Lost Biblical Cities: Which Ones Might We Find?

[@TimFromWinfield]

"2000 degrees Celsius, which is a lot of Fahrenheit" is just too perfect.

[@IAmAlgolei]

I double checked, and yeah, he's right. It is.

[@Zenas521]

True statement.

[@wstavis3135]

My favorite factoid of the episode!

[@Blafaselblubb]

Best way to convert to imperial

[@ruckussful]

"i'm not googling it again..."

[@StrongDreamsWaitHere]

If I’m wandering around the Middle East in 1000 BC, and I see the city of Sodom getting destroyed by fire from the sky, and then I meet a dude who says “I used to live there, but my uncle‘s God spoke to him and warned me to leave,“ I’m followingthat dude’s religion.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

That's how you end up following an evil volcano god

[@kiriuxeosa8716]

Butt stuff?

[@BaronVonQuiply]

@@kiriuxeosa8716 No, that city's "sin" was an allegory for being hostile to foreigners

[@huntergann938]

@@BaronVonQuiplyno.. it was about sexual immorality.. are you serious rn?

[@BaronVonQuiply]

@@huntergann938 Yes, of course. The "hero" of the story tries to assist the R*** of his daughers and then pretends to be so drunk that he didn't know who he was impregnating but still able to do so, it is clearly not about condemning immorality.

[@TheKalaxis]

Bethesaida glitching out of the map would be very in keeping with Bethesda games tradition 😂

[@toytacambery9427]

I also have have a vocabulary of less than 200 words and get triggered by any word that resembles the name of the company that I talk about like a dad who left and never came back 😂

[@MaxieTheMax]

@@toytacambery9427 You must be fun at parties. Everything good in your life?

[@emeraldfinder5]

⁠@@toytacambery9427 good for you

[@AdrianDowthwaite]

@TheKalaxis, thank you for the laugh, the cross-over comment of gaming, relgion and the Whister empire I needed right now to make me laugh.

[@Seer_Of_The_Woodlands]

ahh yes, the ancient city-state of Bethesda and its god king Todd Howard.

[@bmyers7078]

A professor I had in Uni said that “City” was an Old Testament term for a settlement that had a wall, or otherwise protected. It didn’t have a minimum population. Any of these “Cities” could have been a few dozen families, in 4-room homes, surrounded by an earthen burm. Anything like that could also have been weathered away over the centuries. Then again, he was speculating.

[@StoccTube]

In the UK a city is granted that status by the monarch and usually has a cathedral, university or both, and usually a large population. I imagine what each culture terms a “city” will be different.

[@joeyhoubiers9514]

In the Netherlands too, a ruler could grant a settlement city rights and this is the only qualification needed to become a city. No minimum population number, nothing.

[@ChrisVillagomez]

Jericho is called a city in the Bible when the Israelites use the Ark of the Covenant to destroy it for example, despite it being essentially just a town/village with a wall and a tower. Also, slightly off topic, but the Israelite Kingdom needing to use a literal Biblical superweapon to bring down the walls of Jericho is incredibly funny. We've excavated Jericho, it's walls weren't very strong, thick, or tall by any stretch of the imagination. It's like the Romans claiming there were multiple kings of Rome prior to the Republic forming, when in reality, they were chieftains at most who gradually annexed and conquered each other

[@paulbarnett227]

@@ChrisVillagomez But that actual wall was indeed located.

[@ChrisVillagomez]

@@paulbarnett227 And we discovered that it wouldn't have even been 20 feet tall. Like I said, anyone needing to use a Biblical superweapon to get past a single wall around a town is incredibly funny. What most likely happened is that the Israelites conquered the town but did it so long before the Babylonian Exile that they mythologized it to the extreme, claiming the Ark destroyed the wall when they realistically just climbed over it with ladders or busted the gate open

[@Livlifetaistdeth]

Lidar is rewriting history on the daily. It's a fantastic time to be an archeologist.

[@SaraNeal-k9z]

This can’t be emphasized enough! Enormous amounts of information are obtained at a relatively low cost and allowing for targeted excavations to answer specific questions while leaving other places intact for future archeologists with better technology.

[@pkt1213]

I regret daily the decision not to go to graduate school and enter the workforce instead. I love remote sensing and all the courses I had, had just come back from Guatemala, and was thinking about collecting and processing LiDAR through jungle canopy. How to look for cities and ruins. Now I watch shows about it with my kids on TV.

[@Yakomoe]

​@pkt1213 don't regret. Go do it. It's never too late to start something you are passionate about. 😊

[@michaelross6792]

​@@Yakomoe100% i got my degree at 40.

[@xtr1092]

only for some the rest are afraid of being wrong their whole lives

[@theawesomeman9821]

My grandfather was a devout Christian who dreamed of visiting Biblical sites in the Middle East. Before he died, one of his daughters (my aunt) made his dream a reality when the Christian college she was attending offered students and their families tours to Israel. He got to see the wailing wall, the Jordan river, Nazareth, and Bethleham. According to my aunt, he geeked out the entire time.

