When a theist presents ‘evidence’ to an atheist for the existence of God, the atheist will often challenge the theist with whether the supernatural is ‘falsifiable.’ In other words, is a belief in God ‘testable?’ Atheists say that ‘religious beliefs,’ beliefs in the existence of a supernatural God, are not falsifiable because they cannot be verified or denied.
That was one of my challenges to theists, and Christians in particular, when I was an atheist. How can the theory of supernaturalism be tested empirically and shown to be false based on results from the testing (falsifiable)? Christians I talked with on my daily radio show would answer with a one-word answer — ‘faith.’ My answer to them was usually a question — ‘faith in what? You can’t see God, touch God, hear God, taste God or smell God. How can you test something that is not there?’ You can imagine how popular I was with Christians in those days.
When I began my investigation into the truth claims of theism and Christianity, that issue of falsifiability was paramount in my processing the ‘supposed evidence’ of the supernatural. I kept searching for evidence that could be tested and found historical, archaeological and textual evidences testable.
Atheists now ask me why I even bothered with those evidences since none of them ‘prove’ the existence of God (the supernatural). My answer is simple: if Christianity could not stand up to an investigation of the most basic of natural information, then it certainly couldn’t support the weightier matters of supernatural investigation. If Christianity failed at the basic level, I believed my investigation would have ended there.
Testing the Prophets
The Bible claims that God ‘spoke’ to people ‘by the prophets’ (Hebrews 1:1). Human speech – that might be ‘testable,’ thus ‘falsifiable.’ I didn’t know any way to test that ‘God’ spoke to the prophets, but I could test whether what the prophets spoke could be verified or denied.
In previous articles we’ve looked at the archaeological and historical evidence about the ancient empires of Assyria and Babylon attacking Jews in the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Comparing ancient documents and inscriptions contained enough verification to continue investigating. My next step was to test the prophets.
Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel prophesied during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. What, if any, archaeological finds support these three prophets? We’ll begin with Jeremiah.
Jeremiah the Prophet
“The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.” Jeremiah 1:1-3
The first paragraph in the Book of Jeremiah reads like history rather than myth or legend and so does the rest of Jeremiah. Here are some of the personal names, locations and time periods mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah along with links to historical information. Whenever possible I will link to non-Christian historical information since that’s the only source I trusted as an atheist. Would you agree that Jeremiah reads more like history than myth?
Names — Jeremiah, Hilkiah, King Josiah, King Amon, King Jehoiakim, King Zedekiah, King Hezekiah, Shallum (Jehoahaz), Coniah, Baal, Molech (Milcom), Bel, Marduk, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, Esau, Benjaminites, queen of heaven,Ammonites, David, Cushite, Moses, Samuel, Manasseh, Hezekiah, Asherah,Pashhur, Melchiah, Zephaniah, Maaseiah, Immer, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Chaldeans, Pharaoh Hophra (Apries), Pharaoh Neco, kings of the land of Uz, kings of the land of the Philistines, kings of Tyre, kings of Sidon, kings of the coastlands across the sea, Dedan, Tema, Buz, kings of Arabia, kings of Zimri, kings of Elam, kings of Media (Medes), king of Sheshach, Micah the Moreshite, Uriah, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Achbor, Ahikam, Shaphan, Hananiah, Azzur, queen mother,Elasah, Gemariah, Ahab, Kolaiah, Nehelamite, Jehoiada, Hanamel, Baruch, Neriah,Mahseiah, Rechab, Rechabites, Jonadab, Hanan, Igdaliah, Aramean army, Micaiah,Elishama, Jehudi, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Shelemiah, Cushi, Jerahmeel, Seraiah,Azriel, Abdeel, Jehucal, Ebed-melech, Jonathan, Nergalsharezer, Samgar-nebo,Sarechim the Rab-saris, Nebuzaradan (commander of the Babylonian guards),Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Kareah, Johanan, Jaazaniah, Hoshaiah, Hoshaiah, Azariah, Ludim, Hamutal, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, Nebo, Chemosh, Dedan,Ben-hadad
