Topography

Let’s consider the following quotes from Sir William Ramsay, one of the greatest archaeologists in history. In his life he did extensive archaeological work in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Entering into this work he was an unbeliever who was thoroughly convinced that the book of Acts was the product of the 2nd Century (a theory taught in the German schools of higher criticism). As a matter of fact, one of his goals was to prove that the history given by Luke was inaccurate. However, his beliefs were drastically changed as his archaeological finds proved that the book of Acts was accurate to the minutest detail. As a result Sir William Ramsay became a Christian. He writes:

I may fairly claim to have entered on this investigation without prejudice in favour of the conclusion which I shall now seek to justify to the reader. On the contrary, I began with a mind unfavorable to it…but more recently I found myself brought into contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth. In fact, beginning with a fixed idea that the work was essentially a second century composition, and never relying on its evidence as trustworthy for first century conditions, I gradually came to find it a useful ally in some obscure and difficult investigations [14]

Luke is a historian of first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy…this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians. [15]

In the 19th century, Acts 14:6 was consistently presented as an example of a historical error in the book of Acts. The reason for this is that the verse portrays Paul and Barnabas as entering the province of Lycaonia when they came to Lystra and Derbe. The problem with this was that Iconium, the city they had fled from, was also in Lycaonia. However, this is one of the passages Sir William Ramsay checked for the historical accuracy of Acts. His archaeological finds showed that Iconium was made a part of Phrygia only during A.D. 37-72, both before and after this it was part of Lycaonia. [17] Thus we find that Luke’s statement was written in the one and only period of history that it would be accurate!

At one time, Luke was thought to be totally inaccurate regarding details surrounding the birth of Christ in Luke 2:1-3. The critics once argued that there was no census, Quirinius was governor of Syria at a later date and that citizens did not have to return to their homelands. However, archaeology has shown that the Romans did hold censuses every 14 years. Furthermore, it is now known that Quirinius was likely governor of Syria twice, once around 6 A.D., but the other around 7 B.C., which would correspond to the time of the census of Luke 2. Finally, a papyrus was found in Egypt which gives directions for a Roman census and orders all people away from home to return in preparation of the coming census. [18]

In 1962, two Italian archaeologists dug up a Latin inscription in the town of Caesarea. It read Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea, has presented the Tiberium to the Caesareans. [19]

This article is archived in the University of Clemson’s online archives. It was submitted by the Spurgeon Foundation of Clemson.

http://www.clemson.edu/spurgeon/books/apology/Chapter5.html

Personally I think it is not only foolish to try to explain away such definite evidence, but it contradicts any kind of honorable approach to the method of interpretation. But I will not count my opinion as better than any others. What do you think?
http://www.mindspring.com/~mamcgee/grace_archaeology.html
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/arch-nt.html
http://www.bibleevidences.com/archeology.htm

They all tell the same story.
This fact is also very well documented in Evidence that Demands a Verdict.
Mark L, what good would it do for Luke to write fictional histories concerning a period of time in such recent past? His reading audience would not be very interested. Harry Turtledove does not right alternate histories of the last decade. Why would he? There is nothing exciting about writing a alternative history to events so close in the recent past, because readers’ knowledge of reality does not allow room for creative imagination. Luke was writing as a historian, the evidence points to the accuracy and ability he recorded history with. The burden of proof is on you sir to prove to the evidence states otherwise.

Penni

One of the most damaging claims against the archaeology of the Book of Mormon was the publication of former Brigham Young University professor Thomas Stuart Ferguson’s paper written in 1975. Ferguson founded the Department of Archaeology (later renamed Anthropology) at BYU for the sole purpose of discovering proofs of the Book of Mormon. After 25 yrs. of dedicated archaeological research, the department had nothing at all to back up the flora, fauna, topography, geography, peoples, cons, or settlements of the book, and in fact, he called the geography of the book of Mormon fictional. In Fergusons Manuscript Unveiled (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1988) the reader is treated to a wealth of insights into the sheer nonexistence of Book of Mormon Antiquities.
What about how the Smithsonian Institution in Washington has also added its voice against the archaeological claims of the Book of Mormon.

For example, iron, steel, glass and silk weren’t used in the New World before 1492 except for the occasional use of unsmelted meteoric iron)… Native copper was used in various locations in pre Columbian times, but true metallurgy was limited to southern Mexico and the Andean region, where it’s occurrence in late prehistoric times involved gold, silver, copper, and their alloys, but not iron.