[@Ummmmple]

Awwww I love that ❤😊 That's amazing!

[@MeanBeanComedy]

That's amazing!! I'm so happy for him! 😁👍🏻 I hope to go someday soon. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻✝️☦️✝️

[@benjamindouglas862]

Paid for by Zionist? If so, it wasn't free, the price is Arab baby blood

[@toodlepop]

i spent a few years in the middle east and i was always a little interested to know about what had happened in the places that i was walking.

[@dianaafxo]

*Palestine

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

The site of Tel Hammam on the Dead Sea has a strong case as the city of Sodom. The other primary site for consideration is on the south end of the Dead Sea, where there are chunks of sulfur in the area. I don’t know who did the research on this, but no one is seriously considering sites in Syria. The biblical description of the location makes it easy to find the general area and the tels in the area narrow it down further. Tel El Hammam has a really strong case for the site; pottery dating, destruction layer, city size, surface sulfur deposits in the region, biblical description, etc.

[@Zenas521]

Don't forget about the city of Gomorrah which suffered the same fate. It would have to be in the same area. The possibility that one site is Sodom and the other Gomorrah is good, but not yet definite. As for the Air burst, insurance companies would call it an act of God, so why not "Propeller Heads"

[@franciscasilva8406]

Watch Expedition Bible's video where he refutes quite well the Tel El Hammam's case. Mostly, it's because the Bible says that Sodom was on the southern part of the Dead Sea and south of Jerusalem while Hammam is north. Then near the southern coast you have five archeological cities from the bronze age (the time of the Genesis), four of which were destroyed with a fire caused by ignited sulfur balls (there's a layer of ash and sulfur balls still litter the ground there), like what happened in the Bible, and left uninhabited since then. However, the fifth city wasn't destroyed and was still inhabited millennia later. This last city appears on a Byzantine map in a church in Jordan, as named Zoora (as well as in other earlier and later references), which is believed to be the city of Zoar, to where Lot and his daughters escaped before the destruction of Sodom. Also, on a hills close to these plain cities, there's the archeological site of a church built to enclosure and honour a cave that has pottery from several eras, but most importantly, bronze age pottery. So, tradition clearly thought this was the cave that Lot and his daughters lived in after leaving Zoar.

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

@@Zenas521 Agreed. This is a point I’ve thought an about as well. There were five significant cities near the Dead Sea, which all collapsed around that time. Sodom and Gomorrah were two of them. An air burst of that size would likely wipe out multiple if not all of them (the Tunguska event is our only recent example). Tel El Hammam is very likely one of those cities, so far it’s the largest site and a good case for Sodom.

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

⁠@@franciscasilva8406 I’ve watched his videos on it and appreciate his work, but think it really comes down to figuring out the chronology/date of the event (late date, early date, or misdating either Tel’s destruction layer). The evidence for the air burst event is solid and would have hit the general area of the five cities. I don’t really want to debate all the specifics in the comments section 😁. Overall I think it’s a bad argument to posit that an earlier destruction was the biblical Genesis event, but it didn’t end continuous habitation and a later more destructive air burst event occurred which did end continuous habitation for a couple hundred years. I think it’s likely that the southern site’s destruction layer (with the surface sulfur) deposits is the same event as the air burst, but just not at the direct impact. The air burst could easily cause local landslides and ignite gas or sulfur deposits. My guess is it’s a discrepancy between the two site’s relative chronologies. The southern site definitely needs a more extensive excavation and dating analysis (pottery and such). The best resolution to the issue is to also excavate the other eastern Dead Sea sites to establish a better regional/relative chronology. The five cities were prominent early cities and worth the effort to excavate apart from resolving this issue. Then we can debate the early/ late date. I’m still somewhat on the fence with the early/late date chronology, though I lean towards the early date. That being said I still don’t think the southern site has as good of a case overall.

[@dragoscoco2173]

Also considering more ancient acounts of Sodom and Gomorah, mainly the greeks via their story of Baucis and Philemon it was caused by lightning from Zeus and resulted in a salty lake.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

SP - CITIES 0:45 - Chapter 1 - Akkad 7:00 - Chapter 2 - Bethsaida 12:50 - Chapter 3 - Ziklag 20:40 - Chapter 4 - Sodom

[@MaesterTori]

Loved the cheeky name drop for Decoding the Unknown there, well done Factboi

[@donaldwert7137]

"It's a bit wild in there." Talk about the British knack for understatement!

[@MeanBeanComedy]

I love Anglos and our propensity for litotes... 😁

[@donaldwert7137]

@@MeanBeanComedy You taught me a new word today. Thank you!

[@robd9413]

Ziglag: "If you perform a quick Google search on our next entry chances are you'll find...." Ziglag found, Ziglag discovered, etc. Sodom: "If you perform a quick Google search on our next entry...." Erm... probably best to stick to Ziglag.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Well Sodem!