Locations — Anathoth, land of Benjamin, Judah, Jerusalem, Israel, Cyprus, Kedar,Memphis, Tahpanhes, Egypt, Nile, Assyria, Euphrates, Dan, Mount Ephraim, Zion,Topheth, Valley of Hinnom, Gilead, Edom, Moab, Tekoa, Beth-haccherem, Shiloh,Tarshish, Uphaz, Jordan, Negev, Arabah, People’s Gate, Lebanon, Potsherd Gate,Upper Benjamin Gate, Babylon, Bashan, Abarim, Samaria, Sodom, Gomorrah,Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod, Moab, New Gate, Kiriath-jearim, Gibeon, Ramah,Tower of Hananel, Corner Gate, Gareb, Goah, Kidron Valley, Horse Gate, Middle Gate, Mizpah, Geruth Chimham, Bethlehem, Migdol, land of Pathros, Carchemish,Thebes, Caphtor, Kiriathaim, Heshbon, Luhith, Horonaim, Aroer, Arnon, Holon,Jahzah, Mephaath, Dibon, Neth-diblathaim, Beth-gamul, Beth-meon, Kerioth,Bozrah, Kir-heres, Sibmah, Jazer, Zoar, Eglath-shelishiyah, Nimrim, Ai, Teman, Red Sea, Damascus, Hamath, Arpad, Hazor, Elam, Carmel, Bashan, Merathaim, Pekod,Leb-qamai, Ararat, Minni, Ashkenaz, Media, Chaldea,Libnah, Jericho, Riblah, Hamath, Rabbah
Time periods — in the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, end of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem in the fifth month, fourth year of Jehoiakim, first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon until this very day–23 years–, 70 years of desolation of land of Judah while Judeans serve the king of Babylon, punish the king of Babylon when the 70 years are completed, beginning of the reign of Zedekiah in the fifth month of the fourth year, in the seventh month, tenth year of Zedekiah, eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, fourth year of Jehoiakim, fifth year of Jehoiakim in the ninth month, ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah in the tenth day of the tenth month,fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year on the ninth day of the month, Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and reigned 11 years in Jerusalem, tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, first year of King Evil-merodach’s reign
Number of people deported and year of deportation — 3,023 Jews in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan deported 745 Jews, all together 4,600 people deported
Testable Historical Data
The Book of Jeremiah was filled with historical data that I could test. So how did Jeremiah do?
Many archaeological discoveries concerning Judah and Babylon in the time of Jeremiah were available for me to research in 1971. Archaeologists William F. Albright and M.G. Kyle excavated the site of Tell Beit Mirsim in Israel (13 miles southwest of Hebron) during the early part of the 20th century. They discovered two stamped jar-handles in upper stratum (dated to early 6th century BC) that bore the seal impression – ‘Belonging to Eliakim steward of Yokin.’ Yokin is rendered Jehoiachin in the Bible. A jar handle with similar inscription was discovered in Bethshemesh in 1930 by Elihu Grant. British archaeologist J.L. Starkey excavated Tell ed-Duweir, identified as ancient Lachish, during the third decade of the 20th century. Starkey discovered potsherds with Hebrew writing from an army officer complaining about royal officials sending letters that ‘weaken the hands’ of the people. That is similar to what is written in Jeremiah 38:4 – “Therefore the princes said to the king, ‘Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm.” The ‘Lachish Letters’ also include support for the town of Azekah mentioned in Jeremiah 34. Lachish Letter 1 includes a list of several names, some of which were also listed in Jeremiah – Gemaryahu, son of Hissilyahu; Yaazanyahu, son of Tobshillem; Hageb, son of Yaazanyahu; Mibtahyahu, son of Yirmeyahu; and Mattanyahu, son of Neryahu. An archaeological dig at Tell en-Nasbeh (site of the ancient city of Mizpah) in 1932 discovered a seal listing the name of Jaazaniah as a servant of the King of Judah.
We read in Jeremiah 43 that Johanan the son of Kareah rejected the prophet Jeremiah’s advice about not taking the remaining people of Judah to Egypt. They went as far as Tahpanhes when God told Jeremiah to prophecy about what would happen to them by hiding large stones in the clay in the brick courtyard at the entrance to pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes. English Egyptologist and archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie excavated Tell Defenneh (ancient Tahpanhes) toward the end of the 19th century and discovered a large castle which may have been the pharaoh’s house. The Elephantine Papyri discovered at the end of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century showed that a Jewish community was in existence at least by the early part of the 5th century BC.
