Genesis 12: 14-20

In Genesis 12: 14-20  we see some of the affects of Abraham’s disobedience to God and his deception on the part of his wife. One of the things that supports the historical nature of the Biblical account is the fact the Bible show the flaws of its greatest heroes.

At first things because of his Deception Abraham acquires many possessions including maidservants one of which was probably Hagar who late becomes the mother of Ishmael. However God sends plagues on Pharaoh’s house. This Pharaoh was quite possibly Khufu the builder of the great pyramid of giza or his son. In any event this causes Pharaoh to realize that Sarah was Abraham wife and sends them away.

God actually used this to get Abraham back on track and back to the land of Canaan where God wanted him.

These event would have taken place in the 19th century BC. Now it is true that conventional dating of Egyptian History places Khufu in the 26th century BC but there exists an improved chronology that corrects the problems of the conventional chronology. This correction moves Khufu to the 19th century BC.

Genesis 12: 11-13

In Genesis 12: 11-13 Abraham shows a failure to trust God for his protection, by engaging in this deception was also disrespecting his wife and putting her at risk. However it needs to be noted that this was not a technically a lie in that as we will later find out Sarah was his half sister being the daughter of his father but not his mother. This would not have caused an inbreeding problem as it does today since there would have been fewer mutations back at this time than even a few hundred years later. That said Abraham was still wrong to engage in such a deception even if was partly true.

Analytical Thought Claimed to Reduce Religious Beliefs

Analytical Thought Claimed to Reduce Religious Beliefs

A new study published in Science Magazine concludes analytical thought reduces religious beliefs. The study showed participants intuitively attractive questions for which the intuitive answer is wrong. The participants were then asked about their religious beliefs. The result showed that those that indicated stronger religious beliefs were more likely to give the more intuitive answers. They were then given stimuli that encouraged either analytical or intuitive thought. They were then retested on religious beliefs and those encouraged intuitive thought expressed increased strength in religious beliefs while those encouraged either analytical thought expressed less. The conclusion was that concludes analytical thought reduces religious beliefs. However there are a number of problems with these studies.

The first problem is that the questions on religious beliefs were vague general questions. Some religious beliefs are more intuitive while others are more analytical. For example new age is almost entirely intuitive being based largely on practices like meditation. On the other hand Christianity is more analytical in that it is based on historical events such as the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. There is no consideration in these studies of such differences and the specifics of what participants believed and why.

The second problem is that there is no correlation of individuals given between the different methods. This is important because such a correlation should show who is more likely to be affected. For example it could show that more analytical people are less affected by the stimuli than more intuitive people or the exact opposite. The point is that no such correlation is given so there is no way to know how individual responses correlate across each method.

While these studies are interesting they are way too broad and lack consideration of factors that could have affected the results.

Genesis 12: 7-10

Genesis 12: 7-10 shows that when he first came to the land of Canaan that God told Abraham that this was the land that he was to go to. God further promised it to Abraham’s descendents.

It seems that at first Abraham mad steps to settle down but then kept going south because of a famine. He eventually went to Egypt not yet fully trusting God to fulfill his needs. This famine fits well with the theory of the ice age being caused by Genesis Flood since these events would have occurred near the end of this ice age with the accompanying shifts in climate.

Genesis 12: 4-6

Genesis 12: 4-6

These verses show that Abraham left the town of Haran with his wife and his entire house hold and his possessions. His nephew Lot went wit him. Abraham was 75 years old at the time.

They arrive in the land of Canaan arriving at Sichem. The in habitants of the land at the time were the Canaanites. They were the decedents of Canaan. the son of Ham and grand son of Noah.

Genesis 12:1-3

Genesis 12:1-3
Here is where God called Abraham to leave his father’s house to got to the land of Canaan at this point God does not tell Abraham exactly where he is going wanting him to take a step of pure faith God also promises to make from him (no children yet) an entire nation and to bless him. Abraham is called Abram here because God later changes his name to Abraham.

There is nothing that scientifically useful here but it is background to what follows.

The Tomb of Jesus

The Tomb of Jesus

The following is a four part video on the tomb of Jesus. It make the case for the Garden tomb being Jesus's tomb from where he rose from the dead. This video is in essence an archeological study into which of the two sites claimed as the tomb of Jesus is the correct one.

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Genesis 11:27-32

Genesis 11:27-32 shows Terah’s family including Abraham and Sarah his wife. This indicates that entire family started to go to Canaan but stopped at Haran from where after Terah’s death Abraham, Sarah and Lot continued on to Canaan.

Genesis 11:10-26

Genesis 11:10-26 shows an immediate drop in life span following the flood, Shem who was born 98 years before the flood lived just 600 years as opposed to 800+ years for his ancestors. Also for those born after the Flood there was a further drop to less than 500 years. And following Babel; as indicated by Peleg; there was a sudden drop of 200 years.

Genesis 11:10-26

Genesis 11:10-26 starts of a new tablet listing direct ancestry line from Shem to Abraham. The Genealogy shows an immediate drop in life span following the flood, Shem who was born 98 years before the flood lived just 600 years as opposed to 800+ years for his ancestors. Also for those born after the Flood there was a further drop to less than 500 years. And following Babel; as indicated by Peleg; there was a sudden drop of 200 years.

Genesis 11:5-9

Genesis 11:5-9 shows an act of judgment to get man to finally spread out over the Earth God changed their language so that they suddenly spoke different languages. This is the only recorded time that God interferers directly with the Human mind and even in this he did not interfere with their free will. This dispersion is actually supported by DNA Evidence. (see reference below)

DNA and Babel and human migration

Genesis 11:4

Genesis 11:4 shows that under Nimrod's leadership the people of that day started building a city so as to stay together rather than spread over the Earth as God had commanded. They also started to build a tower that as to be a center of worship. The reference to the reaching unto heaven may have just have been a reference to it being so high that it towered over the rest of the city, it may have been a purely figurative reference to worship, it may have severed to an observatory of the star.

It is however quite possible that they trying to actually get up to God by their own action. If so it's an excellent example of foolishness in action. Not only is the maximum height of a fire burned brick tower quite limited, but God does not live up the sky but rather he is from out side our universe.