[@hiddentruth1982]

A lot of modern day cities sit on the sites of old cities. They even have a word for it in the middle east. It's called a Tel as in Tel Aviv. The tel is the mound of older cities and the current city is the last part. So Tel Aviv is actually a mount of old cities under Aviv.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Thus Tel Alie is usually a current or former city of political headquarters. 🤔😱😈

[@BobB-w4q]

There are many comments disparaging subjects and places discussed in this clip, but archaeological research has verified several items within the Bible. As is the case with many ancient writing purporting to be historical, certain things are likely to be true while others are exagerated or wrong.....Not too long ago inscriptions were found referring to a person as belonging to the House of David. This archeological find was the first known reference to David outside of the Bible. In addition, whether he was a divine personage or not, historians and archeologists express the consensus of opinion Jesus did exist.

[@GreedybeatsGGP]

Maybe a historical person named Jesus existed but not the Jesus of the Bible. Not the one who performed miracles. No he didn't exist and most biblical scholars agree on that point and have stopped trying to prove it.

[@BobB-w4q]

@@GreedybeatsGGP Simon has an interesting clip discussing this. The consensus is he did exist, that he was crucified and that he did found the movement that eventually lead to the many variations of Christianity.

[@christianadam2907]

@@BobB-w4q So what... Still did not walk on water, multiplied food and healed people by rubbing mud in their face ... Just because a crazy street preacher was maybe real, your magical BS is not also automatically true 🤣 That is not how anything works

[@valleyshrew]

The consensus of historians is that they dont want to damage the credibility of their entire profession by admitting the truth. The evidence for a historical Jesus can be researched in a few minutes, it doesnt require abrogating your judgment to "experts". Bart Ehrman says the best evidence for a historical Jesus is the fact he was crucified, and the Jews wouldnt have invented a messiah that was weak and pathetic like this. But if they invented a warrior king messiah, everyone could see such a figure had not existed. Jesus was invented by the Romans to pacify the Jews and it eventually swallowed their empire as well.

[@LemurDreamer87]

@@GreedybeatsGGP `Rather, a historical person named Yeshua ben Yosef

[@Telecasterland]

"People can not be turned into salt" hmm I sense one day that sentence will change.

[@kuronoch.1441]

People can get encrusted with vaporized salt though.

[@beckyowens2586]

I don't know what Bible Mr. Summerfield was reading but he jacked up the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham did not live in either city. Lot did. Somehow after his separation from Abraham, he lost all of his flocks and servants.

[@Leyrann]

I feel like it's a bit of a weird simplification in order to not have to explain that Abraham did the bargaining while Lot was the one living in the city. It got the point of the story across, but it did fall a bit weird. Also, and to be honest they could've bothered mentioning this, Lot's wife looking back is very easily interpreted (I don't remember if this is outright said or not in the text) as longing back to the city, hence the punishment.

[@godlygamer911]

Like it matters... It's a terribly written fictional book😂

[@treydezellem27]

@@godlygamer911which book is fictional? And for you to think it is terribly written shows your ignorance. Many “experts” and “scholars” find it all beautifully written.

[@godlygamer911]

@treydezellem27 They find the mythology in it fascinating. Nobody finds it beautifully written. And literally all religious texts is fictional. I can't believe you had to ask that question.

[@treydezellem27]

@@godlygamer911 so the historic accounts are all fictional, even the ones that historians use? Interesting. You really haven’t studied history have you?

[@Opus313]

It would be fascinating to find Sodom & Gomorrah... though it may be a bit salty...

[@JackSparrow-uh7zv]

They've already found Sodom & Gomorrah, brother. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5uzlIaHir5ljZIsi=txSXDXuxBYjPQRh0

[@D.A.B-w7n]

😂 You’re a bit salty…🤪

[@bennymoreira1443]

Sodom and Gomorrah have been found near the 5 city of the plains sandwiched between Jordan and Israel.

[@mmerkley402]

Take it with a pinch of Lot's wife.

[@D.A.B-w7n]

@@mmerkley402 😂😂

[@xessenceofinsanityx]

A meteor would certainly seem like divine retribution to people who don't understand it

[@xLoLRaven]

I was thinking the same thing. Hell, even today people would think of it as divine retribution. Because seriously? That's some bad luck on a cosmic scale.

[@Leyrann]

@@xLoLRaven Yeah. No one (or at least, hardly anyone) would claim that divine retribution necessarily has to be something impossible. A meteor strike wiping out a city would do just fine even if the scientists can point to the exact part of the sky it originated from.

[@ellnor7]

@@xLoLRaven lol i just wrote something similar in my comments im a life long theology student (hobby not career at this point due to disability). "im not personally opposed to miracle as an explanation, however a natural phenomenon with miraculous timing is still a miracle in my book, so i can appreciate when miracles have natural explanations."

[@carlp.6196]

@@ellnor7Adding to this, the whole thing about Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt may have been a rough interpretation of what happened to things in the city, where the intense heat created rare types of quartz and the aforementioned nanodiamonds. “Looking back” may also have been a metaphorical way of saying that she went back into the city, and thus was killed by the disaster.

