No, I'm not a "Bible Thumper". I'm just curious how many people take the Bible as being 100% accurate, with no "hits", no "runs", and no "errors". In any given week, I can turn on the CB and get the sermon I missed on Sunday from someone that seems to be able to quote book and verse far better than I can.
In the past, we've had some lively discussions about it, and I don't know if those members are still active on the board or not. If they are, I would welcome them to join in here.
It was because of those past discussions that I began research into the Bible and the Archeology that supports events portrayed in the Bible. I've been finding errors. And, not just a few of them.
The flood of Noah did not happen when it is said to have happened in the Bible. In fact, it happened about 500 years earlier. And, Noah was not his name. In fact, Noah was his title. His name was Gilgamesh. There were errors in translating the text from Sumarian to Arameic. (Didn't look up the spelling, so if you have the correct spelling, by all means, correct me.) Bu t, the evidence of the flood is in the form of clay deposits near the tops of mountains that could only have been put there by flood waters that would have covered the mountains.
In Exodus, the plagues on Egypt were natural events. Locusts migrate over Egypt twice each year. But, when there is an inversion layer and the upper air is cold, they come down to earth and become a plague. It's happened many times since Moses's day, and perhaps, before as well. The waters of the river runing red came from a valcanic event. In what amounts to core samples taken from the sediment at the bottom of the river, they have found evidence of valcanic chemicals that would have turned the river red, killed every living thing in the water, and would have killed anything that drank the water. Highly toxic. It's also happened in about two other locations around the world in the last fifty years. Another completely natural event.
The death of Egypt's first-born... Another volcanic event. In the last twenty five years, there have been several volcanos that have spewed out CO2 gas in large quantities, and in at least one of these, hundreds of people and thousands of cattle were killed. Egyptian custom also lent a hand. Egypt's first-born slept in a place of honor on the ground floor while siblings slept on the roof. Anyone sleeping on the ground floor died. The Hebrews, however, put lamb's blood around the doors and windows. That acted as a caulking to keep the CO2 gas out, and they suffered no loses.
The parting of the Red Sea... Looks like the waters of the Red Sea were NEVER parted. While it is true that from the top of what we know of as Mount Sinai, you can see the Promised Land, that was not called Mount Sinai in Moses's day. Some of the requirements to be the right mountain are, a natural amphitheater that overlooks a platue capable of holding thousands of people. Mount Sinai does not have this anywhere on it. At the top, there needs to be evidence of water. Again, absent. It also has no vegetation for a burning bush.
However, in the Arameic writing, Red Sea, and "Reed Sea" are spelled exactly the same. And, about 70 miles to the north of what we know of, today, as Mount Sinai, is another mountain. From the top, you can also see the Promised Land. At the top, there is evidence of water. It has a natural amphitheater and a very large platue. It does have some vegetation, and there are a few bushes. But archeology discovered two more things about it.
Where did Moses die, and what was his final resting place?
On top of the mountain 70 miles north of Mount Sinai, there are two graves that date back to about the time of Exodus. But, it does not stop there.
In the Reed Sea, there is evidence of a geological event that would have thrust the sea floor above water level. A land-bridge for the Hebrews to cross. When the Egyptian army was persuing, another event would have put the sea floor back down near it's original level, and a tsunami would have drowned the army. Guess what. In the sediment at the bottom of the Reed Sea, there is evidence of the Egyptian Army.
All of these things were natural events. But the errors in the Bible came from translating them into other languages. And, it's safe to assume that things which were to have been said may also have been misquoted in our text.