butswana

Ha Ha! If you follow the link to the History Channel website above, the other show on the page is 'UFO Files:UFOs in the Bible'. That's rich!

EarlOfLade

Just added the show to my DVR list of programs to record. can't miss this one

And what's up with this Ron Wyatt figure? I looked at his site and all the hillarious claims he makes. Does anyone believe in this character?

Sven

Oh, we had several zealous defenders of Wyatt here - it's nearly unbelievable, but here's a nice example:

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=117430

As if this wasn't silly enough, he went on to defend Hovind:

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=119000

Some people are simply far beyond my comprehension. :huh:

k_smith123

If we do not accept the idea that Hyksos and the Hebrews were one in the same, then what reasonable alternative explanation is available? Do we prefer to believe the literal story provided in the Old Testament despite the lack of supporting evidence, or do we simply dismiss the whole Old Testament as a complete fabrication?

I think that when any believer is willing to confess that parts of the Bible are not literal, he leaves skeptics an opening for attack. In this case we can argue that the Hyksos wanted to use their god for a psychological weapon to aid them in their conquest of Canaan, but since a defeated god would not be of much help, the Hyksos changed their history to make it appear that their god had defeated the Egyptians. And naturally they had to place their account at a different time period in order to avoid someone making an obvious connection.

Since the Old Testament account somewhat mirrors events related to the Hyksos, we might also argue that the Old Testament version of events is allegorical. Could it be that Moses really represented the Egyptian king Ah-mose and this is why he needed Aaron to speek for him and also why he was prevented from entering the Promised Land? If we are dealing with allegory, then we should view literal time, numbers, characters, events, and places as simply metaphors which then explains why the literal story of the Exodus seems so incredible. (This may seem like I'm stretching things, but we should remember that Joseph gained his power as an interpreter of "dreams" and those dreams could be classified as allegory.)

premjan

I don't think you will be able to locate Exodus through study of history - it is a mythologized tale used for nation-building some time after the historical facts (whose precise shape is probably uncertain). It is a bit like Iliad or Mahabharata in that sense. Possibly the Hyksos ruled Israel as well as Egypt and thereby the tale with appropriate inversions became part of the Jewish collective myth.

OripahsTrebor

That's exactly what I thought when I first say this thread :devil1:

Sven

Hey, you asked - you can as well meet one of the believers just now!
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.p...09#post3685409

FatherMithras

Praxeus does. It's kind of funny. on another thread like this he ignores all the rebuttalks of the video and simply says it's excellent and to read some Ron wyatt supported book.

Nuwanda

July/August edition of Biblical Archaeology Review did a follow up article on this debate:

"No evidence of forgery, says leading German scientist Wolfgang E. Krumbein, who has studied the ossuray inscription that reads 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."... Dr. Krumbein, a professor of geomicrobiology at Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Germany, accuses the Israel Antiquities Authority (or the police) of 'deliberately manipulation' the evidence. He claims that the Israel Antiquities Authority has also 'contaminated' the inscription by applying a red, silicon-like material to it, preventing scientists from reviewing earlier test results."

See it under "Finds or Fakes" at www.biblicalarchaeology.org

Harumi

Umm...I watched it on Sunday. What's this about the Reed Sea as opposed to the Red Sea?

That, and apparently everything that is the plague is caused by one volcano. It's all the volcanoes fault! Not God, but the volcano.

Forgive me but my brother and I had a rather big laugh over it.