What's the situation with extra-biblical evidence for the destruction of Pharoah's army in the Red Sea? Anyone have some info?
Jack | 03.31.08 - 12:30 pm | #

Is there a link missing in the post?
John Henry | 03.31.08 - 12:34 pm | #

The odd thing, of course, is that our culture tends to not think of Scripture as "evidence" itself.

It is my understanding that we have more copies of New Testament books in whole and in fragments--in multiple languages, including Greek, Latin and Syriac--than we have any other ancient documents. These books and fragments are in agreement with each other, at worst having only the occasional slight variation due to transcription errors. The oldest of these remaining copies is closer to the time of the events it records than any other existing ancient copy of historical writing. And yet people find it less absurd to believe Herodotus than to believe St. Matthew. The world is a strange place.
brendon | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 12:48 pm | #

Sounds interesting? Do you forget a link?
iClaudius | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 1:13 pm | #

I noticed that all those years ago as an unbeliever in college. It seemed there were three options when it came to the accuracy of the biblical testimony:

1. The Bible says it, and there is no outside supporting evidence. Result: The Bible is wrong.

2. The Bible says it, and there is conflicting outside evidence. Result: The Bible is wrong.

3. The Bible says it, and there is outside supporting evidence. Result: That doesn’t prove the Bible is right.

Made me think, don’t think I didn’t.
Dave G. | 03.31.08 - 2:42 pm | #

The event does seem to be too early to account for the story of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction. Regarding Crossan's statement about the census in the link to Steve Martin's Gospel, I thought that Scott Hahn dealt with that supposed inconsistency rather well. There is a record of a census at that time, but one taken to swear loyalty to Augustine, not for tax purposes.
Michael | 03.31.08 - 4:54 pm | #

Jack,

There is evidence that Pharoah's army drowned in the Red Sea. Ron Wyatt discovered archeological finds on the Sea floor as many years ago as 1978. See the following links: http://www.arkdiscovery.com/ red_...ea_crossing.htm and also http://www.wyattarchaeology.com/...com/ red_sea.htm

These websites contain underwater photographs of chariot wheels and other fascinating details, including pictures of Solomon's memorial column to the event.

If you google "crossing of the red sea evidence" you can come up with 274,000 hits and on p. 1 at least, almost all of them look at Ron Wyatt's finds. Pretty cool!
Smiliegal | 03.31.08 - 5:00 pm | #

Ron Wyatt is not the most credible of sources, unfortunately. His tendency to exaggerate his discoveries (at best) and, frankly, to lie (at worst) made him no friend to the archaeological community, particularly given that he lacked both credentials and formal training of any kind.

As much as we might like Mr. Wyatt's findings to be accurate, or even plausible, they are, unfortunately, neither. Though archaeological discoveries are routinely "spun" to call scriptural claims into doubt, it simply defies credulity to insist that Mr. Wyatt's discoveries are all being suppressed and discredited out of some anti-religious spite (not that I'm suggesting that you, personally, are making such a claim; but it has been made, and more often than is reasonable).

I can assure you: if the Ark of the Covenant, the tablets of the Ten Commandments and the foundations of the Tower of Babel had really all been located by someone, as Wyatt claims to have done, you couldn't stop the world's archaeologists from rushing to analyze and validate 'em if you formed a riot line and fired into the crowd. This does not seem to have happened, though.
Nick Milne | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 9:17 pm | #

"scientists have pinpointed his sighting to shortly before dawn on June 29 in the year 3123BC." Today is the 25th day of Adar 5768 by the Jewish calender, which is intended to begin with Creation. Because of the discontinuity in the early calender due to exile in Babylon the numbers don't work out exactly, but the calender puts Creation at 3761 BC. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah would then be about 500 years after Adam and Eve. The timing doesn't seem so off to me, since you have to fit numerous begats, Noah etc before getting to Abraham.

Now I believe the scientific evidence is very strong for deep time and evolution and as a Catholic we recognize that reason and thus science are gifts from God. However just because natural law indicates a given timeline does not mean God is in any way restrained by natural law. For example I believe in gravity and the ascension of Christ. I think these apparent paradoxes are intended to teach us humility.
Memphis Agggie | 04.01.08 - 9:23 am | #

Thanks Mr. Milne!

I had noticed that the only people on Ron Wyatt's team were he and his sons, which I thought slightly odd, but I was unaware of his previous reputation of untruthfulness. Can you give me a source so that I can inform those who gave me the website?

And though I know that photos can be easily doctored these days, the pictures are at least some evidence for his case.

God bless!
Smiliegal | 04.01.08 - 1:38 pm | #

FWIW, I once found what might have been a spoke from a chariot wheel in the Red River.
cricket 2008 | Homepage | 04.01.08 - 2:04 pm | #

From the comments it appears to be an April Fool joke.
Ivan | 04.02.08 - 12:26 am | #