Beginning in 1969 Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad began excavations in the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. Avigad and his team unearthed the Israelite Tower with evidence of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
I had been a Christian for a few years when about 200 inscribed bullae surfaced through an antiquities dealer in East Jerusalem. Archaeologists have dated the seals to the 6th century BC. One of the seals had the name Berekhyah son of Ner-iyahu the scribe, believed to be the same Baruch who was scribe for the prophet Jeremiah.
More recently, in 2007, Austrian Assyriologist Michael Jursa was looking through undeciphered Babylonian cuneiform tablets in the British Museum when he found a notation about a temple donation made by an official named ‘Nebo-Sarsekim.’ The spelling of the name was the same as the name of a Babylonian official found in Jeremiah 39. The tablet was dated about 595 BC.
Dr. Eilat Mazar with the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem excavated the summit of the City of David between 2005 and 2008. She discovered what may be the palace of King David and inside the building found clay bulla. One of the seal impressions had Hebrew lettering with the name ‘Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, son of Shovi,’ mentioned in Jeremiah 37:3 and 38:1. Another seal impression had the name of ‘Gedaliah, son of Pashur,’ another high-ranking official mentioned in Jeremiah 38:1.
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Jeremiah Passed the Test
The Book of Jeremiah did quite well in the area of ‘falsifiability.’ I was impressed during my investigation that the ancient documents that are part of the ‘Hebrew Bible’ had so much historical and archaeological ‘evidence’ to support the claims that the Old Testament is historical rather than mythical. However, just because ancient writings can be tested and verified doesn’t mean that what they claim about the ‘supernatural’ is true. So, the investigation continues.
Next time – Daniel and Ezekiel. What does archaeology reveal?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Is it possible that you are looking at the evidence with a unintentional bias?
Imagine walking into a book store and seeing a book lying on a table open to the middle of the book. You glance at the page and see that it is discussing events in Europe during World War II. It is very detailed with precise battle descriptions, time lines, locations of cities, etc.. You read a few pages and the descriptions appear to be highly accurate based on your knowledge of history during that time period.
You then close the book and look at the cover. You are shocked. The title is: “Prophecies regarding the next War in Europe by John Doe, proclaimed to the world in 1926”!
So do you believe that John Doe accurately predicted the events of Word War II down to minute details of battle statistics and infantry losses, or do you assume that the author is a fraud, purporting to prophesy future events, but actually writing his book after the events have already happened?
What proof do you have that “Jeremiah”, “Ezekiel”, and “Daniel” didn’t do the exact same thing?
The evidence is contrary to your suggestion. The internal and external evidence demonstrates the accuracy of Scripture. Textually, the language is correct for the time period showing no corruption from later sources (which we see with many historical documents trying to be fixed). Externally, archaeology corroborates what is written. The Dead Sea Scrolls helped demonstrate the continuity of Scripture. Now I can assume that you are well aware of scholarly books that answer your question and demonstrate the historical reliability of the Bible. So my question is, what do you believe? By what standard do you say this is not possible?
We are obviously obtaining our information from two different sources, my friend.
The majority of Bible scholars now believe that the first five books of the Old Testament were NOT written by Moses. Jesus thought they were. He was mistaken.
The Book of Daniel is now considered by most scholars to be a forgery, written by someone in Jerusalem during the Greek occupation of Palestine.
In regards to archeology, the overwhelming majority of archeologists do not believe that 600,000 Hebrew warriors along with their wives, children, and elderly left ancient Egypt in a mass Exodus; wandered the Sinai for forty years; or that these Hebrews conducted a Conquest of Canaan. Neither is there evidence of the great kingdoms of the biblical David and Solomon. This isn’t just the opinion of “God-hating atheists”, it is also the opinion of the top archeologists in Israel.
I know that there are still a few fundamentalist and evangelical Christian scholars who disagree on these issues, but they are now considered the fringe minority.
I believe that we should examine the evidence and then form our conclusions/theories. Fundamentalist and conservative Christians form their conclusions first and then try to fit the evidence into those conclusions. That is the difference between you and me, Christian.
