New data collected by secular researchers has confirmed what creation scientists discovered decades ago—geologists’ assumptions about radioactive decay are not always correct. For a century, the radioactive decay of unstable elements into more stable ones has been used as a natural clock to estimate the age of earth materials. Even the solar system has been dated using one of these systems, by measuring the amount of a decaying element and comparing it to the amount of its stable (decayed) daughter material in meteorites. However, a recent analysis using state-of-the-art equipment found that a basic assumption underlying one of these clock systems needs to be re-evaluated.
John Turtle Wood left England for the Aegean coast of Ottoman Turkey in 1858 as an architect, not an archaeologist. His brief was prosaic -- to design stations on a new railway line between the port of Smyrna (now İzmir) and Denizli. To the Turks, however, the railway was a matter of pride, visible proof that the Ottoman Empire was modernizing and able to keep up with Europe. Indeed, in 1863 the sultan himself twice came to see the work in progress, even visiting the site of Ephesus using the new railway. In the same year, Wood, who had become less interested in railway stations and more and more obsessed with uncovering the remains of Ephesus, managed to secure both the financial backing (albeit limited) of the British Museum and permission from the Ottoman authorities to begin digging at the site -- and export any antiquities he discovered.
Shortly, the Fall 2009 issue of Bible and Spade will be available to our members and subscribers. This issue contains articles from our Associates, friends who have faithfully volunteered their time and scholarship to the advancement of the Kingdom of God and the ABR ministry.
Benjamin Felker attends Wheaton College and has written two articles: one regarding the James Ossuary and the other about his exciting experience participating in the excavations at Ashkelon, an important Biblical site. Another ABR Associate, Jared Compton, is in the Ph.D. program at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has written a well-researched article on the Historical Validity of the Resurrection. Another article by long time ABR friend, Dr. Clyde Billington, reviews a book about the history of the writing and transmission of the Bible. It is a powerful and useful critique! You will find this issue to be an excellent apologetic tool and personally edifying.
Look for Bible and Spade in your mailbox shortly!
Young-earth creationists rightly consider that Neanderthals were human, but are divided on various issues, mainly because of the opposing views of Jack Cuozzo, author of Buried Alive! and Marvin Lubenow, author of Bones of Contention. These differences include Neanderthal lifespan, causes of the Neanderthal distinctive morphology, why the Neanderthals disappeared, length of Neanderthal children’s maturation time, whether we can place Neanderthals in biblical history, and the related issue of whether Homo erectus was human. In addition, Neanderthals are implicated in matters that include the Babel dispersion, earth’s breakup, DNA, patterns of world population, the Ice Age, archaeology, and historical timeline.
The ABR study tour group has arrived safely in Israel and are now enjoying the wonders of Israel and Jerusalem. They will be participating in the Temple Mount Sifting Project for the next couple of weeks. Comments on the trip will be posted here in the near future. Please pray for our group!
The claims made by Dr. Sa'id Muhammed Thabet should be viewed with great skepticism. First, most archaeologists and historians of the ancient world believe that the oldest coins ever minted were those of the Lydians in west central Asia Minor dating to ca. 700 BC. Thabet's highly questionable theory would push the invention of coinage back by about a thousand years.
Second, it is highly unlikely that Joseph's image would appear on coinage unless he was the pharaoh, and the Old Testament makes it very clear he was not a pharaoh.
Third, Egyptologists and Hebrew scholars are not certain of Joseph's exact Egyptian name in hieroglyphic symbols since it is given in a Hebrew version in the Old Testament. For an example of the problem, note that the name Ivan in Russian is the name John in English, and the name John from Koine Greek transliterates into English "Ioanneh." All of this to ask the question, how does Thabet know that the name on some of the "coins" is that of Joseph?
And fourth, Thabet claims to have discovered these "coins"--- almost certainly amulets or scarabs--- in the Museum of Egypt. These are all items that were discovered by many other, frequently very famous, archaeologists who Thabet argues missed the fact that they are actually coins. This is a highly unlikely assumption. Thabet's claims should not be given any credence.
Reproduced from Artifax, Fall 2009.
"One Coin... [Had] an Image of a Cow Symbolizing Pharaoh's Dream about the Seven Fat Cows and Seven Lean Cows"
"Joseph's name appears twice on this coin, written in hieroglyphs: once the original name, Joseph, and once his Egyptian name, Saba Sabani, which was given to him by Pharaoh when he became treasurer. There is also an image of Joseph, who was part of the Egyptian administration at the time.
The ministry of ABR urges GREAT CAUTION with respect to these claims. We are not claiming that this report is necessarily false. However, we believe that there must be more information forthcoming on this discovery before it can be touted as support for the Bible. ABR will continue to monitor the situation and post our commentary on the ABR website. In the meantime, we urge our brethren not to use this information as an apologetic until more information is available.
According to newly translated instructions inscribed in ancient Babylon on a clay tablet telling the story of the ark, the vessel that saved one virtuous man, his family and the animals from God's watery wrath was not the pointy-prowed craft of popular imagination but rather a giant circular reed raft.
Editorial note from ABR: The proliferation of Flood accounts all across the world is powerful and irrefutable evidence of an actual historical event, which is infallibly and accurately recorded in the Bible. The description of Noah's Ark on this tablet is clearly inaccurate, but it does reflect a basic historicity of the event.