The same can be said in interpreting historical events. For instance, there are a lot of people who rightfully point out that the story of a global flood as written in Genesis, is not unique at all and that it exists in many other traditional religions, such as Greek mythology (Babylon), Mesoamerican (Aztec), several Aboriginal stories (Australia), Hinduism, Native American, among others. Their claim is that the flood never actually existed, at least not on a global scale, and that the proof is in how many other religions include this unlikely story of a global flood, and a hero who escapes on a giant vessel with his family and some animals.
I could take the same information however, and point to the fact that every religion mentioned here somehow manages to reach every region of the Earth, and if this did in fact take place, then naturally it would be part of that cultures heritage as a literal known event passed down from generation to generation starting with Noah himself.
My point here is that we all have the same evidence, and it's how we interpret the evidence that determines our belief. I am not an historian, nor a scientist, so I will leave a lot of the technical debate up to those who spend their lives researching these things, and all information I share here is public information and not something I discovered and am currently sitting on while waiting for a book deal.
The institution of Science is a vast body of educated men and women, with differing opinions, and intentions in their field. A scientific consensus is not a concrete fact but rather an established truth that is based on the most likely outcome as determined by those doing the research. There are many Scientists on both sides of any issue when determining things that cannot be concretely determined. As I mentioned, we all have the same evidence before us, but the difference lies in the presupposition one might hold in examining such evidence. There are many scientists who believe the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and there are many who think it less than 10,000 years old. From both sides people tend to scoff at the other, but when you read how it all breaks down and how scientists had come to determine such age, you'll find that it all comes back to mathematics starting with a presupposed theory. I could care less if the Earth was thousands, or billions of years old, and I don't think my faith is determined by what is true in this discussion. Civilization itself is less than 10,000 years old, so we can start there and determine whether or not the events of the Bible were true, or if they were based on superstitious lore handed out by the nearest pagan culture.
If you wanted to research the age of the Earth or whether or not a flood occurred, there are plenty of articles online that come from all different viewpoints and arrive at all different conclusions. A great place to start in researching the science from an “Intelligent Design” angle would be the website “answersingenesis.org” which not only bolsters a top rated cast of ID Scientists, but also attempts to answer all of these questions in articles that range from simple, to incredibly complex. Have at it.
As for this particular article, I wanted to address two of the most common and crippling charges people might make against historical Christianity. These two questions led me to almost throw in the towel myself, and are the main talking points people like Bill Maher use in attacking the Christian faith.
No Records of Israelites in Egypt as Slaves or of the Plagues
For years now archaeologists have been trying to find proof of a large settlement of slaves near Egypt, that Egypt actually had slaves at the time the Hebrew's were thought to be there, and if in fact many plagues destroyed parts of Egypt and that this large group of 2 million people actually left, on foot, through a divided sea that wound up consuming Pharaohs men as they pursued them. People rightly point out that they have yet to find any records of any such events taking place, and that surely there would be some evidence given just the sheer size of the population that left. There are countless articles that state that there is absolutely zero evidence to support the claims of the Bible, and that it is a myth.
Back when I first encountered this argument, I read many articles that made similar claims. I remember being troubled over this as I looked for any answer whatsoever that could explain this lack of evidence. The Bible seemed so descriptive, even with it's story about Joseph and his rise to fame in and prominence in Egypt, his grain silos, and even an Egyptian royal burial, yet the accusation of it never occurring stared at me, unmoving, daring me to prove it wrong. Then I came across a small thread of discussions that made the charge that our decades old understanding on Egyptian history, dynasties, and all recorded events might be seriously flawed. Apparently there were some making the claim that the occupation of the Israelite slaves would have actually been during a different dynasty altogether, and that if we simply move from the 18th dynasty to the 12th, everything begins to make sense and actually line up with not only the claims of the Bible, but also the time-line given.
First of all, and this is a common talking point, the Egyptians were not known for recording defeats or embarrassing events, such as a large group of slaves overthrowing the government, so it would be hard to find any official record of the plagues and the journey to Canaan that cost the Pharaoh many lives. In fact, there is a lot of evidence that Egypt tended to rewrite it's own history, and could have just simply pretended that this never happened, even when it comes to giving credit to those Hebrew's who helped build their pyramids. However, Joseph being an important and celebrated figure, there must be some account for his presence there, right? Funny you should ask.
There is a figure, known as Imhotep who served as vizier of Pharaoh Djoser during the 3rd Dynasty, who was known as the chief designer of the step pyramid, which had a design used all over Egypt at that time, and was known to store grain. What's more, the “famine stele” found near the first cataract of the Nile tells the story of Djoser's dream, and how he asked Imhotep to help save Egypt from the coming seven years of famine. In fact, if you haven't guessed it yet, there are many who believe Imhotep and Joseph were in fact the same person, and the similarities went on to describe not only how he bought up a lot of the land except for that belonging to priests, charged a 20% tax, married the daughter of a high priest, and lived to be 110, serving multiple Pharaohs.
