Okay, so this is a bit old (not even a month at this, really), but I wanted to show you something. Watch…
First, this:
Sediments drilled from beneath the Dead Sea reveal that this most remarkable of water bodies all but disappeared 120,000 years ago. (here)
Okay, so Scientists have shown that at one time, the Dead Sea all but disappeared. Of course, this was 120,000 years ago. Now, Brian Thomas, a writer with ICR, writes,
The researchers found the pebbles in the drill core beneath many storm and season-deposited layers of salt and mud that may represent a time before the Salt Sea’s existence—that is, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This research demonstrating that the Dead Sea was indeed once a dry region supports the Bible as a trustworthy historical record.
So, they acknowledge the discovery, made with science, but refuse anything else that goes along with it. Further, he quotes Clifford Wilson, an archaeologist, who wrote,
The Jewish people had such respect for the written records that it would have been unusual for them to alter them. In the main, they simply added an editing note where appropriate. In this case we are told that the Vale of Siddim had become the Salt Sea.
Except….
- If the Jews had such great respect for written records, then why was this added later? Does this mean that more additions were made? Does that then mean that Moses didn’t write the Torah?
- If the Jews had such great respect for written records, then explain the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint(s), and other variations on the Hebrew Text(s).
- If additions were later added by an unknown hand (assuming all other hands were known), then how can we actually be sure that the “Bible” is a “trustworthy historical record?” Maybe the same editor added Genesis 1 when it was only supposed begin with Genesis 2?
When science reveals something that YEC’ers like but that in some way competes with their presuppositions, they strip away whatever it is which they disagree with and accept only what they want to. This is intellectually dishonest. Further, they make great mind-bending gymnastic leaps, often times, arriving at a place which they simply do not recognize, as Brian did before.
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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