Gen 1:3- And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Gen 1:1- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2-The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.
The Earth was ALREADY IN EXISTENCE when God's Terra-Forming began; no mention of how and in what stages it was made.
So much for the 144 hour Creation of the Universe Churchianity babbles about.
Gen 2:4- These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens
The simple account follows what Science so much later confirmed- that first there was light, then plants, then ocean creatures, then land animals- then, finally MAN! (Of course, science theory/religion conjures up man COMING from the animals....)
Here's what makes life able to thrive on our home planet:
Water
Water is an excellent solvent, capable of dissolving many substances. It also floats when it is frozen, unlike many liquids, meaning that ice can insulate the underlying fluid from freezing further. If water instead sunk when frozen, this would allow another layer of water to freeze and sink, and eventually all the water would get frozen, making the chemical reactions behind life impossible.
Energy
Second, life needs energy. Without energy, virtually nothing would happen.
The most obvious source of energy is a planet or moon's host star, as is the case on Earth, where sunlight drives photosynthesis in plants. The nutrients created by photosynthesis in turn are what the bulk of life on Earth directly or indirectly relies on for fuel.
Still, countless organisms on Earth subsist on other sources of energy as well, such as the chemicals from deep water vents. There may be no shortage of energy sources for life to live off.
Recycling
Other researchers have suggested that plate tectonics is vital for a world to host life — that is, a planet whose shell is broken up into plates that constantly move around.
For instance, carbon dioxide helps trap heat from the sun to keep Earth warm. This gas normally gets bound up in rocks over time, meaning the planet would eventually freeze. Plate tectonics helps ensure this rock gets dragged downward, where it melts, and this molten rock eventually releases this carbon dioxide gas back into the atmosphere through volcanoes.
And there is MUCH more!
Such as the size of our planet, its distance from the sun, the tilting of the axis- and even other planets- like Jupiter- which shields Earth from may meteors!
Blind Chance- or Design?
Adam, the First Man- Gen 2:7- then Jehovah God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
The legends of many cultures include stories of a first couple, a man and woman who were the parents of the entire human race. In the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious traditions, these first parents were Adam and Eve.
Almost every man alive can trace his origins to one man who lived about 135,000 years ago, new research suggests. And that ancient man likely shared the planet with the mother of all women.(When it gets to the first woman- it gets crazy!)
- https://www.livescience.com/38613-genetic-adam-and-eve-uncovered.html
The legends of many cultures include stories of a first couple, a man and woman who were the parents of the entire human race. In the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious traditions, these first parents were Adam and Eve.
Almost every man alive can trace his origins to one man who lived about 135,000 years ago, new research suggests. And that ancient man likely shared the planet with the mother of all women.(When it gets to the first woman- it gets crazy!)
- https://www.livescience.com/38613-genetic-adam-and-eve-uncovered.html
Sumerian Version~
Babylonian Version~
A battle between the Gods and a young warrior god Marduk results in Him vanquising the Gods Tiamat and Qingu, her host.
Marduk then uses Tiamat’s carcass for the purpose of creation. He splits her in half, “like a dried fish,” and places one part on high to become the heavens, the other half to be the earth. As sky is now a watery mass, Marduk stretches her skin to the heavens to prevent the waters from escaping, a motif that explains why there is so little rainfall in southern Iraq.
With the sky now in place, Marduk organizes the constellations of the stars.
He lays out the calendar by assigning three stars to each month, creates his own planet, makes the moon appear, and establishes the sun, day, and night.
From various parts of Tiamat’s body, he creates the clouds, winds, mists, mountains, and earth.The Gods swear allegiance to the mighty king and create Babylon and his temple, the Esagila, a home where the Gods can rest during their sojourn upon the earth.
The myth conveniently ignores Nippur, the holy city esteemed by both the Sumerians and the rulers of Kassite Babylonia. Babylon has replaced Nippur as the dwelling place of the Gods.
Meanwhile, Marduk fulfills an earlier promise to provide provisions for the junior Gods: He then creates humans from the blood of Qingu, the slain and rebellious consort of Tiamat.
My how these accounts go along with science! heh
Marduk then uses Tiamat’s carcass for the purpose of creation. He splits her in half, “like a dried fish,” and places one part on high to become the heavens, the other half to be the earth. As sky is now a watery mass, Marduk stretches her skin to the heavens to prevent the waters from escaping, a motif that explains why there is so little rainfall in southern Iraq.