Or how no reputable Egyptologist or other specialist on Old World archaeology and no expert on New World prehistory has discovered or confirmed any relationship between archaeological remains in Mexico and archaeological remains in Egypt.

But yet, archeologists often carry the KJVersion of the Bible…. What about that?

Dave

It would be extremely difficult for the honest skeptic to dispute the overwhelming archeological support for the historical accuracy of both the Old and New Testaments. Numerous items discussed in the Bible such as nations, important people, customary practices, etc. have been verified by archeological evidence. Bible critics have often been embarrassed by discoveries that collaborated Bible accounts they had previously deemed to be myth, such as the existence of the Hittites, King David, and Pontius Pilate, just to name a few. The noted Jewish archeologist Nelson Glueck summed it up very well:

It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible1.

When compared against secular accounts of history, the Bible always demonstrates amazing superiority. The noted biblical scholar R.D. Wilson, who was fluent in 45 ancient languages and dialects, meticulously analyzed 29 kings from 10 different nations, each of which had corroborating archeological artifacts. Each king was mentioned in the Bible as well as documented by secular historians, thus offering a means of comparison. Wilson showed that the names as recorded in the Bible matched the artifacts perfectly, down to the last jot and tittle! The Bible was also completely accurate in its chronological order of the kings. On the other hand, Wilson showed that the secular accounts were often inaccurate and unreliable. Famous historians such as the Librarian of Alexandria, Ptolemy, and Herodotus failed to document the names correctly, almost always misspelling their names. In many cases the names were barely recognizable when compared to its respective artifact or monument, and sometimes required other evidence to extrapolate the reference2.

I believe one of the more overwhelming testimonies regarding the depth of archeological evidence for the New Testament is in the account of the famous historian and archeologist Sir William Ramsay. Ramsay was very skeptical of the accuracy of the New Testament, and he ventured to Asia minor over a century ago to refute its historicity. He especially took interest in Luke’s accounts in the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, which contained numerous geographical and historic references. Dig after dig the evidence without fail supported Luke’s accounts. Governors mentioned by Luke that many historians never believe existed were confirmed by the evidence excavated by Ramsay’s archeological team. Without a single error, Luke was accurate in naming 32 countries, 54 cities, and 9 islands. Ramsay became so overwhelmed with the evidence he eventually converted to Christianity. Ramsay finally had this to say:

I began with a mind unfavorable to it…but more recently I found myself brought into contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth3.

Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy…this author should be placed along with the very greatest historians4.

The classical historian A.N. Sherwin-White collaborates Ramsay’s work regarding the Book of Acts:

Any attempt to reject its basic historicity even in matters of detail must now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted5.

Discoveries ranging from evidence for the Tower of Babel, to Exodus, to the Walls of Jericho, all the way to the tombs of contemporaries of St. Paul, have greatly enhanced the believability of the Bible. Though this vast archeological evidence does not prove God wrote the Bible, it surely must compel the honest skeptic to at least acknowledge its historical veracity. For the believer its yet another reassuring testimony to the reliability of the Bible. In the words of the University of Yale archeologist Millar Burrows:

…Archeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the scriptural record. More than one archeologist has found respect for the Bible increased by the experience of excavation in Palestine6.
Before the learned ancients surmised that the earth was spherical, the divinely inspired Isaiah wrote It is He who sits above the circle of the earth…(NKJ, Isaiah 40:22). In addition, from the Book of Job we have He stretches out the north over empty space; he hangs the earth on nothing (NKJ, Job 26:7). It should be noted that just last century scientists believed space consisted of a hypothetical substance called Ether (not the chemical), which was the medium between the celestial bodies. Also, the pagans of that time believed in such things as a mythical Atlas character who supported the pillars that held heaven and earth apart, and later carried the earth around on his shoulders. Another interesting tidbit that illuminates the divine nature of Job 26:7 is the recent discovery of a huge hole in space in the direction of the northern hemisphere3
The 1st Law of Thermodynamics states that matter can be neither created nor destroyed, and that the amount of matter in the universe remains constant. If the First Law is correct, which every scientific measurement ever made has confirmed, then the universe could not have created itself, it must have been created in the past, no further creating must be going on, and no loss of creation is occurring. The Bible is the only religious book that correctly portrays the First Law by 1) its description in Genesis of a Creator who is no longer creating, and 2) a Creator who is upholding all things by the word of his power (NKJ, Heb 1:3) .
The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which states that all systems degenerate from order to disorder, was regarded by Albert Einstein to be the premier Law in science. Again the Bible is the only religious book to accurately describe this Law: For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment… (NKJ, Isa 51:6), and also a New Testament rendering: You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; (NKJ, Heb 1:10-11)
In the verse of the Bible that contains a circumference and diameter (1 Kings 7:23), the Hebrew word for circumference contains an extra character at the end that can only add value to the word by applying Gematria (each Hebrew letter also represents a number). When taking the ratio of the added character to the value of the original word, the value of Pi is achieved to within 4 decimal places!
Scientists have only recently discovered springs of water in the depths of the oceans4. Perhaps this is what the Bible is referring to in the following: Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? (NKJ, Job 38:16).
God asked Job “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the belt of Orion?” (Job 38:31). In the last century astrophysicists have discovered that the stars of Pleiades move in unison with each other, and are thus gravitationally bound. They have also discovered that the stars of Orion are free agents that are not gravitationally bound! Interestingly, the three stars that comprise Orion’s belt appear to be closer together than the outer stars in the constellation, but are actually farther apart! (they appear closer together because of the 2-D plane we see them in).
God said to Abraham ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’(NKJ, Gen 15:5). And through the prophet Jeremiah, ‘As the host of heaven (stars) cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant (Jeremiah 33:22, NKJ). And finally, in the New Testament Therefore from one man, …were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude– innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. (Hebrews 11:12, NKJ)

Before the invention of the telescope in 1608, scientists throughout history, including the famous astronomer Ptolemy (150 AD), taught that the total number of stars in the heavens was under 3000. On a clear night the naked eye can only count about 1000 stars. However, because of telescopes such as the Hubble, we now know there are countless billions upon billions of stars in the universe
The dimensions of Noah’s Ark as described in the Bible are ideal for stability. In fact, South Korean architects who examined the dimensions found that the boat was virtually impossible to capsize! Their modeling and analysis found that the ark could survive waves higher than 30 meters! (note that a typical tsunami is only 10 meters high) 6. Many other cultures have flood legends similar to the account in the Bible, but their ark descriptions were never palatable. For example, the Babylonian Gilgamesh Flood legend described an ark that was shaped like a cube, which would be horrible for stability. 7.

Nakesha

Consider an additional case of scientific foreknowledge in The Bible. For many centuries, man considered the seashore as little more than a shallow, sandy extension that went from one continent to another. Then, in 1873 a group of British scientists, carrying out research in the Pacific Ocean, discovered a “recess” (trench) 35,800 feet deep. A trench is a long, narrow depression in the ocean floor that looks like an enormous gash with extremely steep sides. The topography and depth of these trenches are used to distinguish them from other valleys and depressions in the oceans. Three major oceans have trenches in them, but the Pacific is most renowned for such. Extensive studies have been done on the Marianas Trench off the coast of Guam. In fact, several years ago a research team, using the bathyscaph Trieste, traveled almost seven miles down into one trench.

The Bible, however, once again contained such knowledge long before mankind discovered it. Biblical scholars acknowledge that the use of the Hebrew word tehom (“abyssal depth”—see Genesis 7:11) may well be a reference to such trenches. Job was asked by God, “Hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?” (38:16). Psalm 145:6 speaks of God as being even in “the deep.” We now know—thanks to years of intense, successful scientific investigation—that such “recesses” actually do occur in the oceans of our planet. Admittedly, our knowledge of these matters resulted from impressive technological achievements covering many generations. But where did the writer of the book of Job obtain his information? And how did the psalmist know to use a word that depicted oceanic depths?

Can these instances of scientific foreknowledge, and the numerous others that the Bible contains, be counted as mere “lucky guesses”? Hardly! The simple fact of the matter is that the Bible’s awareness of, and accuracy in, scientific matters is indeed one of the most impressive evidences available to document the truthfulness of its claim of divine inspiration.
This one is quite interesting too.
http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2204
You say Joseph Smith came close. Well the Word of God doesn’t come close, it hits it right on the nail. Also look at this if you actually believe the book of mormon to actually be the word of God. http://www.apologeticspress.org/rr/reprints/Book-of-Mormon.pdf

Maira

The writers had no concept of North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia, India, Japan, Indonesia or even most of the land mass of the few regions they had traveled. They did not know the extent of them, their borders, their coastlines or their topography, but they supposedly could authoritatively state that the ‘Whole World’ was submerged?

