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Archaeologists discover biblical Pool of Siloam
In a surprising discovery, Israeli archaeologists, checking a site before the Jerusalem municipality started installing a sewage pipe, stumbled upon what appears to be the remains of the biblical Pool of Siloam, connected to Jesus Christ's miraculous healing of a man blind from birth.
The incident, recorded by the apostle John, tells of Jesus anointing the eyes of the blind man with clay and then saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (John 9:7).
On Dec. 23, 2004, archaeologists Eli Shukron and Ronny Reich announced the find to be quite certain. "The moment that we revealed and discovered this four months ago, we were 100 percent sure it was the Siloam Pool," said Shukron. "We know today that the Siloam Pool is connected to the Temple Mount. There is a road that connects the two elements. The entire system is clearer today" ("Archaeologists find traces of 'Miracle' Pool," Associated Press, Dec. 23, 2004)
In fact, they found that water still flowed from a channel to this large 50-meter pool, of which 10 meters have already been excavated.
Why are the excavators so sure about the find? For one, historical records indicate the pool's approximate location, and this site fits that. They also discovered pottery pieces, a stone bottle cork and biblical-era coins cemented to the pool's structure, the earliest of which date to around 50 B.C.
Until now, another pool from the Byzantine era was thought to be the Siloam pool. The Gihon Spring was the source that filled both pools. "We have yet to discover how the water reached the [newly discovered] pool," says Shukrun. "We have the Hezekiah tunnel, we have the pool. When we have made further excavations we will have answers" (ibid.).
Although more research is needed to fully authenticate the find, it certainly appears another precise biblical location will be confirmed by archaeology.
First-century burial confirms Gospel details
For years scholars have puzzled over a curious detail mentioned in the Gospel of John concerning Jewish burial practices in the first century. In describing the entombments of Jesus Christ (John 20:7) and His friend Lazarus (John 11:44), John writes of both men having had their bodies wrapped with a linen cloth for burial, but with a separate, smaller cloth wrapped around their heads.
While archaeology has confirmed many details of the Gospels, ancient fabrics are very fragile and decay completely within a few decades unless preserved under extraordinary circumstances. However, in the spring of 2000, a set of extraordinary circumstances led to a once-in-a-lifetime discovery for several archaeologists.
That morning Israeli archaeologist Shimon Gibson and Professor James Tabor of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, with some of Dr. Tabor's archaeology students, happened on a first-century Jewish tomb in Jerusalem's Hinnom Valley that apparently had been plundered only the night before.
They immediately notified the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) of the crime and, since Gibson worked for the IAA, they received permission to enter and examine the pillaged tomb.
Most tombs in the Jerusalem area, of which more than a thousand are known, were plundered long ago. A few, however, have remained intact over the centuries. This had been one of the few. Now it had been broken into and pillaged for artifacts that could perhaps be sold on the antiquities market.
Inside the multilevel tomb the group found the remains of several ossuaries, small limestone boxes that had held the bones of Jewish men and women who had been entombed there. Regrettably, they had been shattered by the thieves, who then stole fragments that apparently bore the names of those whose bones had been contained in the ossuaries.
The most important find, however, remained undisturbed in one of the tomb's small chambers. "In the third level [of the tomb], which is the lowest level, we found . . . the skeleton of a person with a burial shroud still over his shoulders," reported Dr. Tabor. But even more remarkable, the man's body had been wrapped with two pieces of fabric—one around the body and a separate, smaller piece around the head, just as described in John's Gospel.
Small samples of the fabric were radiocarbon dated to the first century—the time during which Jesus lived. Clearly John had faithfully and accurately recorded this detail of Jewish burial practices from the first century.
Due to the find's importance, announcement of the discovery was postponed until scientific analysis could be completed and material prepared for publication.
How had the fabric been preserved all those centuries? Through a geological fluke, a crack in the limestone from which the tomb had been carved had drained ground moisture away from that one particular chamber, leaving it dry and protected—and leaving us evidence that the Gospels indeed are an accurate historical record of real first-century events. (Source: lecture by Professor James Tabor, International Symposium on Archaeology and the Bible, Jan. 14.)
DNA evidence prompts famous professor to renounce atheism
In December 2004, a famous atheist and academic startled the scholarly world when he made the announcement that he had accepted the existence of God, largely due to his study of DNA.
"What I think the DNA material has done is show that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinary diverse elements together," said Professor Antony Flew, 81, of the University of Reading, United Kingdom. "It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose" (Richard Ostling, "Leading Atheist Now Believes in God," Associated Press report, Dec. 9, 2004).
Professor Flew is arguably the best-known atheist in the academic world of the last 50 years. He helped set the agenda for atheism with his paper "Theology and Falsification," considered the most widely reprinted philosophical publication of the last half century. "Flew is one of the most renowned atheists of the 20th century . . . ," says the atheist writer Richard Carrier. "So if he has changed his mind to any degree, whatever you may think of his reasons, the event itself is certainly newsworthy" ("Antony Flew Considers God . . . Sort of," December 2004, www.infidels.org).