With the sky now in place, Marduk organizes the constellations of the stars.
He lays out the calendar by assigning three stars to each month, creates his own planet, makes the moon appear, and establishes the sun, day, and night.
From various parts of Tiamat’s body, he creates the clouds, winds, mists, mountains, and earth.The Gods swear allegiance to the mighty king and create Babylon and his temple, the Esagila, a home where the Gods can rest during their sojourn upon the earth.
The myth conveniently ignores Nippur, the holy city esteemed by both the Sumerians and the rulers of Kassite Babylonia. Babylon has replaced Nippur as the dwelling place of the Gods.
Meanwhile, Marduk fulfills an earlier promise to provide provisions for the junior Gods: He then creates humans from the blood of Qingu, the slain and rebellious consort of Tiamat.
My how these accounts go along with science! heh
Ironically, however, the ancient peoples were wiser than the modern-day 'geniuses' who claim we have no Maker, and that Blind Chance ('Natural 'Selection'"- as if non-thinking elements could make all the many incredible 'choices' necessary to form our bodies and the matching ecosystems!) made us! They KNEW their was a God(s), even though they used it as a tool to control people as is done today....
Near the top of Mount Ararat (seen from Armenia in a file photo) in Turkey, explorers claim to have found Noah's ark. -
National Geographic- https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100428-noahs-ark-found-in-turkey-science-religion-culture/
The expedition team is "99.9 percent" sure. Others, well, aren't.
National Geographic- https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100428-noahs-ark-found-in-turkey-science-religion-culture/
The expedition team is "99.9 percent" sure. Others, well, aren't.
Gen 7:11- In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.
12- And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
19- And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered;
20- the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.
21- And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man;
22- everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
12- And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
19- And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered;
20- the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.
21- And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man;
22- everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
In cultures all over the world, there are ancient stories about beautiful, prosperous cities that became submerged in the ocean and were never seen again. The most famous of these is the story of Atlantis, but there are many others. So could it be possible that some of these cities actually exist? In recent years, modern technology has allowed humanity to investigate the ocean floor like never before. As we have done so, we have made some incredible discoveries.
One of the strongest evidences for the global flood which annihilated all people on Earth except for Noah and his family, has been the ubiquitous presence of flood legends in the folklore of people groups from around the world. And the stories are all so similar. Local geography and cultural aspects may be present but they all seem to be telling the same story.
https://youtu.be/zIu2rA0yd9s
The island of Yonaguni, near Okinawa, Japan has long been a favorite diving spot for swimmers try to get a glance of the numerous hammerhead sharks that swim there. However, in 1995 underwater explorer Kihachirou Aratake found a very large, strange structure under the water. Lying about 60 feet deep, the structure appeared to be man-made. Large steps could be seen, blocks of rock cut at right angles and smoothed. The discovery would send shock waves through the archaeological world.
Japan's Underwater Pyramids or Ruins as they have become to be known are a mystery. In all, around eight sites have been discovered. There are certain features that are very hard to dismiss as natural occurrences. Such as a large, semi-circular structure that almost looks like a park bench. Then there is a large head which appears to have hair and a head dress carved into it. There are also numerous round holes carved into the rock, including some that look as though they were made to support large wooden poles. Again, these are just hard to dismiss, including this head with eyes carved out of it. As stated, the structures are lying on the seabed, around 60 to 100 feet below the surface. The last time that these areas were not covered by the ocean was between approximately 8 to 12 thousand years ago, during the last ice age when much of the sea was caught up in the ice caps. At the time Yonaguni formed a landbridge with Taiwan, leading many to speculate that the area is part of the lost continent of Mu, or Lemuria.
Other interesting prehistoric underwater sites:
http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/9000-year-old-underground-megalithic-settlement-atlit-yam-001579
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1768109.stm
http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/9000-year-old-underground-megalithic-settlement-atlit-yam-001579
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1768109.stm
Sumer: A Cradle of Civilization
The Sumerians were the first known people to settle in Mesopotamia over 7,000 years ago. Located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern day Iraq), Sumer was often called the cradle of civilization. By the 4 th millennium BC, it had established an advanced system writing, spectacular arts and architecture, astronomy and mathematics. The Akkadians would follow the Sumerians, borrowing from their culture, producing a new language of their own, and creating the world’s first empire.
