BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY- Introduction
Non-Christians sometimes claim that archaeology disproves the Bible. Christians on the contrary claim that archaeology has proven the bible to be the World of God.  Who’s right?

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY- Reliable
The historical reliability of the bible has been dramatically confirmed particularly in this century through archaeological discoveries.  All sorts of details have been confirmed through the discovery of ancient documents, through the examination of artifacts, and in some cases through excavations of entire ancient cities.  These finding have consistently supported the historicity of the Bible.  In fact it’s safe to say that with every turn of the archaeologist’s spade, the historicity and accuracy of the Bible is further confirmed.

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY- Some Open Spaces
However, it would be somewhat of an overstatement to claim that archaeology has proven that everything the Bible says is true.  For one thing, there are some historical matters which are discussed in the bible that archaeologists still don’t quite know how to correlate with Scripture.  You see while archaeology has not produced any certain examples of error in the Bible, it has produced questions which are still debated by scholars.

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY- Some Things Can’t Be Proved
To be sure, there are some things in the Bible which will never be confirmed through archaeology.  For example, archaeology has not found any evidence that Abraham lived — but, of course, that’s exactly what you would expect, since in terms of the politics of his day, Abraham was not exactly the most important historical figure.  And because they don’t exist, archaeologists are obviously not going to dig up tapes and transcripts of Abraham having a conversation with Sarah, or for that matter with anyone else.  All we can legitimately expect form archaeology in matters like this is to show that the events described in the Bible make sense in context.  And that, of course, has been done in a very spectacular manner.

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY- An Example of Skepticism
In fact, the skeptics laughed at the bible for asserting that Ninevah was a real city that the Assyrians were, in fact, a real people.  Perhaps you know the story — someone discovered a brick on the Tigris River.  The brick had the name of “Sargon” on it which, of course, was one of Assyria’s great kings.  It was sent to a Paris museum and was forthwith declared a fraud.  Not long afterward, Laird, the great Assyriologist, had the temerity to dig up the entire city with its temples and palaces.  And once again, the critics were proved wrong and the Bible reliable. On archaeology and the Bible, that’s the CRI Perspective.  I’m Hank Hanegraaff.