[@ellnor7]

@@carlp.6196 based on my understanding it would not have been as drastic as going back but yes it is heavily implied that she was hesitant and longed to returning, it is possible that by lagging behind she was caught on the edge of some fallout from the city or a spare shrapnel hit close enough to her to cause some chemical reaction. but as i said i have no issue believing in miracle as an answer. i see alot that can be explained by natural if incredibly rare phenomenon, but others like the resurrection is not possible to explain. usually the larger scale and more fantastical (the flood, the parting of the red sea, the wall of Jericho and yes Sodom and Gamora) seem to have scientific explanations on how. the wall was build on a natural rock embankment that the marching vibrated loose, a strong wind could uncover a natural land bridge meteors took out 4 towns. but more localized tend to be harder to explain the resurrection, the curing of many including lepers, walking on water.

[@3RAN7ON]

Cool now do a story on Göbekli Tepe, the oldest site archaeologists ever dug up, and how the government there is planting olive trees on top of it so it can't be investigated further. (It's illegal to dig up or destroy olive trees once planted) What are they trying to cover up?

[@Khyranleander]

9:00 Furlongs weren't in the Bible; they're just the units English Bibles replaced scriptural Gk stadion with... which varied fr~0.75-1.04 furlongs long.

[@willh1970]

Someone mention Mesopotamia and the cradle of civilisation? I'm your huckleberry! Good evening from Erbil, Kurdistan Iraq folks.

[@TriCountyMotorsEastman]

The Bible doesn't say Abraham was in Sodom with Lot. They had split and went separate ways before Lot went to Sodom.

[@peterbrown6392]

As you say, it is often impossible to find conclusive evidence linking a pile of rubble to a specific place named in ancient accounts. What is notable is that digs such as the ones that hint at Ziglag, Bethsaida or Sodom enhance the plausibility of the Biblical accounts. We find in these digs environments and time lines that bring the ancient accounts out of the mists of myth and fabrication into believable historical settings.

[@WeAreZilla]

"... is a LOT of Fahrenheit." floored me - lmao.

[@midoribushi5331]

Lidar is pretty awesome.

[@competitionglen]

If only the DeLorian wasn't destroyed 😢 The flex capacitor was Gods gift.

[@t84t748748t6]

if we could go back in time and see the old stuf i think we wil be massivly disapointed because i think writher always try to make things grander than the are

[@williameberhart3505]

....always interesting. Thank you

[@abbysweat9202]

11:20 that is 100% Sylvester Stallone.

[@PNX034]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@ShepherdsCreek]

Absolutely

[@bradlevantis913]

The history of the region is fascinating

[@jackseney571]

Attention factsboi writers: decimate means reduce by a tenth! Obliterate or devastate might be a better choice...

[@knightsnight5929]

In the same way that describing someone as gay means something entirely different to what it did 60 years ago. The meaning of words can and do change over time.

[@godlygamer911]

Wait until you find out that language changes and evolves. Your mind will be blown

[@godlygamer911]

@@jackseney571 never mind. I get the feeling your mind was blown a long time ago...

[@jackseney571]

@@godlygamer911 deci in this case means ten. Why change the meaning of a word through incorrect usage when perfectly adequate words exist?

[@godlygamer911]

@jackseney571 This was explained to you hours ago... Because that's how language works 🤦‍♂️

[@dz4204]

To convert furlongs to metres, multiply by 200. Furlong is a still used as an everyday measurement within the horse racing industries in Ireland, Great Britain, USA, and other countries. It's 1/8 of a mile, so equivalent to 220 yards or, if you prefer, approximately 200 metres. Five furlongs equals 1km (give or take a few yards/metres). A horse race in France over 1400 metres is considered to be a seven-furlong race (we don't worry about the few yards difference), a 2400-metre race is over 12 furlongs (mile and a half), and so on.

[@benzomanic2972]

Fact Boi is looking strong in his new shirt.

[@memyself3510]

I recommend the History with Cy channel for more details on early Sumeria and the Akkadian empire

[@knifekitty_ls]

damn thats a lot of freedom units right there

[@floutsch]

Whoa, never been so early to a Whistler vid! :D

[@Mickey-i8n]

@Adam, 'Decimated' doesn't mean annihilated or destroyed, it literally means to eliminate 1/10th or something. It's from the word 'decimal' which means '1/10th'. Decimation was a Roman military punishment for large groups of soldiers. They would divide into groups of 10 and draw lots. One unlucky person would draw the bad lot and be beaten to death by the other nine, thus eliminating 1/10th of the soldiers.

[@katekilgour4794]

😱

[@udowannun7780]

That is the origin of the word, yes, but in current usage it is used to mean that a large portion of a population/thing has been destroyed, as evidenced by that being the definition of the word in current dictionaries.

[@bmyers7078]

In modern military studies, a loss of 5% or more can result in 50% loss in battlefield success. 10% basically makes shattered, worthless units. Morale is a tricky thing.

[@Leyrann]

That might be the original Latin definition of decimated, but it is not the definition in modern English.