Okay, so Imhotep (Joseph) became sort of a god after he died and there is no mention of his connection with the Hebrew slaves, but why would there be? He was an important figure that literally saved Egypt, and held influence across the land up until his death. The fact that his descendants wound up getting forced into slave labor, and that the Pharaohs who ruled during this time knew very little of Imhotep's heritage, let alone the growing Hebrew population in a near by settlement, means nothing in terms of it actually happening. The question then is, if the Hebrew population had grown so much over the course of four hundred years, is there credible evidence to prove that they were there outside of the Bible?
Again, according to the popular timeline of Dynasties and legend (which has been in place since the 1920's), the answer is a resounding no. If we do however, go back to an earlier time, and follow the actual period spoken of in the Biblical texts, we see a much clearer picture.
First of all, a “workers village” has been discovered, and this discovery goes back to the late 1800's. It appeared whoever dwelled there, lived during the 12th dynasty, and vacated it shortly into the 13th dynasty leaving behind numerous artifacts and tools that were used to make mud bricks. This is not necessarily proof that this was occupied by the Hebrew's, but the fact that they were workers who made mud bricks, lines up completely with what Exodus tells us about the type of slave labor they were subjected to. It's also important to note that during the discovery, they found boxes under the floors of the homes that contained the remains of babies up to three months old, which was believed to be the remains of the Hebrew babies killed on Pharaoh's orders around the time of Moses' birth. Another interesting thing is that the 12th dynasty actually used mud bricks laced with straw in their pyramids serving as a core for the structures. The Labyrinth built by Amenhemet III (sixth pharaoh of the 12th dynasty) at Hawara was made out of mud bricks too, as well as many houses and other structures, which all would have taken a huge slave labor force to build. In fact it was common knowledge around the time of Christ that the Hebrew's had actually built the pyramids in the Egypt. (One of the harshest criticisms this story has faced is how the secular timeline given puts Israel's occupation in Egypt long after they had stopped making pyramids, where as the new timeline actually puts them in the middle of it all, and even explains why Egypt stopped making them in the 13th dynasty, you know, due to their labor force up and leaving).Also, the Pharaoh who built the last pyramids was Amenhemet III, and had no sons. When he died, his daughter took over the throne for only 8 years before she too died and the 12th Dynasty ended. There was a figure however known as Amenhemet IV who is believed to be an adopted son of Amenhemet III and raised by his daughter. The interesting thing about this person is that he seemed to have ruled with Pharaoh for several years, but then suddenly disappeared. There is no further trace of him in Egypt's records, and no one even seems to know where he is buried. As you may recall, the person of Moses was an adopted son in Pharaohs house, who ran away after he killed an Egyptian official for hitting a Hebrew slave, and only resurfaced forty years later prior to the Exodus.
Piecing the rest of this together, we know that the 13th dynasty didn't last all that long and held very short terms for it's Pharaohs, the longest reign was only 11 years. It is believed that the Pharaoh who Moses would have confronted at the time was named Neferhotep I. The settlements believed to be occupied by slaves were occupied up until his reign, and there is very little word on what happened to him, not to mention the fact that his body has yet to be discovered. Following his death, the Hyksos (Amalekites) invaded Egypt with very little resistance, which would have made sense if the strongest men of Egypt were all dead laying at the bottom of the red sea.
Perhaps the case I am making would be more significant if Egypt had kept records of all that occurred, but remember, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There are plenty of facts surrounding this story that line up very clearly with Biblical texts, and it doesn't take a great leap of faith to see the connection. I have discovered that we barely know anything about the ancient world, and what we do know is pieced together by presumed conclusions. Even if we presume that the writers of the Bible inserted their own superstitious ideologies about God, we can be assured that it is still a useful book as one of the most intact recounts of historical events (With the exception of the creation story in which no man was actually there to witness the events that took place).
What we do seem to know a lot about however is ancient Rome, which was one of the largest Empires in the ancient world and still holds a steady influence over modern politics, engineering, law, language, and other very useful societal traits that can be traced back to the culture and influence it held on the region and the tens of millions of people who called it home. We know with certainty that Rome occupied the city of Jerusalem, and that they held authority over the Jewish people. We know that the new Testament was written during this occupation, and that the writers of the books and letters all grew up under it's authority while trying to stay true to their own faith and religious practices. There is no one who would refute that this happened, but there has been a growing population of skeptics who think either the story of Jesus never happened, or that if it did, it became that of legends shortly after when the writers took great liberty to make this story so much more significant than it actually was.
