no.

 

[Semper-Fi]

• Psalm 111:10 (KJV)
  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: A good understanding have all they that do his commandments: His praise endureth forever.

• Matthew 13:15 (KJV)
  For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest at any time they should see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And should understand with their heart, And should be converted, and I should heal them.