[@godlygamer911]

Wait until your pseudo intellectual ass finds out that language changes and evolves😂

[@jonahworledge111]

Considering that if a city was habitable 3000 years ago it is likely still habitable, its surprising how many archeological sites aren't just underneath modern settlements.

[@RebelGorilla7384]

Rome has constant construction interruptions, when they find ancient structures under ground.

[@Ashmo613]

It happens all the time in Israel. When they want to expand a city, they usually do a dig to see if there is something important that needs to be excavated before the area is paved over. The ruins of Ancient Beit Shemesh,for example (also mentioned in th Bible), are right next to the highway entrance to modern Beit Shemesh. Where possible, rebuilt cities are built next to the ruins of ancient ones, like that. In places with continuous habitation (like Jerusalem and Beersheva, that isn't possible, so you wiill have ruins underneath and among modern buildings.

[@BigZebraCom]

@07:25 No only did jesus feed the 5000 with the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, he also invented the filet-o-fish sandwich!

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

And even got the (second) most powerful man in the universe to feed it through the golden rainbowed serving hatch! 😇😈😱

[@kiriuxeosa8716]

I heard the wine was watered down

[@randallcraft4071]

7:27 When Simon's more off-the-cuff podcasts bleed into his more educational ones I will neither confirm nor deny that I may allegedly enjoy that

[@thelyrebird1310]

22:27 You should have continued telling the story of how Lot's daughters got him drunk and had children with him, and it was a cultural slur propaganda of the tribesmen around them.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

I guess that's why a lot of the US's Bible Belt claim to be descendants from the Lord's folks. 🥴😈

[@frankreads8618]

Don't forget David's greatest achievement: he played a secret chord that pleased the Lord.

[@davidfinch7407]

Maybe, but I don't really care for music.

[@frankreads8618]

@davidfinch7407 do ya?

[@0xF15h]

Not a good example of a man who has withstood hard trial and remained firm in faith, but I can say I am a good example of showing how forgiving God is, and how He is faithful to pull you out of your struggle regardless, as long as you just believe that His Word is true.

[@MeanBeanComedy]

Very true!

[@captaintuna1323]

The way he danced around the intro to not offend anyone should be studied

[@Redsauce101]

None because they have all been bulldozed.

[@2l84t]

More likely built on like Troy.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Super wonderful introduction of historical stories from Biblica

[@stancil83]

15:43 David, Davy, Dave. Are any of them real? It's possible he's just a really lazy vampire. A guy like that has got to have some stories to tell.

[@BullScrapPracEff]

Kind of like the story of Hi(pronounced heh).

[@d_j_duane]

Hello, It's not easy to determine the past events and places just by going off old documents and stone tablets... But we still look for the thrill of finding a new clue and change the way we understand the past... Great summary of a few places that we either didn't know or to get more knowledge about the ones we do know... I saying this when you google for the Largest asteroid impact to earth was, it will give you the Verdefort Impact Structure... I have a Hypothesis that is different... I think that there was a even larger Impact Asteroid that hit the earth... Unfortunately I can't prove it cause I cannot travel there to examine or the see if it happened.... This was an Ice Meteorite or asteroid that hit the earth and caused a world wide catastrophe with an extreme tsunami that flooded the earth possible twice or more and caused a tectonic plate to move and change it's direction (or) the Ice asteroid melted and flooded the earth with water and increasing the earths water level by 1 to 4Km (or) both... I only have circumstantial evidence that suggest this... This was truly epic and scary... I believe that this happened and there's is proof of this, if you can find it or go and research it more... Unfortunately I cannot cause I have a disability (Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 3) and traveling with be difficult.. If you are interested in this hypothesis I would share what I know and quite possible use your research department to research this in more detail... If the hypothesis is correct then there will be another change in the history of our fragile planet we call "Home or "Earth"... Cheers...

[@theinconsistentgamers7682]

Abraham never lived in the city but on the opposite side of the Jordan River.

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

To get to the bottom of this we really need to get Jones Sr and Jr on it.

[@timthompson3569]

Incorrect about Abraham living in Sodom. The Bible is very clear that Lot and Abraham separated, with Lot going to Sodom and Abraham settling elsewhere.

[@Rancid-Jane]

21:20 I was unaware that Heavy Metal headbanging began that long ago.

[@treydezellem27]

It’s always fun when people say the Bible is “loose with the truth” yet it continues to be the most trusted resource for finding ancient places. The writers were very detailed for a reason and they knew what they were writing about.

[@avengerkdr]

It may well indeed be a rich resource for ancient sites but it's to the more fantastical elements of the bible that people are referring.

[@pennywood5653]

Are you implying the talking donkeys, burning bushes, and the mass genocide and noahs ark are real?

