The Four Horsemen of Wrong.

 Take a look at these four men . . .

So who are these guys?   Bank heist mastermindst?  Wall Street tycoons?  Environmental activists?  Four men who picked their prescriptive eyewear in the late 1980’s?  - (although that certainly is true, it is not what I am after).  

    They are in fact Bible scholars  - Niels Peter Lemche, Thomas Thompson, Philip Davies and Keith Whitelam.  They are scholars of what has become known as the 'Minimalist' school.  Basically they hold that the Old Testament stories are myths invented by Bible writers.   Since these researchers couldn't find any archeological remains that mention the names of prominent Biblical figures, the Bible must be nothing more than fanciful tales invented by priests and religious types. 

The problem is that they are  . . . sorely mistaken. 

    About 20 years ago, other researchers found inscriptions of the Bible characters like King David and other notable Old Testament personalities from the 9^th century BC.  These are just two examples here of King David mentioned outside the scriptures . . .

    Other examples of extra-Biblical support of the names and places written in the Bible began to be produced.    It has been demonstrated over and over with artifacts, timelines and history that the Old Testament is not a collection of myths, but historically accurate.  In fact this month’s copy of Biblical Archeology Review claims the Minimalist view they hold is dead.  Yes, dead.  Not many science-minded publications make those kinds of definitive claims, so when BAR did, it is worth noticing.

    Of course this didn’t convert these researchers from their beliefs.  They persist in the idea that these inscriptions are perhaps names of towns or that perhaps the dating on them is not accurate.  BAR scathingly calls this refusal to accept that they were wrong as “paradigm-collapse trauma.”  Ouch. 

    Well, just saying “way to go BAR” for continuing your work in showing us that the Bible (while not God or an idol) is a pretty amazing and historically accurate book.