Bible and Secular History Consistency
I am not a pastor/preacher or seminary trained person. I’m an engineer, mathematician, computer programmer, researcher and problem solver. I have a very inquisitive mind and believe God is truth and consistent. When I find something counter to this belief, I am motivated to find a solution which is both truthful and consistent. This was very difficult in my early Christian journey. I didn’t have the training, nor the tools needed to help me resolve these issues. Then, in the early 2000’s, I acquired a new friend who introduced me to a very powerful, free, computer-based, Bible study tool called e-Sword. That changed my life! By combining the capabilities of e-sword with web searches I now had the tools I needed to do very serious Bible research - both in breadth and depth. I started down this path in 2002 with the simple goal of satisfying my own curiosity and, as I shared my findings with family, friends, and my local church, I have been encouraged to share this information with others.
Background
Theology is the study of the nature of God and religious beliefs. There are about twenty different disciplines of Christian theology. One is Systematic Theology which is a form of theology in which the aim is to collect and arrange religious truths in a self-consistent whole. My focus is to arrange Christian and associated secular history in a self-consistent whole.
I believe God is truth and is consistent. On the other hand - mortal truth is not truth. It is conditional truth. It is the best information we have at any point in time. But it is subject to change and is constantly evolving when we learn more. God’s truth is infallible and will not change. But people who create Bible versions and commentaries are mortal and are constrained to use the best data at hand. I am one of these mortal people and what I’m going to share with you is conditional truth. It is the best truth I have at this time. Will it change? As long as I’m trying to get closer to the truth and God, it is subject to change. I feel if I ignore apparent inconsistencies in the Bible or between the Bible and secular facts, I’m giving militant atheists ammunition to discredit the Bible, Christianity, and Christians.
Most of what I’m going to share with you comes from the writings of giants in their respective fields. However, some writings are based on “facts” which appear to be no longer valid due to recent discoveries. I try to use facts which seem to lead to a more consistent narrative across a broad spectrum. I do this not because I think I have more education than those authors or that I’m smarter than them. It is because I have access to facts and research tools they didn’t have. One of the things that has come to the surface in my research that I want to share with you is the new discoveries that may have a significant impact on the way we read and interpret the Bible - which is why this blog is named New Ancient History.
e-Sword
Most of the Bible study I do is done with a free, computer based Bible study tool called e-Sword. From it's introduction in 2000 to February 2019, 40,000,000 copies of e-Sword have been downloaded to all over the world. For those of you who would like to find out more about e-Sword see the e-Sword section under INSTRUCTIONS.