[@SMDoktorPepper]

Just because a work of fiction MENTIONS a city, doesnt mean its accurate

[@treydezellem27]

@@pennywood5653 are you implying that mass genocide is not real? You do know that is occurring all the time throughout history? As to Balam, no they has not been direct evidence that God made a donkey talk. But there is plenty of evidence that Jesus did die and rise. The investigative nature of Luke and the Acts is very telling. Just study the actual material instead of scoffing because we may not see those things today. As to the ark, there’s pretty good evidence it landed on Mount Ararat in modern day Turkey, used to be Armenia. Kind of big sticking point since Armenia is the oldest Christian nation in the world and has a deep reverence for the mountain.

[@treydezellem27]

@@avengerkdr I can understand that, but the elements of particularly Jesus are pretty reliable. They were investigated and many different people saw the miracles and teachings.

[@bmom3191]

I’ve been watching a bunch of archaeology specifically focusing on biblical archaeology. It’s interesting that atheist archaeologists even use the Bible as a map. One example of how archaeology proved the existence of King David. Everyone thought he was like King Arthur, a myth. Until they found a stone while doing archaeological digs that mention king David. What everyone doesn’t realize or think of is that these things are coming out of the ground 2000 to 3000 years old. There are so many examples of how there were no records of anything except from the Bible. I’m not pushing faith but look into biblical archaeology and it is absolutely fascinating. Oh and It wasn’t just Sodom and Gomorra-There were five cities that were cursed by God. They just aren’t always mentioned.

[@Hellemokers]

The bible is an historical source. With all and more of the caveats which are appplicable to other ancient sources. They would be stupid not to use them. The problem with biblical archeology is that it has been used to "prove" biblical accounts, instead of using it as just a source as other sources.

[@thebobster2824]

What is an atheist archaeologist? You "people" are so desperate for your fairytales to be true.... like many story books, some bits exist, others don't.... some people were real people, many were not....

[@lexzbuddy]

The bronze age collapse occurred around the 12th century BC. So, dating anything between then and the 9th century is messy.

[@0xF15h]

If I haven't thanked you yet Simon. Thank you for at least keeping, from what I can recall, a very clean and classy show, and keep it that way. I hate cussing and the days of PBS are but a shadow of their distant self. I think you did cuss a few times though. I appreciate what seems like a genuine opinion of your own beliefs, even though, I still think the Bible has so much more truth to offer than us crawling out of mud puddles, and I say that with love. God bless :]

[@jdc4483]

@1:40 “The Bible can be a bit loose with the truth sometimes,…” Question #1: Where has archaeology proved the Bible wrong? Also, as far as what has not been discovered yet, remember that “absence of evidence, isn’t evidence of absence.”

[@conner8319]

That last sentence sounds like it could be used in a Bigfoot documentary Further while I’m not familiar with archeological finds, I am familiar there are several problems in the scientific community that require miracles and extremely convincing mountains of proof that the earth is much older than young earth creationists claim. Unless you claim god did a ton of miracles and left behind deceptive scientific proof to the contrary you kind of have to assume not all of the Bible is literal which is what I believe he was meaning to communicate? Though I am not a biblical scholar either so I’m not qualified to speak on the literal hundreds of textual variants of the Bible’s texts and what they do or do not say accurately.

[@missingunknown5076]

Ease up on the copium there old man. While it is true that "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence," it is also not evidence of existence. So back when you have found evidence Jericho's Walls, or a GLOBAL FLOOD happening within human history.

[@billscnb]

Well said. It's the same story with historians and archaeologists over and over. "This never happened." Find evidence it did. "Well this is true, but the other stuff isn't." Rinse. Repeat.

[@conner8319]

Huh, I could have sworn I replied to this but it must have been deleted. Anyway, A- not even Christians themselves can agree on what is literal if you look to the over 100 denominations and that’s not counting the people who worship the same god under a different religion. And B- the Bible is historical evidence, which merely means what it describes is a matter of likelihood and not fact C- do we need to talk about how the account of Jesus was written 100 years after his death had happened? Divine inspiration can be claimed all day but in the eyes of science, without being able to isolate and identify divine inspiration its like claiming the sky is actually bright pitch white; that is to say with our understood conventions something sounds quite a bit fishy.

[@conner8319]

Oh I remember what I commented before too, an absence of evidence not being evidence against could work equally well with Bigfoot!

[@albertchurchill4845]

Instantly becoming a diamond is kinda magical.

[@desperadox7565]

And archeologists also haven't found Cinderella's castle yet.

[@Rydonattelo]

I've seen it. It's in Disney World.

[@desperadox7565]

@@Rydonattelo Then Cinderella *must* be real.😉

[@Rydonattelo]

@@desperadox7565 The castle certainly is. I'm pretty sure I've seen her walking around Magic Kingdom 😁

[@godlygamer911]

I know this was you trying to be an atheist edgelord... But it makes no sense. If you knew anything about history, you would know that these places did exist. That doesn't necessarily mean everything else in the book really happened.

[@desperadox7565]

@@godlygamer911 Of cause some of the places exist. And some don't.

[@scrabbit6487]

Now Kai needs a green shirt with question marks on it! 😊

[@2MuchPurple]

There were many strange cults in the middle east 2000 years ago. IMO, we ended up with one of the stranger ones. I'd much prefer the Cult of Isis, which was practiced all over the Roman Empire. The Romans were reasonable about most cults, except ones that refused to also worship the emperor. Would that have really been sp hard? Just a tiny statue of Nero or Augustus in a corner? But no....