Hi, Gary. My bias 44 years ago was atheist. I did not believe in the existence of God and thought the Bible was filled with legends and fairy tales. The evidence convinced me based on placing my atheist bias aside long enough to seriously investigate the issues. It was not until I came to the end of the investigation that I realized belief in God, the Bible and Jesus Christ was reasonable and logical. As for the prophets, if they wrote ‘prior’ to historical events and those events unfolded as prophesied, it would seem that they knew details about the future before those events happened. Question then becomes how did they do it? How did prophets know future events? I wanted to know, so continued to investigate.
If you walked into a library today and picked up a book, that did not include a copyright or publication date, but which accurately detailed the Second World War down to the locations of specific battles, would you believe that it was a book of prophesy just because the author says so, or would you assume the author was a fraud and had written the “prophesies” AFTER they had already taken place?
You believe that OT books describe prophesies and not works of fraud because something inside you WANTS to believe, my friend.
If you can prove that the books of prophesy such as Ezra, Isaiah, and Daniel were written PRIOR to the events they “predict” I will be a believer, but the majority of non-fundamentalist Christian/non-orthodox Jewish scholars doubt their veracity.
Hi, Gary. You are using the same argument as before about walking into a bookstore (library), so let’s look at it in a different way.
You say that you will ‘be a believer’ if I can ‘prove’ that the books of prophesy such as Ezra, Isaiah, and Daniel were written PRIOR to the events they ‘predict.’ Why would that cause you to ‘be a believer’? While I found the evidence for the historicity of the prophets to be strong, I didn’t think it was enough to become a theist .. and certainly not enough to become a Christian. Why would prophetic proof lead you to ‘belief’?
I guess I should have said, “I would still be a believer.”
To predict with such accuracy events in the distant future would be evidence to me of the existence of incredible supernatural powers. It would give me a good excuse to ignore other apparent errors in the Bible such as the lack of archeological evidence for the Exodus and the discrepancies in the Resurrection accounts. I would simply explain away these discrepancies by appealing to the “mysterious ways” of this supernatural being.
Without the prophecies, the Bible gives zero evidence for the existence of the supernatural, and without the supernatural, the Bible is just a book full of human error, no different than any other ancient holy book.
I understand. Thanks for clarifying. I found ample evidence during my investigation in 1971 to become a theist and Christian. That’s what I’m writing about in this current series. Once this series is finished, I’ll write about what evidences have come to light since 1971. I hope that something I share will be helpful to you in your own search. Thanks!
Ok, I’ll check out more of your posts. However, would you mind giving a brief answer to the following questions. No need to be detailed in your answers if you have covered these issues elsewhere. I ask because it will give me an idea of what you consider “good evidence”. I do not state that Christians have zero evidence for their supernatural based beliefs, it is just that I think that their evidence is very, very, very weak:
1. Do you believe that there is good scientific evidence for the historicity of a world wide Great Flood and the story of Noah’s Ark as described in Genesis?
2. The majority, and I would venture to say, the overwhelming majority, of archeologists and Ancient Near East experts believe that the story of the Exodus, the Forty Years in the Sinai, the Conquest of Canaan, and the great kingdoms of the Biblical David and Solomon are fiction. A small fringe of evangelical Christians and ultra-orthodox Jews still hold to the literal Biblical account as real history. Which side do you take?
3. Do you believe that every apparent discrepancy in the six NT Resurrection accounts can be satisfactorily harmonized?
Thanks!
Excellent questions, Gary. Glad to share brief answers. I am an investigative journalist by trade, so I’m both curious and skeptical. My answers usually come out of that background.
1. I think there is evidence for the historicity of a world-wide flood and Noah’s ark. How good the evidence is something I continue to investigate. I’ve personally covered lots of local floods since the mid-60s and have seen the amazing damage flooding can do on a variety of scales. I’ve covered flooding in several states at different seasons of the year, which can have some impact on rivers, streams, lakes, and coastal locations. I’ve never lived in an area affected by a tsunami, so have had to rely on professional and amateur videos. The destructive forces are incredible, even on a mostly local basis. I’ve personally witnessed how floods can change topography permanently and how the weather systems that brought on the flooding changed quickly and strangely.
One of the challenges scientists face is to understand how a global flood would have impacted the earth. They can’t recreate it and also can’t determine what all of those forces, possibly millions of times more powerful than tsunamis, would do to the structure of the earth. The research is fascinating to read and watch.