The Sumerians were among the first known cultures to develop many benchmarks that are used to define a "civilization”. They are credited with the establishing codes of law, the plow, the sailboat, and a lunar calendar. They also developed a numerical system, based on the number 60 that is still used to measure seconds and minutes. However, probably the most famous legacy is their writing system. The Sumerians devised one of the earliest writing system known as cuneiform or wedge-shaped symbols. The tablets were then dried in the sun to preserve the text. Hundreds of thousands of these tablets have survived, providing a window into Sumerian culture, economy, law, literature, politics, and religion.
Located in what the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia, meaning "the land between the rivers," Sumer was a collection of city-states or cites that were also independent nations, some of which endured for 3,000 years. Beginning around 3500 BC, the Sumerians began to build walled cities, including Ur, the capital of the civilization. Each of these cities contained public buildings, markets, workshops, and advanced water systems, and were surrounded by villages and land for agriculture. Political power originally belonged to the citizens, but as rivalry between the various city-states increased, each adopted the institution of kingship.
Each city-state was believed to be under the rule of a local god or goddess and their temples dominated the towns architecture. The Sumerians believed that their gods were responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders.
The Sumerians were the first known people to settle in Mesopotamia over 7,000 years ago. Located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern day Iraq), Sumer was often called the cradle of civilization. By the 4 th millennium BC, it had established an advanced system writing, spectacular arts and architecture, astronomy and mathematics. The Akkadians would follow the Sumerians, borrowing from their culture, producing a new language of their own, and creating the world’s first empire.
The Sumerians were among the first known cultures to develop many benchmarks that are used to define a "civilization”. They are credited with the establishing codes of law, the plow, the sailboat, and a lunar calendar. They also developed a numerical system, based on the number 60 that is still used to measure seconds and minutes. However, probably the most famous legacy is their writing system. The Sumerians devised one of the earliest writing system known as cuneiform or wedge-shaped symbols. The tablets were then dried in the sun to preserve the text. Hundreds of thousands of these tablets have survived, providing a window into Sumerian culture, economy, law, literature, politics, and religion.
Located in what the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia, meaning "the land between the rivers," Sumer was a collection of city-states or cites that were also independent nations, some of which endured for 3,000 years. Beginning around 3500 BC, the Sumerians began to build walled cities, including Ur, the capital of the civilization. Each of these cities contained public buildings, markets, workshops, and advanced water systems, and were surrounded by villages and land for agriculture. Political power originally belonged to the citizens, but as rivalry between the various city-states increased, each adopted the institution of kingship.
Each city-state was believed to be under the rule of a local god or goddess and their temples dominated the towns architecture. The Sumerians believed that their gods were responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders.
Sumerian worshipper, 2750-2600 BC
It appears that Jehovah has CONTINUED to destroy truly Wicked cities down thru the ages; here's ANOTHER example~
Another example: http://www.ancientpages.com/2014/04/01/lost-kingdom-cleopatra-legendary-lost-city-heracleion/
Gen 10: 8- Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.
9- He was a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.”
10- The beginning of his kingdom was Babel (pic below:#1), Erech (pic #2 below) and Accad (Pic #3), all of them in the land of Shinar.
11- From that land Nimrod** went to Assyria, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, 12- and [Nimrod built] Resen*, which is between Nineveh (Pics 4 & 5 below) and Calah; all these [combined to form] the great city [Nineveh].
13- Egypt became the father of Ludim, An′amim, Leha′bim, Naph-tu′him,
14- Pathru′sim, Caslu′him (whence came the Philistines), and Caph′torim.
* Resen is a city in Assyria built by Nimrod (Genesis 10:12). Nimrod's empire began with his building Babel in Shinar (or Sumer) and culminated in Resen, the "Great City," which was situated between Nineveh and Calah. A city named Babel (if we assume it to be the same as Bab-ilim) obviously truly existed and Nineveh as well, but Calah and Resen aren't mentioned by extra-Biblical texts.
**"Asshur"- Asshur is considered to be another name for Nimrod. Names such as Asshur were commonly duplicated in family lines. Asshur is the name given to Nimrod when he traveled to Assyria and founded cities. It is generally accepted that Nimrod founded Ninevah and Calah, which is now known as Nimrud. Archaeologists have discovered a stele of Asshur (Nimrod) holding a flail and a club in excavations around old Nimrud.