Professor Flew mentions that his mind began to change for the existence of God and against atheism over the last year. One line of evidence that became a clincher was the biological investigation of DNA. He says in the video "Has Science Discovered God?" that DNA evidence "has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce [life], that intelligence must have been involved."
He later wrote to Richard Carrier, "My one and only piece of relevant evidence [for belief in God] is the apparent impossibility of providing a naturalistic theory of the origin from DNA of the first reproducing species."
According to the Associated Press report, Professor Flew's "current ideas have some similarity with American 'intelligent design' theorists, who see evidence for a guiding force in the construction of the universe." In an interview in the Winter 2004 issue of Philosophia Christi, the journal of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, Professor Flew said, 'I think that the most impressive arguments for God's existence are those that are supported by recent scientific discoveries . . . I think the argument to Intelligent Design is enormously stronger than it was when I first met it."
The Sunday Times of Britain also stated: "Darwin's theory of evolution does not explain the origin and development of life to Flew's satisfaction. 'I have been persuaded that it is simply out of the question that the first living matter evolved out of dead matter and then developed into an extraordinary complicated creature,' he said. The article went on to explain that Professor Flew is, in his words, "following the argument wherever it leads. The conclusion is—there must have been some intelligence."
While Professor Flew is quick to state that he doesn't view God as a personal being who interacts with mankind, he nonetheless apologizes for the effect his atheistic views had on others. The article quotes him as saying: "As people have certainly been influenced by me, I want to try and correct the enormous damage I may have done" (Stuart Wavell and Will Iredale, "Sorry, Says Atheist-in-Chief, I Do Believe in God After All," Dec. 12, 2004).
Although late, the apology is welcomed.
Did you know that...
In 1961 an Italian expedition excavating Caesarea Maritima in Israel found this stone slab bearing the name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman administrator who condemned Jesus Christ to death. The inscription also gives his title as "prefect of Judea." Pilate governed the province of Judea from A.D. 26 to 36.
Critical thinking outlawed in schools?
On Jan. 13, a federal judge ordered the removal of disclaimer stickers placed on high school biology textbooks in Cobb County, Georgia, that encourage students to think critically in considering the theory of evolution (Associated Press, Jan. 13).
The stickers were applied in accordance with a 2002 decision by the Cobb County Board of Education after some 2,300 parents signed a petition opposing the new textbooks, complaining that they taught evolution as a fact with no mention of any alternative theories.
The disclaimer stickers read simply: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered" (quoted by Discovery Institute News, Jan. 13).
But one parent, Jeffrey Selman, along with five other parents and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), brought a suit against the school board in the case of Selman v. Cobb County School District, arguing that the stickers violate the "separation of church and state" supposedly mandated by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that Congress shall make no law establishing a religion.
U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper has decided in favor of the plaintiffs in the Selman sticker case, declaring: "By denigrating evolution, the school board appears to be endorsing the well-known prevailing alternative theory, creationism or variations thereof, even though the sticker does not specifically reference any alternative theories . . .
"While evolution is subject to criticism, particularly with respect to the mechanism by which it occurred, the sticker misleads students regarding the significance and value of evolution in the scientific community" (quoted by Creation Safaris, Jan. 13).
So while the disclaimer sticker contains no mention of God, the Bible or creation, it is considered religious for merely telling people to critically consider evolution—and because those behind the sticker believe in God.
"This is a bizarre decision from the standpoint of constitutional law," remarked Dr. John West, associate director of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, a leading think tank researching scientific challenges to Darwinian evolution.
"After ruling that the school board had a legitimate secular purpose for creating the textbook sticker [i.e., fostering critical thinking], and acknowledging the fact that there are scientists who criticize modern evolutionary theory, the court nevertheless declared that the sticker is unconstitutional because some citizens might mistakenly believe that the sticker was intended to advance religion—even though the judge admits it wasn't . . .
"It's unfortunate that the judge apparently has such a low view of the intelligence of his fellow citizens. If the judge can figure out that the school district adopted the sticker to advance the legitimate secular purpose of promoting critical discussion of evolution, why couldn't the citizens of Cobb County?" (quoted by Discovery Institute News).
On the other side, Michael Manely, the lawyer representing the parents opposed to the stickers, said, "This is a great day in history and a great day for freedom in our nation." He also said that Cobb County students will now "be permitted to learn science unadulterated by religious dogma" (quoted by Answers in Genesis, Jan. 20).
But the sad fact of the matter is that the decision really means that Cobb County students are to be ravaged by dogma—being force-fed unquestioning faith in Darwinian evolution through an environment where free inquiry and critical thinking is not allowed to even be suggested, much less practiced.
On Jan. 17, the school board decided to appeal Judge Cooper's ruling, viewing it as "unnecessary judicial intrusion into local control of schools" (Associated Press, Jan. 18). It is taking the case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
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