2. The majority of anything doesn’t mean much to me after being an investigative journalist for more than 40 years. You get jaded by majority opinions after awhile because of how wrong the ‘majority’ can get things. So, I like to look at the evidence for each possibility. As I’m sharing in the Convince Me series, there is some archaeological evidence for each of the biblical areas you mentioned. Is the evidence strong enough to stand the tests? and how well does the biblical evidence stand up with archaeological evidence for other ancient civilizations? I think it does pretty well and is something I continue to watch with great interest.
3. What do the resurrection accounts tell us about Jesus? Do any of them say He didn’t rise from the grave? No, every account says He rose from the dead. I would have a big problem if some of the accounts in the New Testament said Jesus rose from the dead and some accounts said He did not rise from the dead. That would be a real discrepancy. Do some of the accounts say Jesus was buried in the woods or under a bridge while other accounts say He was buried in a tomb? That would be a real discrepancy.
Having personally covered thousands of stories as a journalist, I know what to look for in a news story. Eyewitness testimony that differs on some points is expected. In fact, I would be suspicious if all of the eyewitnesses told the story in the exact same way. Eyewitness accounts are going to differ for many reasons, but investigators want to know if they saw what actually happened. Was Jesus buried in that tomb? Was He missing days later? Has anyone seen the body? Was the body still dead? If the body was alive, did Jesus walk? talk? eat? Did He act like a living person? Did He say anything about being raised from the dead? If so, what did He say? etc. Looking for confirmation, corroboration, agreement on the primary point of a story. We can work through areas of eyewitness testimonial discrepancies ‘if’ the eyewitnesses agree on the primary point – Jesus rose from the grave.
Hope that helps!
I think we are going to have a hard time agreeing on the quality of the evidence, Mark.
As a physician, I believe that science and the scientific method are the best methods of investigating the truths of our universe. I certainly agree that the “majority” can be wrong at times, but I also believe that we should be very, very cautious to take a position on an issue that is contrary to the opinion of a significant majority of experts in that particular field.
So when the overwhelming majority of geologists say that there is no evidence of a world-wide flood, I accept their findings. When the overwhelming majority of archeologists say that the Exodus and Forty Years in the Sinai are fiction, I accept their findings.
Now if only 60% of geologists denied the historicity of a world wide flood, I would agree that holding a minority opinion would be reasonable. But if 95-99% of all geologists state emphatically that there is zero evidence for a world wide flood, I believe that it is foolish to take a contrary position.
One can always find a conspiracy theory, Mark. There are still people today who believe that the earth is flat. Could they be correct? Could the photos that we have of the earth, allegedly taken from outerspace, showing a spherical earth, be fraudulent?? Sure! But the probability of that being the case are very, very low. The overwhelming majority of scientists say that the earth is spherical. Let’s believe them. The overwhelming majority of scientists say that there was no Great Flood. Let’s believe them and not the ramblings of ancient, superstitious, Bronze Age, middle-eastern nomads.
Here is what I suggest, Mark. Look at the claims of Christianity with the same level of skepticism that you would use to investigate the supernatural claims of Hinduism, Islam, and Mormonism. If you do that, I bet that you will find that the evidence for the supernatural claims of Christianity are very, very weak.
Hi, Gary. As a physician you are in an excellent position to appreciate the complexity of the human body. I enjoy scientific discovery and what we learn about our bodies and the many different types of ‘bodies’ around us – whether animal, bird, fish or planetary. I agree with the psalmist who wrote that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’
I also appreciate the work of geologists and archaeologists and what they are discovering about the past. Archaeologists have excavated only a small percentage of the ancient lands of the Middle East, so there is much more to be found. Archaeology continues to be a great scientific frontier and I look forward to their future discoveries.
As for following the majority .. the majority of the earth’s population believes in some kind of supernaturalism. Followers of Christianity and Islam make up more than 50% of the world’s population. Hinduism and other eastern religions make up another 30% of the population. I saw a recent Gallup Poll that shows about 63% of people polled around the world were religious and 11% were convinced atheists. If you really believe there is no supernatural, then being part of a small minority shouldn’t bother you.
My belief in God has nothing to do with following a majority or minority. I’m interested in believing what’s true based on evidence. That’s why I became a theist, so I’ll keep following the evidence. Thanks!