Above = Assyrian Cuiniform
Cuneiform is a system of writing that was invented by the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia. Believed to have been created sometime during the 4th millennium BC (between 3500 and 3000 BC), this script is regarded as the earliest known form of writing. Cuneiform became an unreadable script as its use came to an end. Nevertheless, this writing system has been preserved in the archaeological record, thanks mainly due to the clay tablets they were written on. It was only during the 19th century that cuneiform was finally deciphered and scholars could begin to understand the texts that were written in this ancient script.
While cuneiform was first used for the Sumerian language, it was later adapted for other languages as well, including Akkadian, Elamite, and Hittite. Furthermore, several alphabetic systems were inspired by cuneiform. It is thanks to Old Persian, a writing system inspired by cuneiform, that Europeans came to know about this ancient script. The first known European references about cuneiform were made by travelers visiting Persepolis, once the capital of the mighty Achaemenid Empire .
The Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC), or First Persian Empire, was an empire in Western and Central Asia, founded in the 6th century BC by Cyrus the Great.
The dynasty draws its name from king Achaemenes, who ruled Persis between 705 BC and 675 BC.
The empire expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world, which at around 500 BC stretched from the Indus Valley in the east to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
By the 600s BC, the Persians (Parsa) had settled in the region in the southwestern portion of the Iranian plateau, in what came to be known as Persis ("city of Persians")
bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf; this region came to be their heartland.
It was from this region that Cyrus the Great would advance to defeat the Kingdom of Media, the Kingdom of Lydia, and the Babylonian Empire, to form the Achaemenid Empire. At the height of its power after the conquest of Egypt, the empire encompassed approximately 8 million square kilometers spanning three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa. At its greatest extent, the empire included the modern territories of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, all significant population centers of ancient Egypt
as far west as Libya, Turkey, Thrace and Macedonia, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, much of Central Asia, Afghanistan, northern Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and parts of Oman and the UAE. It is noted in Western history as the antagonist foe of the Greek city states during the Greco-Persian Wars, for emancipation of slaves including the Jewish people from their Babylonian captivity, and for instituting infrastructures such as a postal system, road systems, and the usage of an official language,
Aramaic, throughout its territories. The empire had a centralised, bureaucratic administration under the King and a large professional army and civil services, inspiring similar developments in later empires.
The delegation of power to local governments eventually weakened the king's central authority, causing resources to be expended in attempts to subdue local rebellions. This accounts for the dis-unification of the region by the time Alexander the Great invaded Persia in 334 BC.This viewpoint however is challenged by some modern scholars who argue that the Achaemenid Empire was not facing any such crisis around the time of Alexander, and that only internal succession struggles within the Achaemenid family ever came close to weakening the empire.
Alexander, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, would eventually cause the collapse of the empire and its disintegration around 330 BC into what later became the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire, in addition to other minor territories which gained independence at that time. The Persian culture of the central plateau, however, continued to thrive and eventually reclaimed power by the 2nd century BC.The historical mark of the Achaemenid Empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social, technological and religious influences as well. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their daily lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange, some being employed by, or allied to the Persian kings.
The impact of Cyrus the Great's Edict of Restoration is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts and the empire was instrumental in the spread of Zoroastrianism (Zoroastrianism,or Mazdayasna, is one of the world's oldest religions that remains active. It is a monotheistic faith (i.e. a single creator God), centered in a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate destruction of evil. Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra),
it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord), as its Supreme Being. Major features of Zoroastrianism, such as messianism, judgment after death, heaven and hell, and free will may have influenced other religious systems as far east as China.
Even Alexander the Great, the man who would set out to conquer this vast empire, would respect its customs, by enforcing respect for the royal Persian kings including Cyrus the Great,
and even by appearing in proskynesis (Proskynesis or proscynesis) refers to the traditional Persian act of bowing or prostrating oneself before a person of higher social rank.),
a Persian royal custom, despite stern Macedonian disapproval.
The Persian Empire would also set the tone for the politics, heritage and history of modern Persia (now called Iran).In 480 BC, it is estimated that 50 million people lived in the Achaemenid Empire.
Pic #1
RUINS OF THE TOWER OF BABEL
A common claim about the Tower of Babel is that, "We don't know where the Tower of Babel was.
There are ruins of ziggurats all over Iraq. And there was at least one town besides Babylon named Babel."