Um….how is that possible without those people becoming aware of the Continents? Did they forget to write the information down? Didn’t know how to draw a map?

It’s like being in high school and reading from an ancient account of an earthquake where the author states, AND THE WHOLE WORLD SHOOK knowing that the dumb kid at the back of the class will take it literally, because he isn’t capable of doing anything else.

Charita

The Vatican will anounce a day of world prayer for peace in the Holy Land in the near future. Will you care to join?

In the mean time can I recommed a book to every Chrsitian, even Jew, the most detailed and accurate description of the Holy Land, Israel, by a poor nunn called Catherin Emerich living during the age of enlightement of the Napoleanic Wars. The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblcal Revelations

The book carries a map of Israel in the front that is extremely detailed It describes the topography and history of the smallest to the largest villages and towns visited by Jesus Christ, the people and their ocupations and their hopes and dreams. The visions are pinpoint accurate from someone who never visited the place and it lead to many conversions including Pascal, Bouset and Dante.

…. The prayer for peace in the Holy Land. Be there.

Carlos

Two land rovers named Spirit and Opportunity from NASA explored Mars during 2004. The topography shows obvious signs of past liquid rivers flowing in numerous places. The rovers have proven that water was once abundant on the surface of Mars, but they have not been able to find any signs of life or any signs of past life on the planet. Mars has a proven history of flowing water on the surface and an atmosphere suitable to support life forms. The planet has had all of the conditions necessary to provide the spark of life according to the evolutionary theory, yet there is no life on Mars. The river beds and river banks show no signs of vegetation or trees. The ground has no fossils and no organisms. The place is absolutely sterile. So why would there be life on Earth and not Mars since we have pretty much the same conditions. Comments?
According to evolution all you need for evolution is: Water, lightning, some kind of oxygen for you to adapt to and you will have a cell growing into something.

The lightning will hit the water and make molecules combine together. This process would continue until life is able to adapt to the living conditions. Which is the same as ours, yet there is no life.
You guys may want to read about Astrobiology before you answer.
Dude I think you meant Habitable zone…. It’s the distance from a star that a planet may have liquid water. If its too close it has gas, to far and it’s ice…. What’s your point?
Paul S… I take it you haven’t even been to college and knows nothing about Astrobiology, and that is in simple terms how the single cell theory happened guy.

Garnet

Long, but worth the read:

9 archeological digs attest to Bible
For This They Were Willfully Ignorant. . .
Prophecy - Signs
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor

After searching for half his lifetime, Ehud Netzer, an archeologist from Hebrew University, claims to have found, to an historical certainty, the tomb of Herod the Great, ruled Judea from 37 BC to 4 BC.

The tomb was located at the base of Herodium, a man-made mountain on which Herod had build one of his most ornate summer palaces. The tomb is located nine miles south of Jerusalem and east of Bethlehem.
Herod was the king who, according to Matthew, ordered the Massacre of the Innocents. Herod had been elected King of the Jews by the Roman Senate in 40 BC, so the Magi’s claims were news to him.

When the Babylonian astrologers (the Magi) went to Herod to enquire about the birthplace of the King of the Jews, he ordered all male children under the age of two years in Bethlehem to be slaughtered, hoping, in the process, to kill this possible challenger to his rule.

The Bible says that Mary and Joseph fled into Egypt to avoid the slaughter, taking the infant Jesus with them.

Like all New Testament accounts, the Massacre of the Innocents is hotly disputed by ’scholars’ who grow increasingly desperate in their efforts to discount the New Testament as a book of fables.

Many denied the existence of Herod the Great, despite eyewitness accounts of his life, his bloody reign and his slow, miserable and painful death.

Historical accounts by 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus indicated that Herod was buried at Herodium, and Netzer had been excavating there since 1972.

He finally found the grave midway between the upper part of Herodium and the lower palaces, an area not previously studied.

Herod was also the king credited with expanding the second Jewish Temple atop Temple Mount, which was known to history as Herod’s Temple. (The Arabs — and in particular, the Palestinians continue to deny any such Temple ever existed.)

The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism declined to comment until the site could be examined by a team of Arab archeologists.

It is almost painful to watch the skeptics’ efforts to deconstruct this latest in the long list of archeological finds confirming the accuracy and reliability of the New Testament accounts.

I read through some of the reader’s comments on the story at the website of Canada’s Globe and Mail.