[@kdoubleg]

Have yiu done a decoding the unknown on the hanging gardens of Babylon. There is alot of interesting stuff going on around that. And for some reason im fascinated by it.

[@xmassan20906]

Cities became difficult to identify after shop owners were expelled for selling Jesus t-shirts, novelty figurines and Air-Messiah sandals.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Yep, and most of the locals took off to "Follow the Shoe!"

[@bmyers7078]

My family prefers to be Followers of the Gourd.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

@@bmyers7078 Your lot are just very naughty boys!!! 😈

[@godlygamer911]

​@@theoztreecrasher2647I should probably have sky Daddy punish me.

[@phillipoverpeck5395]

Lot wasn’t a part of the negotiations. Abraham lived nomadically not in the city. Lot lived in the city and met the Angels as they entered the city. He happened to be sitting at the city gate

[@popuptarget7386]

What i have learned from this video is from the comments. I have learned how insufferable some athiest edgelords actually are.

[@tats8666]

It would kinda be a shame if any of these were under a current oil well and the result is, "Oops we drilled through a historical site."

[@farmerdave7965]

I know spiderman is real because New York City exists.

[@StreetRocketJoe]

Sky daddy disapproves of this comment

[@eli-bt4he]

Gotta love it when someone parrots the same tired nonsense that has been said a million times and then acts like they said something unique and profound.

[@godlygamer911]

​@@eli-bt4heI know... Christians need to learn to just be quiet

[@ryanparker4996]

​@@godlygamer911 picking on Christians? My my, how brave of you, do Islam and Judaism next if youre brave enough

[@fidgetthecrazy]

A cosmic air burst like that for Sodom could also possibly explain why Lot’s wife turned into salt, the same way people in Japan turned into shadows after the atomic bombings.

[@snapfinger1]

Sodom & Gomorrah were rebuilt in sw Nevada not far from Area 51. There’s a pillar of salt outside the fence.

[@Judith_Remkes]

So...she didn't turn into salt, she turned into diamandoids? And maybe not because she looked over her shoulder, but because she stepped away from whatever kind of shelter the rest were hiding in/behind?

[@jessebrown4347]

Just because a book mentions a real city doesn't mean everything else in the book is true

[@kremepye3613]

Kinda does though because it makes it a primary historical source material.

[@AdamtheRed-]

​@@kremepye3613that makes zero sense. A lot of fiction is based in real cities. Your god doesn't exist.

[@cammybaby01]

@@kremepye3613 cool. Then the fact that new York exists is confirmation that spiderman is real.

[@AdamtheRed-]

​@@cammybaby01You mean Spider-Jesus? "And he said, "yay, whilst weilding the greatest of power, thou must exercisith the greatest of responsibility"."​

[@tkdmike9345]

@@cammybaby01Difference is, spiderman was INTENTIONALLY written as fiction and the Bible wasn’t

[@humor86]

"2000 celcius, which is ALOT of farenheit" ehe, that made me giggle!

[@koekum]

Jews and Christians often conclude that when a location from the bible is discovered, the whole bible must be true. In that case the Arthur saga and for instance Dan Browns book are all real. No religion without gullibility

[@stephengray1344]

No we really don't. What we do conclude is that these discoveries are yet another piece of evidence in favour of the historical reliability of the texts that are collected in the Bible.

[@ryanparker4996]

Athiesm is a religion of its own. You likely have faith in something far more ridiculous

[@koekum]

@ryanparker4996 yeah, believing reproducible observations and experiments is far more ridiculous than an imaginary friend that created everything. Now tell me, who created God?

[@ryanparker4996]

@@koekum how much of the the "science" you take as fact reproduceable though? Havent you heard of the replication crisis? Scientists are not infallible nor are they immune to bribery.

[@joeqmix]

As soon as he said "Nimrod" I heard Beavis and Butthead chuckling.

[@Canalcoholic]

Proving a place existed doesn't prove that any of the characters existed or that any of the events ever happened.

[@desperadox7565]

When future archeologist discover the ruins of the sunken city of New York, some will probably claim that proves the existence of Spiderman.😎

[@donhillsmanii5906]

@@desperadox7565DAMN YOU HE’S REAL TO ME!!!!! Lol great answer

[@ShawnMichaelBeck]

That means that because we found ruins of colonial America. Doesn’t mean that colonist didn’t exist.

[@LEX.IBA333]

@ShawnMichaelBeck ??? No, it means Colonist existed. Just can't prove that a SPECIFIC event happened. Unless more proof reveals itself as such.

[@barneybarret6088]

​@@ShawnMichaelBeck Greetings from the UK 🇬🇧 😁

[@LordMarcus]

Jericho is just right there.

[@AdamtheRed-]

I'm guessing finding them would disprove god/jesus

[@sarameyrick7182]

Garfinkle, wonderful name 😊😅❤

[@RobVespa]

Please don't get into bad adult fables.