However, authorities who actually study the whereabouts of the Tower -- as opposed to those who for philosophical reasons denounce its existence -- reach the conclusions that (1) there was such a Tower in what is modern Iraq near Baghdad, and (2) the ruins of this Tower still exist.
Did the Tower of Babel Exist? The biblical assertion that the Tower of Babel actually existed is, for the Bible-believing Christian, adequate confirmation that there was such a tower.
Ancient Babel, or Babylon, was some 65 miles south of modern Baghdad, Iraq, on the plain called Shinar (Genesis 11:2), equivalent to "Sumer."
The Bible presents Nimrod as beginning his kingdom at Babel (Genesis 10:10), which is equivalent to Babylon, the name later applied to the metropolis surrounding the Tower, and even later to the region surrounding the city.
The centerpiece of Babel was the Tower, as described in Genesis chapter 11.
If the Tower still existed, it would be located in what is now Iraq near modern Baghdad.
Thus the actual question for the Bible-believing Christian is not whether the Tower once existed, but whether its ruins exist to this day.
What Happened to the Tower of Babel? In Genesis 9:1-3, God had commanded for post-flood man to replenish the earth.
Obedience to this command required dispersion, so the fact that all mankind was at Babel in the beginning of Genesis 11 makes it clear that there was rebellion against God.
Genesis 11:4 explicitly states that the desire was not to disperse, "lest we be scattered."
Furthermore, Nimrod was leading a rebellion against God.
It is sometimes claimed that Jewish tradition is the source of the idea that there was a rebellion at Babel, but one does not need to go to Josephus or any other source of Jewish tradition to see this.
It is obvious from the Bible.
On the other hand, the Jewish tradition of rebellion at Babel is merely a reflection of what really happened.
This is the same conclusion stated by Henry Morris, who points out that "Nimrod" means "Let us rebel!"
The events which happened at Babel exercised such a strong hold on the minds of mankind that copies of the Tower of Babel were built in all the surrounding region, so that virtually every city in the area now embraced by modern Iraq and Iran had its ziggurat as a copy of the Tower of Babel which was the prototype.
With many copies of the Tower of Babel in existence, it would be expected that in later centuries some of them might be confused with the Tower of Babel itself.
In the immediate vicinity of Babylon there were at least two major towers, but only one of these was the Biblical "Tower of Babel."
It is not true to say that we don't know where the ruins of the Tower of Babel might be.
The ruins were unearthed in the 1800s.
Scientist and theologian Henry Morris alludes to the archeological recovery of the complex of Nimrodian cities surrounding the biblical Babel with the Tower as its focus.
Archeologist C.W. Ceram discusses Koldewey's excavation of the Tower in the late 1800s, along with the dimensions and the appearance of the Tower when it was in active use.
Saddam Hussein was confident enough of the location of the ruins of the biblical Babylon near Baghdad that he spent millions of dollars reconstructing it. Saddam may have had delusions of grandeur -- he reportedly had plans of restoring the Tower of Babel -- but there were no claims that he was spending his money in the wrong place. As much as Saddam was despised in the West, it is fairly certain that if he had been foolish enough to put his modern reconstruction in the wrong place, the mistake would have been publicized.
Asserting that the whereabouts of the biblical Babel are unknown more a ploy of theological liberals and evolutionists to minimize the historicity of the Genesis account of Babel than a reflection of reality.
- Edited from http://www.creationconcepts.org/resources/TOWER.pdf
There are ruins of ziggurats all over Iraq. And there was at least one town besides Babylon named Babel."
However, authorities who actually study the whereabouts of the Tower -- as opposed to those who for philosophical reasons denounce its existence -- reach the conclusions that (1) there was such a Tower in what is modern Iraq near Baghdad, and (2) the ruins of this Tower still exist.
Did the Tower of Babel Exist? The biblical assertion that the Tower of Babel actually existed is, for the Bible-believing Christian, adequate confirmation that there was such a tower.
Ancient Babel, or Babylon, was some 65 miles south of modern Baghdad, Iraq, on the plain called Shinar (Genesis 11:2), equivalent to "Sumer."
The Bible presents Nimrod as beginning his kingdom at Babel (Genesis 10:10), which is equivalent to Babylon, the name later applied to the metropolis surrounding the Tower, and even later to the region surrounding the city.
The centerpiece of Babel was the Tower, as described in Genesis chapter 11.
If the Tower still existed, it would be located in what is now Iraq near modern Baghdad.