Writing under such names as Just the Truth From Canada and Truth Seeker one finds comments like, Ancient Israel, as described in biblical accounts, complete with magnificent gilt palaces, and huge, conquering armies, etc., etc. . . . is not historically accurate, but is folklore, a bunch of tribal fantasies.

Note that this comment was attached to a story about the discovery of Herod’s tomb in EXACTLY such an ‘magnificent gilt palace’.

Writes another: Israeli archaeologists probably have no right to dig in the occupied Palestinian West Bank . To this writer, the discovery is irrelevant to history.

The West Bank is Palestinian, and no stupid historical facts are going to change his mind.

The facts are these, and they ARE facts, even if someone doesn’t like them. There has never been an archeological find that disputes any Bible account. Not a single one.

Pontius Pilate was once deemed by those claiming to be ’scholars’ to be a New Testament myth. Why? Because there was no archeological confirmation. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, the absence of evidence was universally accepted by liberal ’scholars’ as evidence of absence.

But in 1962, an inscription was found in the town of Caesarea that said, Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea, has presented the Tiberium to the Caesareans.

Sir William Ramsay, one of the greatest archeologists in history, was a confirmed atheist when set out on a quest to disprove the historical accuracy of Luke. What he discovered was that Luke was historically accurate to the tiniest detail. His conclusions?

I began with a mind unfavorable to it…but more recently I found myself brought into contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth.

Consequently, Ramsay wrote, Luke is a historian of first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy…this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.

Sir William Ramsay died a Christian.

Dr. William F. Albright, initially as skeptical as Dr. Ramsay, eventually came to write;

The excessive skepticism shown toward the Bible [by certain schools of thought] has been progressively discredited. Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of numerous details.

Caiaphas, the High Priest of the Sanhedrin who ordered the execution of Jesus, was another such New Testament myth until the Caiaphas family tomb was accidentally discovered by workers constructing a road in a park just south of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Other recent archeological digs have uncovered:

1) The synagogue at Capernaum where Jesus cured a man with an unclean spirit and delivered the sermon on the bread of life.

2) The house of Peter at Capernaum where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and others.

3) Jacob’s well where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman.

4) The Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, where Jesus healed a crippled man.

5) The Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem, where Jesus healed a blind man.

6) The tribunal at Corinth where Paul was tried.

7) The theater at Ephesus where the riot of silversmiths occurred.
Herod’s palace at Caesarea where Paul was kept under guard.

9) An Egyptian parchment confirming the census order that brought Mary and Joseph out of Egypt to Bethlehem to be taxed.

There are at least thirty-nine verifiable extra-Biblical accounts, (including 17 non-Christian sources, that bear witness from outside the New Testament to over 100 details about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Apart from archeology, there is the question of logic. Dr. Ramsay and Dr. Albright both confirm, using scientific, archeological and historical evidences, Luke’s accuracy as an historian.

It is not logical to assume that, although accurate in every possible confirmable aspect, Luke lied about Jesus and then permitted himself to be martyred for that lie.

Neither is it logical to assume that, since Luke confirms the rest of the Gospel writers, they also allowed themselves to be put to death to preserve a lie.

It is illogical to argue that they were sincere, but that they were deceived about Who Jesus was.

Each recorded more or less identical events, under more or less identical circumstances. If it were one witness, one might assume he was mentally unbalanced, or hallucinating.

But twelve?

(Plus the uncounted multitudes who, within living memory of Jesus, gladly embraced martyrdom at Roman hands for their witness?)

The discovery of Herod’s Tomb is just one more rock atop a mountain of overwhelming evidence confirming the reliability of the New Testament accounts. Keep in mind that in every case, (every single solitary case) where evidence DOES exist, it confirms the Bible account.

Not one shred of archeological evidence disputes a single point of the Gospel account. At worst, there remain unconfirmed details.

It is upon such thin suppositions as the absence of confirmatory evidence that Bible skeptics build their argument that the Bible is an unreliable book of myths.

As each new piece of evidence is uncovered, they scurry to seek some other unconfirmed detail to replace it as the bedrock of their argument.

Peter predicted that there shall come in the last days, scoffers, explaining the motive for their skepticism as walking after their own lusts.

Paul, in describing the ’strong delusion’ gave as the motivation for their rejection of the truth the fact that they ‘had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2nd Thessalonians 2:11)

The skeptic delights in arguing that a righteous God would never condemn someone to eternal damnation just because they were unable to believe. I agree. God doesn’t condemn unbelievers because they CAN’T believe. They condemn themselves because they WON’T believe. Peter called them willingly ignorant.

