Is the Bible a True Story?

[DonViejo]

Despite feverish searching with Scripture in one hand and cutting-edge technology in the other, evidence backing the Bible remains elusive. But there are some surprising anomalies

By Nir Hasson Oct 31, 2017

Beauty and biblical evidence both lie in the eye of the beholder, it seems. No evidence of the events described in the Book of Genesis has ever been found. No city walls have been found at Jericho, from the appropriate era, that could have been toppled by Joshua or otherwise. The stone palace uncovered at the foot of Temple Mount in Jerusalem could attest that King David had been there; or it might belong to another era entirely, depending who you ask.

Archaeologists always hope that advances in technology will shed fresh light on at least part of this ancient mystery: Did the Bible really happen? So far, what discoveries there are, tend to indicate that at the least, the timelines are off.

A paucity of evidence

Eighteen years ago, on October 29, 1999, Haaretz published an article by Tel Aviv University's Ze’ev Herzog, whose message was spelled out in the very headline: “The Bible: No evidence on the ground.”

Of what? No evidence that the children of Israel sojourned in Egypt, passed through a miraculously parted Red Sea, wandered the Sinai Desert for 40 years or indeed any years, and no evidence that they conquered the land of Israel and divided it up among 12 tribes of Israel. The renowned archaeologist also shared his suspicion that David and Solomon’s "United Kingdom," described in the Bible as a regional power, was at most a minor tribal domain.

read more: https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-1.818795

[Wellstone ruled]

1. No.....

[Cuthbert Allgood]

2. No

The minor points in which the bible overlays reality are far and few between. Certainly not enough to take it seriously as an actual history of anything. As literature we could have a different discussion.

[democratisphere]

3. No. It's a story with perhaps portions taken from actual events and people.

[saidsimplesimon]

4. Don, come on

The Bible (Jewish, Muslim or Christian versions) is all in the "minds and eyes" of the beholder. There is no science here. Some (not me) live in alternative universes where "I believe thus it is so."

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. Of course not.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. It's a collection of myths, legends, folk tales and assorted stories

passed down over time and altered or conflated to suit the beliefs of whoever wrote them down. There are probably kernels of truth here and there; many folk tales are based, although maybe tangentially, on actual occurrences. Otherwise it's just an assortment of mostly unrelated stories that somebody decided ought to be the basis for a religion.

[gibraltar72]

7. As a

recovering Evangelical. I say it is as old as human kind a simple tale to control the population as all religions are. It and other scripts have always been used as a means of control. Myths and canards have always been used to make the simple minded follow a leader or a philosophy. Faith is the most dangerous drug of all!

[MineralMan]

8. And yet, I read again and again from Christian sources that

"Every bit of archaeological evidence supports the Bible as true."

Guess not, maybe.

[SCantiGOP]

9. Like the evidence that the world is 6,000 years old?

Amazing how many of the people that hold that opinion think either that Jesus had a hand in writing the New Testament or it was written by Peter, Paul and the other disciples.
The people who wrote the Bible first recorded it at least a hundred years after Jesus died. They were relying on oral histories by generations of superstitious, illiterate people.

[Mariana]

14. Preacher tells them that, so they believe it.

Preacher wouldn't lie to them, not like those horrible scientists who hate God and everything good and want to stamp out Christianity from the earth.

[Voltaire2]

10. even the parts intended to be histories are problematic

Forget the other bits. It is as accurate and factual as Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

That applies to both the Torah and the Gospels and throw the Koran in there too. Plus that crap Smith cooked up for the Mormons.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. If you suck, and you're slow, it takes about 10-12 DAYS to walk from Cairo to Jerusalem.

Forty years in the desert? Your god sucks at GPS.

[marylandblue]

12. Well it is pretty sunny and hot there

So you need to avoid over exertion, take frequent water breaks, and reapply sunscreen.

[Mariana]

15. The story isn't that they couldn't find the promised land.

The story says that God made all those men, women, and children wander in the desert for 40 years because Moses said something that annoyed him. That's how God punished Moses for saying the wrong thing one time.

[BigmanPigman]

13. It is a STORY...a fictitious story.

It is not a non fiction document and was never meant to be as far as I know. It is a story used to teach "morals" which is ripe for interpretation and manipulation. At least that is how it was presented in my class at The New School in NYC while I had to take the class as a requirement for my literature undergrad credits while attending Parsons. I am an Atheist and was pissed off about this until it was presented to us this way.