The Inspiration of the Bible

I believe in the full and absolute inspiration of the Bible. It is totally free of errors. Where errors have been claimed by critics the critics have usually been eventually proven to have been in error themselves. An example of this is the Hittite people .

Since no archeological evidence was ever found for the Hittites, many believed that they were a fictional element in the Bible. Then. in 1871, at Carchemish, extra-Biblical documentary evidence of the Hittites was unearthed. Later (1906 - 1907), the ruins of Hattusas, the capital of the Hittite empire, were discovered in Turkiye. Hattusas was found the hold over 10,000 Hittite records recorded on clay tablets. Now, Hittite history, including king lists and court records, is well established.

It is true that there are still claims of errors in the Bible. I believe that they will eventually be resolved as we learn more about the history of the Middle East. There is probably more under the dirt of the Middle East than is on top of it.

Who is Ricardo Montalban?

In1993, actor Ricardo Montalban received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.  Here is part of what he said about the progression of an actor’s career.

“Who is Ricardo Montalban?
Get me Ricardo Montalban,
Get me a Ricardo Montalban type.
Get me a young Ricardo Montalban.
Who is Ricardo Montalban?”

First class actor that Montalban was, he will be remembered in two hundred years only by film academics.  Film greats such as John Barrymore,  Louise Brooks, and Claude Rains are now almost entirely forgotten.  The memory of other celebrities such as Ceelo Green, Kim Kardashian, and even Honey Boo Boo will be even shorter.

Being politically and historically important are no guarantee of being remembered.  How many know the stories of Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni tribe, or of the Trung Sisters?

Important religious leaders, even the founders of religions, fare no better.  How many non-Bahais can name the founder of that religion?   Who was Father Divine, or Anton Sandor LaVey, or Sidney Rigdon, or George Gurdjieff, or Elizabeth Claire Prophet, or Adoniram Judson, or Aleister Crowley, or Aimee Semple McPherson?

Entire cultures have been forgotten.  Until the ruins of their capital city were discovered in Turkey in 1871, no one believed that the Hittite Empire mentioned in the Bible really existed.

Jesus of Nazareth was a simple carpenter from a dusty little backwater town.  If you say His name almost anywhere in the world you may not find any of His followers, but you can be sure that someone will at least have heard His name.

Book Comment: The Bible as History

"How can we understand the Word, unless we see it in its proper chronological, historical, and geographical setting?" Andre Parrot (1901-1980), archeologist, theologian, main discoverer and excavator of the Mari State (ca. 1800-1750 BC/BCE) site in Syria..

"Many events that previously passed for pious tales must now be judged to be historical. Often the results of investigation correspond in detail with the Biblical narratives." Werner Keller (b.1909, Germany).

In The Bible as History. A Confirmation of the Book of Books, Werner Keller piles on page after page after page of archeological and historical findings which point to the historicity of the biblical texts. Time after time lost cities and towns are found where the Bible says they were located. The names of people mentioned in the Bible are repeatedly found in newly unearthed sites. At Megiddo, the enormous stables of King Solomon were found. The Bablylonian astrological tables correspond to the probable date of The Star of David which shone at Jesus' birth. The Hittite Empire was "known" to be mythological until their capital city, Hatussas, was found at Boghas Koy, Turkey. The king lists found ther, of course, correspond to the Bible.

This is a fascinating book and one which is hard to ignore. When facts begin to pile up on one another, they begin to be overwhelming and soon require willful ignorance on the part of those who wish to ignore or discount them.