Information Related to "God, Science and the Bible (11/05)"
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Discovery proves existence of another biblical figure
An intriguing artifact was uncovered during the excavation of a structure that might be King David's palace in Jerusalem (see "Remains of King David's palace found in Jerusalem?," The Good News, September-October). Excavators found a bulla—a hardened clay impression bearing the imprint of a seal—bearing the inscription "Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, son of Shevi."
Who was this Jehucal, and what is the significance of this find?
This same "Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah" (also referred to as "Jucal," a shortened version of his name) is mentioned twice in the biblical book of Jeremiah. Apparently he was a senior official serving in the court of Zedekiah, king of Judah, shortly before Jerusalem's destruction by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.
Jeremiah 37:3 mentions Jehucal being sent by the king to ask Jeremiah to pray for Jerusalem's deliverance from the besieging Babylonian army. Not long after, in Jeremiah 38:1-4, Jehucal and several other officials go to the king asking that Jeremiah be put to death for undermining the morale of Jerusalem's inhabitants, after which Jeremiah is handed over to them and thrown into prison.
Many seals and seal impressions such as the one bearing Jehucal's name have been found in the Holy Land, most bearing the names of various government officials. Small pieces of soft clay were typically used to seal documents, much as wax seals were used in more modern times. Officials would press their seals into the soft clay, leaving an impressed lump, which would later harden into what is called a bulla.
Many critics of the Bible, attempting to undermine its detailed history and record of prophetic fulfillment, claim that the books of the Old Testament aren't accurate accounts of real events written at the time they happened. Instead, they argue, the books weren't written until centuries later, well after the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were defeated and forcibly exiled from the Holy Land by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires.
Yet this claim—to which many critics still hold—has been repeatedly disproved by discoveries such as this bulla. After all, how could a seal or impression bearing the name of a biblical figure—in this case a rather inconsequential government official—have been created centuries before the person was written about in a supposedly invented biblical account?
Jehucal is only the latest of literally dozens of biblical figures whose existence has been proven by archaeology. If you'd like to learn more about how the biblical record has been repeatedly verified by archaeological discoveries, download our free article series The Bible and Archaeology.
Biblical practice found to greatly reduce spread of AIDS
A study of more than 3,000 South African men found that male circumcision—a practice God commanded for the patriarch Abraham and the ancient Israelites (Genesis 17:10-12; Joshua 5:2-5)—dramatically reduces the risk of contracting AIDS.
At the International AIDS Society conference in Rio de Janeiro in July, French researcher Bertran Auvert reported that circumcised men in the study contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, at a rate less than a third that of uncircumcised men.
The study tracked 3,273 uninfected South African men ages 18 to 24 over 21/2 years. Half the men were randomly assigned to be left uncircumcised while the other half were circumcised. By the end of the study researchers found that for every 10 uncircumcised men who contracted HIV through sex with HIV-infected women, only three of the circumcised men became infected.
The results were so dramatic that the study was ended nine months early. The researchers concluded it would be unethical to continue without offering the uncircumcised group the opportunity to be circumcised and perhaps save their lives.
This was the largest study to date correlating circumcision's effect on HIV infection. Some 35 previous studies have indicated a link between circumcision and lower rates of HIV infection.
Researchers have long suspected a link because HIV rates are much lower in regions of Africa where circumcision is practiced. For example, in areas where circumcision isn't common, such as eastern South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, adult HIV infection rates are above 30 percent while the comparable rate is less than 5 percent in West Africa where males are commonly circumcised.
Researchers also believe that male circumcision reduces transmission of other sexually transmitted diseases, including herpes and syphilis.
"Male circumcision must be recognized as an important means to fight the spread of HIV infection and the international community must mobilize to promote it," concluded Dr. Auvert in the abstract of his presentation at the AIDS conference. "The first thing to do is to offer safe male circumcision to those who want to be circumcised. We must adapt the health system so that it can afford male circumcision," he urged.
Francois Venter, a South African AIDS expert, in September urged adoption of male circumcision as the most effective "vaccine" for AIDS in his country, where some 6 million are infected with the virus and more than 600 die from AIDS daily. "We dream of a vaccine which has this efficacy," he said. "The results are phenomenal."
While the Bible spells out no specific health benefits for circumcision, and tells us that physical circumcision is no longer required, modern science continues to find solid reasons for paying close attention to its benefits.
Of course, the only sure solution for AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases is spelled out in the Bible—to avoid all sexual activity outside of marriage (Exodus 20:14; 1 Corinthians 6:18). Only then can we avoid the diseases, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, emotional turmoil and other suffering brought on by ignorance of or disobedience to God's instruction in this regard.
University of California system sued for anti-Christian bias
The Association of Christian Schools International, representing more than 800 schools, filed a la wsuit in August against the University of California system, accusing UC admissions officials of discriminating against students graduating from Christian schools that teach Christian viewpoints and creationism.
The lawsuit states that UC rejected student coursework because the texts used in the courses were produced by Christian publishers and approached the subjects from a Christian perspective. The biology texts, for example, pointed out problems with Darwin's theory of evolution and presented creationist beliefs.
The suit claims that history, English and social studies coursework was rejected due to its Christian perspective. One rejected history course was titled "Christianity's Influence in American History."
In disqualifying certain textbooks and classes, UC decided to discount the affected students' grade point averages, forcing them to score in the 98th percentile on ACT tests and in the 96th percentile on SAT tests for admission into the UC system. Thus graduates of Christian schools are forced to score higher on standard college entrance exams for admission than counterparts from public schools.
"This is not in any sense [only] a creationism-versus-science suit," said an attorney representing the plaintiffs, arguing that UC policies violate the rights of students and religious schools.
A UC spokeswoman stated that the UC system has the right to set course requirements and standards. "These requirements were established after careful study by faculty and staff to ensure that students who come here are fully prepared with broad knowledge and the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed," she said.
What is truly ironic about this sad state of affairs is that students who attend private schools such as these, or who are homeschooled, consistently do better on standardized tests than public school students regardless of the subject matter. Rather than fighting private schools, it seems that institutions of higher learning should focus more on finding out what they're doing that's working and encouraging public schools to do more of it.
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Keywords: archaeology King David circumcision AIDS creationist education
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