I decided to include a few articles that deal with evidences for the Old Testament due to the fact that I couldn't decide on just one.
They are as follows:
I hope you find these resources helpful and, as always, feel free to share any thoughts you may have.
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad A. Gross
They are as follows:
- Old Testament Reliability by Dr. Phil Fernandes
- Archaeology and the Bible by John McRay
- What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? by Josh McDowell
I hope you find these resources helpful and, as always, feel free to share any thoughts you may have.
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad A. Gross
Comments
Thank you for stopping by the blog and taking the time to comment.
Wow; that is a great question! I’ll do my best to answer it. Just for your information, the purpose of this blog is to give answers, so I may offer links that answer your question(s) better than I myself could. I hope that’s okay!
Your question appears in quotes:
“Moses wrote the Pentateuch around 1450BC. However, the event of Genesis was before Moses' supposed lifetime. How then, can Moses be a reliable writer of events that preceded his life…?”
How indeed! Dr. Fernandes offers an answer in the article you are asking about:
“Though Moses did apparently refer to written documents which predate him (especially while compiling Genesis), all the evidence favors the early traditional date for the Pentateuch”
Regarding the evidence referred to here, see the 16 points made by Dr. F. in the article we are dealing with.
Apologist and philosopher, Dr. Norman Geisler, explains further:
“Considering what we know, there is good reason to believe that Moses complied, rather than composed, the record of Genesis. There is indication that Genesis was a compilation of family documents and oral history that had been carefully passed down. Each section has attached to it a phrase “This is the history of…” (NKJV) or “account of” (NIV). These phrases occur throughout the book of Genesis (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1, 32; 11:10, 27; 25:12,19; 36:1; 37:2), tying it together as a series of family records and genealogies. Sometimes the accounts are even called a “book” (5:1 NKJV) or “written” (NIV) account. As leader of the Jewish people, Moses would have had access to these family records of past history and could have compiled them into the form we know as the book of Genesis.” [1]
Some have suggested and/or believe, that God revealed the story of beginnings to Moses via supernatural revelation. Moses was on the Mount for 40 days, and God could have revealed to him the history up to his time. However, in my view, there is no clear indication that this occurred in the narrative itself.
You may also want to check out the OT flash video, the other OT articles, and Dr. Gentry lecture, offered on the blog last week.
I hope this helps!
Take care
Reference:
1. Norman Geisler, “Pentateuch, Mosaic Authorship of,” The Baker Encyclopedia of Apologetics, p. 587.
"Dr. Gentry's lecture"
My apologies