Thus the actual question for the Bible-believing Christian is not whether the Tower once existed, but whether its ruins exist to this day.
What Happened to the Tower of Babel? In Genesis 9:1-3, God had commanded for post-flood man to replenish the earth.
Obedience to this command required dispersion, so the fact that all mankind was at Babel in the beginning of Genesis 11 makes it clear that there was rebellion against God.
Genesis 11:4 explicitly states that the desire was not to disperse, "lest we be scattered."
Furthermore, Nimrod was leading a rebellion against God.
It is sometimes claimed that Jewish tradition is the source of the idea that there was a rebellion at Babel, but one does not need to go to Josephus or any other source of Jewish tradition to see this.
It is obvious from the Bible.
On the other hand, the Jewish tradition of rebellion at Babel is merely a reflection of what really happened.
This is the same conclusion stated by Henry Morris, who points out that "Nimrod" means "Let us rebel!"
The events which happened at Babel exercised such a strong hold on the minds of mankind that copies of the Tower of Babel were built in all the surrounding region, so that virtually every city in the area now embraced by modern Iraq and Iran had its ziggurat as a copy of the Tower of Babel which was the prototype.
With many copies of the Tower of Babel in existence, it would be expected that in later centuries some of them might be confused with the Tower of Babel itself.
In the immediate vicinity of Babylon there were at least two major towers, but only one of these was the Biblical "Tower of Babel."
It is not true to say that we don't know where the ruins of the Tower of Babel might be.
The ruins were unearthed in the 1800s.
Scientist and theologian Henry Morris alludes to the archeological recovery of the complex of Nimrodian cities surrounding the biblical Babel with the Tower as its focus.
Archeologist C.W. Ceram discusses Koldewey's excavation of the Tower in the late 1800s, along with the dimensions and the appearance of the Tower when it was in active use.
Saddam Hussein was confident enough of the location of the ruins of the biblical Babylon near Baghdad that he spent millions of dollars reconstructing it. Saddam may have had delusions of grandeur -- he reportedly had plans of restoring the Tower of Babel -- but there were no claims that he was spending his money in the wrong place. As much as Saddam was despised in the West, it is fairly certain that if he had been foolish enough to put his modern reconstruction in the wrong place, the mistake would have been publicized.
Asserting that the whereabouts of the biblical Babel are unknown more a ploy of theological liberals and evolutionists to minimize the historicity of the Genesis account of Babel than a reflection of reality.
- Edited from http://www.creationconcepts.org/resources/TOWER.pdf
The Hebrew word "Babel" (Confusion), is often used for Babylon.
The biblical account contains a second geographical clue: the tower was erected on "a plain in the land of Šin'âr".
This country is known from other books of the Bible (Isaiah 11.11 and Zechariah 5.11) and is translated as "Babylonia" in the Greek Septuagint.
So the connection of the Biblical building with a monument in ancient Babylon is clear.
This must be the building known as E-temen-an-ki, the 'House of the foundation of heaven on earth', a giant mountain of bricks and tiles with, on top, a temple for the god Marduk.
He had a second temple in the neighborhood, the Esagila.
The ancient Babylonians called these brick mountains a ziqqurratu or ziggurat, which can be translated as "rising building" (Akkadian zaqâru, "to rise high"). This type of temple tower is the oriental equivalent of the Egyptian pyramid and just as old, although there are two differences: the ziggurat was not a tomb, and ziggurats were built well into 300 A.D., whereas the building of pyramids came to an end after c.1640 BCE.
Ziggurats played a role in the cults of many cities in ancient Mesopotamia.
Archaeologists have discovered nineteen of these buildings in sixteen cities; the existence of another ten is known from literary sources. - edited from- http://www.livius.org/articles/place/babylon/etemenanki/?
The biblical account contains a second geographical clue: the tower was erected on "a plain in the land of Šin'âr".
This country is known from other books of the Bible (Isaiah 11.11 and Zechariah 5.11) and is translated as "Babylonia" in the Greek Septuagint.
So the connection of the Biblical building with a monument in ancient Babylon is clear.
This must be the building known as E-temen-an-ki, the 'House of the foundation of heaven on earth', a giant mountain of bricks and tiles with, on top, a temple for the god Marduk.
He had a second temple in the neighborhood, the Esagila.