Isn't the Story of Jesus Based on Ancient Myth and Not Actual Events?
Anyone who has heard Bill Maher discussing religions, namely Christianity, knows that his objections to the faith tend to rely heavily on the knowledge he holds of a certain god in Egypt named Horus. He dismisses the Christian myth with a wave of his hand as being superstitious and outdated, and incredibly misleading as it lies heavily on a story that existed thousands of years prior to Jesus entering the scene, and even shows up in the story of Buddha some 400 years prior.
If the story of Jesus is in fact, well, not factual, then the crux of what the gospel is built on is nothing more than legend prescribed to a man who riled up a few religious leaders, and started a rag-tag band of misfits who tried to gain power and influence over their oppressors.
This was the second question I was confronted with that almost made me throw in the towel. However, unlike the story of Hebrew slaves in Egypt, this one is much more easily explained, and if you follow along, you'll see what I mean.
The similarities between Jesus and Horus are astounding, in that he was born of a virgin, walked on water, had 12 disciples, was crucified, and rose from the grave 3 days later. This story can be traced back to the early 1900's, when a poet, and self-taught Egyptologist named Gerald Massey published a book called “Ancient Egypt: Light of the World”. In his book, Massey argues that the story of Jesus borrows heavily from ancient Egypt mythology, and goes on to cite over 250 parallels between the two figures of Massey and Jesus. Massey makes the effort of pointing out that the story of Christ was actually concocted by Roman officials as a means of controlling the masses. (his theory has actually picked up a lot of steam in recent years and there is a growing group of people who believe that this was in fact what Rome did, and they had no idea it would become something so powerful, even though this actually lacks any clear evidence).
It's important to note, before we get into this much further, that Massey's work has never actually been taken seriously by scholars. His book is a weird mix of historical speculation, philology, and theorizing about the precession of the zodiac, all presented as fact with minimal supporting evidence.
So let's start with the charge that Horus was from a virgin birth. The most common story from the ancient world about Horus actually was much different. The most common legend about the birth of Horus is that the god Seth dismembered the body of Osiris, his older brother and husband of Isis. Isis collected the pieces of her husband’s body and sewed them back together, then took the form of a bird and fanned Osiris with her wings, reviving him enough to have sex and get herself pregnant with Horus. Not exactly a virgin birth story, is it? So where do we get the idea that legend would have him born of a virgin? Well, the origin seems to lie with Massey himself as all other accounts found in historical writings and retellings seem to not mention this little tidbit of being born from a virgin, and since Massey gives little reference for his discovery, we are left to conclude that his conclusion was less than...well, conclusive. In fact this claim of being born of a virgin seems to be in many different legends, yet none physically predating Christ. For instance the story of Buddha being born of a virgin may take place historically several hundred years before Christ, but the written form seems to have been recorded around the same time the first missionaries would have traveled to these eastern countries in the first and second centuries. This would also explain why Hinduism seems to have many similar stories, given the fact that missionaries traveled as far as India, and well into these cultures that adopted the stories into their own canon of important figures. It would make more sense to claim that these stories were based on the story of Jesus rather than the other way around, even though the claims seem to be prescribed to deities and figures that predated Christ.
As for the crucifixion and resurrection, well this seems to be based on the story where Osiris, Horus' father, was nailed into a coffin (not crucified) by Seth and revived long enough to essentially be a sperm donor before dying again. It is important to understand how significant the story of Jesus was to the regions in which the gospel spread. Respectable Romans left their own security to join these illegal groups noting that their passion and willingness to die for their beliefs was beyond intriguing, and that in time it gained enough power and influence to literally be the religion of Rome only a few hundred years after it's inception. While the story of Jesus might still be in question, we do have many surviving texts from that era that show the fervor and dedication of it's followers, the simple and moralistic lifestyle of those who followed it's teachings, and the impact it had on Rome itself. Whether or not Jesus was as divine as the story claims, no one can dispute the impact the story of Christ has had on the ancient and modern world. Like any important figure throughout history, legend does seem to follow by those who encounter the story, and we have many writings from that era that are considered false, mystical, or just outright crazy, but one thing has remained constant, and that is the message that Jesus preached and the impact his followers had in giving of themselves to a cause even unto death, based on what they knew to be true.
Forget the western brand of Christianity for a moment, and look to movements around the world that are much more in line with the teachings of Jesus and the early Church movement. What you find is the same spirit alive today as it was two thousand years ago. Communities (often living illegally) fueled by their passion of God, and love for one another.
Next up,
Blood Shed and the God of the Old Testament
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