Biblical records, Jesus Christ, historical facts

THE EDITOR: With reference to Kevin Baldeosingh’s “A Bible Review” published in the Newsday of December 26, 2003, I wish to make the following comments: Firstly, Mr Baldeosingh’s comments on the moral attributes of God and the right of God to do “What He wills with His own” do not warrant any response. His concerns about things like “genocide and fratricide” are unwarranted since the Bible says in Luke 20:38 “For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him.” Secondly, archaeology has in fact proven that many of the Biblical sites and people, like Jericho and Joshua, did in fact exist. However, it is the interpretation of findings which causes controversy. Archaeologists readily admit that this is more of an art than a hard science. Miss Kenyon, whom Mr Baldeosingh cites, said about radiocarbon-14 dating: “In our present state of knowledge, one must use carbon-14 dating with caution, for its reliability has still to stand up to the test of full experience.” She reported that she had found, at Jericho, the stem of a wall with a square metre of intact floor, a juglet and an oven, all belonging to the Late Bronze Age.

In commenting on these she said: “The evidence seems to us to be that the small fragment of a building which we have found is part of a kitchen of a Canaanite woman, who may have dropped the juglet beside the oven and fled at the sound of the trumpets of Joshua’s men.” Miss Kenyon’s report therefore disagrees with Mr Baldeosingh’s interpretation of her findings! In it Joshua is placed at Jericho when the city was destroyed at the time given by the Bible. One presumes that Mr Baldeosingh, good journalist that he is, read her report before writing his article! That most archaeologists conclude from the alleged lack of archaeological evidence that Jews were never slaves in Egypt and the exodus to Canaan never took place tells us something about these individuals, but nothing about the Bible or the exodus. Mr Baldeosingh sees plagiarism in the fact that the Creation story as told by the Jews is also told in Babylon.

The fact is that all ancient societies have some form of the same Creation story. I refer him to the Newsday Kids Magazine of December 28, 2003 for the Mayan “Creation Story”  adapted by Amy Friedman. Next, the Bible consists of many different records; history, poetry, prophecy, doctrine and biography. In its historical and biographical records it stands in marked contrast to all other ancient literature in that it objectively records the facts about biblical personalities, whether good or bad. It makes absolutely no attempt to cover up things like “nudity, fratricide, incest, genocide, and more incest” but report these with absolute honesty and frankness. These are modern terms and simply prove that these things existed in all ages.

Nothing more. The Bible, moreso the King James version, abounds with metaphors and similes, figures of speech which Mr Baldeosingh, a literary person, ought to be familiar with as he is with sarcasm. Expressions such as “the four corners of the earth,” “the ends of the earth” etc does not mean that the earth has ends or corners anymore than our highways have “blind corners.” Using Mr Baldeosingh’s “new grammar” the Biblical writers would be well aware of the earth’s roundness for we read in Isaiah 40:22 of the “circle of the earth.” Moreover, the Bible was written in simplicity and a style such that men in all ages could read and understand regardless of their knowledge or ignorance of “science.” To the ancient man it appeared that the sun moved while the earth was stationary and flat. Mr Baldeosingh would have us believe that it is not the same with modern men, but it is! Until they learn of “science.” Finally, Jesus Christ is an undoubted historical fact! His character and morality is beyond dispute. He believed that the Old Testament is the Word of God and quoted extensively from the Pentateuch.
Surely, that ought to settle it!

SYLVAN JAMES
Debe