The ancient Babylonians called these brick mountains a ziqqurratu or ziggurat, which can be translated as "rising building" (Akkadian zaqâru, "to rise high"). This type of temple tower is the oriental equivalent of the Egyptian pyramid and just as old, although there are two differences: the ziggurat was not a tomb, and ziggurats were built well into 300 A.D., whereas the building of pyramids came to an end after c.1640 BCE.
Ziggurats played a role in the cults of many cities in ancient Mesopotamia.
Archaeologists have discovered nineteen of these buildings in sixteen cities; the existence of another ten is known from literary sources. - edited from- http://www.livius.org/articles/place/babylon/etemenanki/?
Archaeologists are hoping to save the ruins of the Biblical era Tower of Babel, located in Iraq, and learn how it was built before it crumbled under the weight of confusion. - www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141505
A member of Iraqi army walks at the remains of wall panels and colossal statues of winged bulls, destroyed by Islamic State militants in the Assyrian city of Nimrud eastern bank of the Tigris River, south of Mosul, Iraq, November 16, 2016. The Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, has left behind a trail of destroyed heritage sites, including a 2,900-year-old ziggurat in Nimrud in northern Iraq, the Smithsonian magazine reported. So much for the claims of 'innocent' Muslims...
The most complete information of the ziggurats is given at:
https://archaeology.news22.us/inside-etemenanki-the-real-life-tower-of-babel-2/
https://archaeology.news22.us/inside-etemenanki-the-real-life-tower-of-babel-2/
The Sacred Boundary Stones of Babylonia
A kudurru (meaning ‘boundary’ or ‘frontier’ in Akkadian) is a type of stone document used in ancient Mesopotamia.
Akkaidian: the eastern Semitic language, now extinct, of Sumer, Assyria and Babylonia, written with a cuneiform script.
While stone monuments have been used at various times in ancient Mesopotamia, it is especially associated with the Kassite period. The kudurru served as a record of gifts, especially land grants, bestowed by the king onto a person. Today, examples of these boundary stones are exhibited in museums around the world.
For modern scholars, kudurrus also provide some insight into the religious beliefs of the ancient Mesopotamians. As mentioned earlier, kudurrus were kept in temples, an indication that they had some sacred value attached to them. They were meant to be visible not only by worshippers who came to the temple, but also by the gods. The association with the divine realm is also evident in the imagery carved onto these stones. In general, all the gods responsible for the preservation of the universe are depicted on the kudurru. The gods are arranged in rows according to their position in the divine hierarchy and are represented by their symbols. The ordering of the gods on these boundary stones reveals to us the beliefs held by the ancient Mesopotamians regarding the organization of both the cosmos and the divine realm.
Akkaidian: the eastern Semitic language, now extinct, of Sumer, Assyria and Babylonia, written with a cuneiform script.
While stone monuments have been used at various times in ancient Mesopotamia, it is especially associated with the Kassite period. The kudurru served as a record of gifts, especially land grants, bestowed by the king onto a person. Today, examples of these boundary stones are exhibited in museums around the world.
For modern scholars, kudurrus also provide some insight into the religious beliefs of the ancient Mesopotamians. As mentioned earlier, kudurrus were kept in temples, an indication that they had some sacred value attached to them. They were meant to be visible not only by worshippers who came to the temple, but also by the gods. The association with the divine realm is also evident in the imagery carved onto these stones. In general, all the gods responsible for the preservation of the universe are depicted on the kudurru. The gods are arranged in rows according to their position in the divine hierarchy and are represented by their symbols. The ordering of the gods on these boundary stones reveals to us the beliefs held by the ancient Mesopotamians regarding the organization of both the cosmos and the divine realm.
The top row of the stone was reserved for the astral deities – the moon god, Sin, the sun god, Shamash, and the goddess of Venus, Ishtar. The next row was occupied by the sky god, Anu, the air god, Enlil, the god of freshwater, Ea, and the earth goddess, Ninhursag. These were important gods , as they were responsible for maintaining the equilibrium of the universe. In some instances, there is a line separating these gods from the astral deities, while in others they are placed together. The next three rows were occupied by the warrior gods, the gods in charge of the earth’s fertility, and the deities of the underworld respectively.
Although the Kassite period came to an end around the middle of the 12 th century, the popularity of the kudurru continued and is considered to be a legacy of this dynasty. This is evident, for instance, in the kudurrus dating to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I, a ruler of the Isin dynasty. This was the dynasty that succeeded the Kassites . Kudurrus have been unearthed by archaeologists and are on display in various museums around the world today including the British Museum and the Louvre Museum.
