Have any man-made structures mentioned in the Bible been unearthed by archaeologists?

Yes, quite a number of Biblical structures have been excavated. Some of the most interesting are the following:

• The palace at Jericho where Eglon, king of Moab, was assassinated by Ehud (Judges 3:15-30).

• The east gate of Shechem where Gaal and Zebul watched the forces of Abimelech approach the city (Judges 9:34-38).

• The Temple of Baal/El-Berith in Shechem, where funds were obtained to finance Abimelech's kingship, and where the citizens of Shechem took refuge when Abimelech attacked the city (Judges 9:4, 46-49).

• The pool of Gibeon where the forces of David and Ishbosheth fought during the struggle for the kingship of Israel (2 Samuel 2:12-32).

• The Pool of Heshbon, likened to the eyes of the Shulammite woman (Song of Songs 7:4).

• The royal palace at Samaria where the kings of Israel lived (1 Kings 20:43; 21:1, 2; 22:39; 2 Kings 1:2; 15:25).

• The Pool of Samaria where King Ahab's chariot was washed after his death (1 Kings 22:29-38).

• The water tunnel beneath Jerusalem dug by King Hezekiah to provide water during the Assyrian siege (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:30).

• The royal palace in Babylon where King Belshazzar held the feast and Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall (Daniel 5).

• The royal palace in Susa where Esther was queen of the Persian king Xerxes (Esther 1:2; 2:3, 5, 9, 16).

• The royal gate at Susa where Mordecai, Esther's cousin, sat (Esther 2:19, 21; 3:2, 3; 4:2; 5:9, 13; 6:10, 12).

• The Square in front of the royal gate at Susa where Mordecai met with Halthach, Xerxes' eunuch (Esther 4:6).

• The foundation of the synagogue at Capernaum where Jesus cured a man with an unclean spirit (Mark 1:21-28) and delivered the sermon on the bread of life (John 6:25-59).

• The house of Peter at Capernaum where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law and others (Matthew 8:14-16).

• Jacob's well where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman (John 4).

• The Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, where Jesus healed a crippled man (John 5:1-14).

• The Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem, where Jesus healed a blind man (John 9:1-4).

• The tribunal at Corinth where Paul was tried (Acts 18:12-17).

• Herod's palace at Caesarea where Paul was kept under guard (Acts 23:33-35).

Author: Bryant Wood of Associates for Biblical Research

Einstein and Intelligent Design

In the past few years numerous scientists, scientific journals, and popular authors have published a slew of articles and books ripping the concept of Intelligent Design. While not specifically denying the theory of evolution, the theory of Intelligent Design postulates that the incomprehensible vastness and complexity of the Cosmos are the result of design on the part of an inconceivably intelligent being.

Many scientists dismiss any concept of an intelligent designer as unscientific, and claim that any recognition of or belief in such a designer does harm to the scientific method. However, the greatest scientist who ever lived, Albert Einstein, did not share this outlook. His years of studying the universe not only led him to come up with the Theory of Relativity, but also led him to believe, in his own words, in a “spirit manifest in the laws of the universe,” in a “God who reveals Himself in the harmony of all that exists” (Isaacson 2007: 44). He once wrote:

“The religious inclination lies in the dim consciousness that dwells in humans that all nature, including the humans in it, is in no way an accidental game, but a work of lawfulness that there is a fundamental cause of all existence” (Ibid. 46).

In a 1930 essay entitled “What I Believe” Einstein wrote: “To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man” (Ibid. 47).

He also made the following statement in an essay entitled “The Religiousness of Science,” which appeared in a collection of his essays published in English under the title “The World As I See It”:

“The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an INTELLIGENCE of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire” (Updike 2007: 77 [emphasis added]).

These statements are highly significant, considering that no scientist of any worth would dismiss Einstein as superstitious or unscientific. Moreover, the above quotes can’t be dismissed as the product of a religious bias on Einstein’s part, because, except for a brief period of “deep religiousness” when he was twelve, Einstein rejected organized religion (Ibid.).

According to the April 16 2007 issue of Time magazine, in his youth Einstein “rejected at first his parents’ secularism and later the concepts of religious ritual and of a personal God who intercedes in the daily workings of the world” (Isaacson 2007: 44). The magazine further reported: “Einstein’s parents…were ‘entirely irreligious.’ They did not keep kosher or attend synagogue, and his father Hermann referred to Jewish rituals as ‘ancient superstitions,’ according to a relative” (Ibid.). As mentioned, the 12-year-old Albert briefly embraced strict Judaism, but he later wrote: “Through the reading of popular scientific books, I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true” (Ibid. 46).

Einstein’s belief in an intelligent designer thus derived not from a pre-conceived religious bias, but from the phenomenal insights into the Universe that he possessed as the most brilliant scientist who ever lived. His recognition of a creator refutes the recent claims by atheists that belief in any sort of god is unscientific.

By Stephen Caesar

References:

Isaacson, W. 2007. “Einstein and Faith.” Time, 16 April.

Updike, J. 2007. “The Valiant Swabian.” The New Yorker, 2 April.

Stephen Caesar holds his master’s degree in anthropology/archaeology from Harvard.

Solar System Finite Age ?

The fact that radioactive isotopes are present in the materials from Earth, the Moon, and meteorites strongly suggests that our Solar System has a finite age. Can this age be calculated? Potential minimum and maximum ages for the formation of our Solar System may be obtained through an analysis of radioactive isotope ratios, parent:daughter ratios, and missing radioactive isotopes. For example, uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.47 billion years. Observing the limitations mentioned in the article, Radioisotope Age: Part II, which does not permit age calculations beyond 7-10 half-lives, we may conclude that the presence of uranium-238 in the Solar System implies a maximum age of about 4.5 billion years for its postulated consolidation. This figure is further refined by analyzing the uranium-235:uranium-238 ratio, which implies a maximum age of about 5 billion years.
Using the same method of analyzing parent:daughter ratios, paying attention to cases where daughter isotopes are found and parent isotopes are clearly absent, a minimum age can be obtained for the consolidation of the Solar System as proposed by the scientific community. For example, samarium-146, with a half-life of about 100 million years, is not found in naturally occurring deposits. However, its stable daughter product, neodymium-142, is found there. A 10 half-life calculation would therefore set a minimum age for consolidation of about one billion years. Thus, this process brings us to the interesting conclusion that the radiometric age of the planets, moons, and meteorites of our Solar System may range between one and five billion years.
What are the implications of such an ancient Solar System? How does this impact our view of the Creator? First, it is clear from Scripture that God is Creator of all things and, since He is God, i.e., eternal, the timing for the creation of matter does not really affect our understanding of His nature. It does have an impact on our understanding of the first two verses of Genesis which state:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (NIV).

Some people believe that "In the beginning" refers to the first day of creation week and they conclude that the entire universe was created very recently. Others believe that the first day of creation week is not actually referred to until Genesis 1, verses 3-5:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening and there was morning — the first day (NIV).

Either position can be supported from Scripture. What we know and understand at present about isotopes in our Solar System suggest that the inorganic material is old. New information and new interpretations may alter this conclusion in the future. An awareness of these options helps Christians working in the sciences to develop concepts and models about our origins.