There is more historical and documentary evidence attesting to the life and times of Jesus Christ than there is of Julius Caesar. But there are no skeptics of whom I am aware that have dedicated their lives and fortunes to denying the existence of Julius Caesar.

It takes conscious, deliberate effort — and a lot of it — to convince oneself, especially in the face of such overwhelming evidence, that Jesus Christ was less an historical figure than Julius Caesar.

There is no price, real or perceived, attached to belief in Julius Ceasar.

Belief in Jesus Christ, however, demands a change in perspective. Logically, if one believes in eternal accountability before a Righteous Judge, it therefore follows that it would throw a damper on the ‘pleasure of unrighteousness’.

In the final analysis, there is but one sin for which the unbeliever will stand convicted.

Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. (Matthew 12:31)

The term ‘blasphemy’ can best be understood as ‘defiant irreverence’. It is a state of defiant unbelief, despite the evidence. Or, as Peter describes it, willful ignorance.

Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost can be understood as a continued and persistently stubborn rejection of the gospel of salvation. This would be THE unpardonable sin because as long as a person remains in unbelief, he voluntarily excludes himself from forgiveness of sin.

It isn’t God that condemns the unbeliever to eternal separation in the Lake of Fire.

The unbeliever condemns himself by his choice to believe a lie, preferring instead, as Peter noted, to walk after their own lusts, thus ignoring the evidence out of willful ignorance.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

The same choice faces us all.
bend- thank you, yes, I have the living water! Shalom
labgirl- And they never will find Jesus- because He is RISEN AMEN!
dvo- your brain is not more functional than the mind of God. 10%, remember?

Leonarda

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/Bigpappadiaz/cydred.jpg

Many, many years ago Mars had life on it just like Earth. It was a creation as well. This is the area where the face of Mars was discovered. You can see all the pyramids.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g261/mcrib_is_back/mars_topography.jpg

That right there is a picture of Mars. Tens of thousands of years ago a planet-sized comet flew by it, and really gave it the shock of its life. This comet had its poles flipped, and spun the other direction much like Venus, and we know how magnets attract.

Well imagine two planets with their poles just right to be attracted to each other, only one planet is glowing like a comet. So they connect, and you can see the south pole of Mars is where the energy was sucked in. That’s why it’s all pockmarked with lightning scars, not craters.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/Bigpappadiaz/051111lavachannels.gif

There’s some plasma scarring.
Anyways, the northern hemisphere is where the energy exited, and it sucked up all that soil. That’s why the northern hemisphere is 3000 feet below the average at the equator, and why it’s so smooth compared to the southern hemisphere.

Anyways, I’m pointing out the 4 main volcanoes of Mars, and the Valles Marineris. Notice how they form a triangle, and how perfect it looks? Is this where God started with the planet?

No doubt that when the planet was destroyed, it gave us a peek into what was going on underneath the planet’s surface. I think God had to get started somewhere. That is where he zapped it to life, and that is where he zapped it out.
To the dude saying I need to spend less time reading comic books:

This stuff is closer to the truth than any current theories about Mars that you’ll herer from NASA. They say those are all crater impacts from meteors even though many of them have little mounds in their center (and you can see the plasma scarring in that one picture anyways). The Valles Marineris is supposed to be a cooling crack? Give me a break, look at that straight line.
I can see AndyGravity doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. Comet’s are not ice and carbonaceous stuff, this is why the ancients feared them so much, even sacrificied to them. Just because we haven’t gotten hit by one like they had back in the day people go and forget. Damn, we need some Earth shattering stuff to revive the faith.

Plasma burns kid, lightning burns. And when a body the size of a planet like Venus gets all charged up, and taps poles with another planet, you’re gonna get a lot of fireworks. Take a good look at the surface of the southern hemisphere of Mars kid. I mean really look at it. Then get back to me you pizza-faced punk.

Also, this event probably sucked the life out of Mars somehow, shutting down that electric field. Maybe the currents travelled the surface of Mars? I heard it has some strong crustal magnetic fields, possibly remnants of the true magnetic field it once had.

Brenton

…When there is a canyon at least sas grand on the Nile River, Ther Yellow River, the Amazon River - in fact, every major river system in the world has age/topography appropriate canyons in it.

Deonna