Although the Kassite period came to an end around the middle of the 12 th century, the popularity of the kudurru continued and is considered to be a legacy of this dynasty. This is evident, for instance, in the kudurrus dating to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I, a ruler of the Isin dynasty. This was the dynasty that succeeded the Kassites . Kudurrus have been unearthed by archaeologists and are on display in various museums around the world today including the British Museum and the Louvre Museum.
Pic #2
ERECH / URUK
Erech / Uruk, Possibly World’s First Metropolis, Is On View At Pergamon Museum In Berlin
Pic 3
AKKAD
Today, scholars have documented some 7,000 texts from the Akkadian period, written in both Sumerian and Akkadian. Many later texts from the successor states of Assyria and Babylonia also deal with the Akkadian Empire. Before the late 1700s, cuneiform inscriptions were often thought to be merely decorations and embellishments, often the clay they were inscripted on tossed aside and shattered! Thus no accurate decipherments or translations had been made up to that point.
Understanding of the Akkadian Empire continues to be hampered by the fact that its capital Akkad has not yet been located, despite numerous attempts.
Understanding of the Akkadian Empire continues to be hampered by the fact that its capital Akkad has not yet been located, despite numerous attempts.
Pics 4 & 5
NINEVEH- the Capital of Assyria!
Nahum 1:14- Jehovah has given a command concerning you, Nineveh: “You will have no descendants to bear your name. I will destroy the images and idols that are in the temple of your gods. I will prepare your grave, for you are vile.”
Above- an Assyrian Amuletic Bead with Name of King Shalmaneser
Gen 12:6- At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
In the early texts of the Bible they are called Canaanites, although there is a subtle difference between the two terms. Phoenicia generally refers to what is now called Lebanon. Canaan is a broader term that included present day Israel, Syria and Jordan. But they were collectively a Semitic people and it was their written language that was the basis for first the Greek and then the Roman alphabet from which the English language is derived.
Canaan, the man who is the presumed founder of the Canaanites, was reportedly the son of Ham and the grandson of the patriarch Noah . His story is told in Genesis 9:20-27.
Of all the seafaring civilizations who, to our knowledge, first explored the vast oceans, none are more mysterious than the ancient Phoenicians. How far did their voyages take them? What lands did they discover and explore? How did they navigate? What forgotten influence did they have upon the history of the world? And most importantly, where did they come from?
Canaan, the man who is the presumed founder of the Canaanites, was reportedly the son of Ham and the grandson of the patriarch Noah . His story is told in Genesis 9:20-27.
Of all the seafaring civilizations who, to our knowledge, first explored the vast oceans, none are more mysterious than the ancient Phoenicians. How far did their voyages take them? What lands did they discover and explore? How did they navigate? What forgotten influence did they have upon the history of the world? And most importantly, where did they come from?
Phoenician Temple of their Imaginary Goddess Astarte.
Ancient Israelite city of Dan discovered~ biblearchaeologyreport.com/2019/06/08/biblical-sites-three-discoveries-at-dan/
King David a historical fact~ cojs.org/tel_dan_stele-_c-_840_bce/
The earliest known extra-Biblical mention of David and the dynasty he founded: cojs.org/tel_dan_stele-_c-_840_bce/
THE ‘SIGNATURE’ OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH found: beginningandend.com/archaeologists-may-have-found-seal-of-the-prophet-isaiah/
Moabite Stone [Mesha Stele] - World History Encyclopediawww.worldhistory.org/Moabite_Stone_%5BMesha_Stele%5D/
The Moabite Stone, otherwise known as the Mesha Stele, contains an ancient inscription by Mesha, King of Moab during the late 9th century BCE, elements of which match events in the Hebrew Bible. God's Name is used.
Archaeologist Dr. Scott Stripling and a team of international scholars held a press conference on Thursday in Houston, Texas, unveiling what he claims is the earliest proto-alphabetic Hebrew text — including the name of God, “YHWH” — ever discovered in ancient Israel. It was found at Mount Ebal, known from Deuteronomy 11:29 as a place of curses. Archaeologist claims to find oldest Hebrew text in Israel, including the name of God | The Times of Israel
https://religionnews.com/2018/01/25/the-original-hebrew-name-of-god-re-discovered-in-1000-bible-manuscripts/
Vowels for the Name of God recovered!
Vowels for the Name of God recovered!