[@AdamWest-h5z]

I feel bad for you.

[@metroidhunter965]

1: Christianity is the largest religion in the world, it is estimated that 1 in 3 (31.1%) of all humans identify as some sect of Christians. That’s nearly 10% more than the next highest religion, Islam at 24.9% 2: there have been archeological discoveries that confirm, not refute, parts of the Bible 3: there are 4 writers and none of them refute each other. These writers span from the Garden of Eden (which may be a fable, may not be) to Moses and the Jewish fleeing ancient Egypt, sodom and Gomorrah and the fall of Babylon, to the Birth of Christ, the life of Christ and the death of Christ. That’s way too long of a timespan for four people to basically make a collaborative story But please, make your Christophobia well-known and irrelevant of the way of facts

[@cammybaby01]

​@@metroidhunter9651: the number of people who believe something is not evidence that that thing is true. At one point nearly everyone believed the earth was flat. 2: finding locations depicted in a source is not evidence that the events or characters are real. New York is a real place. New York is depicted in spiderman. This does not indicate that spiderman is true. 3: just because the Bible confirms other things in the Bible is not an indication that it's true. Many of the events are definitely not true. Eden is definitely a fable. A global flood is completely impossible. And there a whole lot more than 4 authors of the Bible. It isn't christophobic to not accept poor evidence and to refuse to be convinced of ridiculous claims.

[@kevinrowland7942]

Atheist here....fun fact the bible ( like all religions) is made up. There no more real than the Harry Potter books. Specifically the Bible is written by people who weren't alive when Jesus was supposedly alive. (Hence all the contradictions) The Bible is not a historical text any more than the Twilight novels. . And Jesus ( this one will hurt some people) Jesus wasn't white..In fact he more likely looked like some one from Palestine. I don't mean to shit on your Bible, it's a great book...for entertainment purposes only, a religion based of it is insane. Christian phobic...nope, I'm Religious phobic...all your made up fantasy novels are going to get us all killed (and millions have already died) Please don't pray for my soul, my soul is fine...have a pleasant tomorrow

[@Sh4dowgale]

@metroidhunter I bet you believe in the tooth fairy and the easter bunny, too!

[@diegomartinez7180]

Usually myth and legend come from actual facts that were exaggerated over time. Most people being able to read and write is a rather modern development, but education and storytelling is as ancient as humankind, only that back then those stories were told generation by generation either as folklore or, more commonly, as songs and hymns. All that to say, imagine this: You don't know why but you survived an apocalyptic event. The city you lived in got obliterated by a volcano, an earthquake, or a meteorite, but you live 3.000 years ago so you don't know about geology or outer space, so your explanation for such a situation will be rather fantastic or, even better, religious. You are alive but even your wife, who went back for some reason, got killed with the rest of the inhabitants of the city. And you found her remains charred to the point of you believing she became dust and salt. Then you need to find solace for losing everyone around you, so you just need to believe that they were so bad they were punished by god. Next you arrive at the nearest town looking for a place to settle down and everyone starts asking why you're alive when everyone else is dead, so you start thinking you were chosen, you were the righteous one, and that's why you survived. And that story becomes what you tell your descendants, who embellish it with a fables of good vs. evil, of the chosen one, of the people who were better and didn't get punished. Until, centuries, even millennia later, the stories have become part of the culture of the place, so scholars decide to write them as part of the formative religious structure.

[@Big-B-of-bfd]

Maybe the 5000 was fed with a whale? ....

[@MDMB53]

Whales are mammals, not fish, or even bread!

[@Big-B-of-bfd]

@MDMB53 check yor facts please !

[@RejectedInch]

@@Big-B-of-bfd whales are mammals, but no whale was used to feed the 5000, because occupied by some Jona dude that defied god's word and was living in its belly. Or pheraps that was Pinocchio's granpa? Regardless the whale was busy digesting and its other fellow whales were taking turns to help the poor mammal expell the human tenant, from either one or the other exists.

[@98Zai]

Also Simon. What a transformation, you handsome devil.

[@raghallaighj]

Very shameful editing to frame Jesus as living in a nation that didn’t exist until thousands of years later.

[@sybill123ful]

on one of his other channels where the topic is war; he frames videos this narrative, so often. he denies genocide numbers and positions it as “challenging the facts”

[@Sh4dowgale]

@sybiill If you're referring to Israel and Palestine, it's a war, not a genocide.

[@Hal-kc5bk]

Moral of the story, the middle east is still at war

[@Sh4dowgale]

I don't believe in fairy tales.

[@tomflynn8265]

Then I hereby revoke your Happily Ever After on behalf of Mr. Stilskin and one very large-toothed Granny wearing a red hoodie as a bib!!

[@kremepye3613]

Wow so edgy, I dare you to walk into a mosque and say it.

[@mattthefatcat6913]

Just anime ?

[@tomflynn8265]

​@@kremepye3613 Only if I can do so while enjoying my pork chop sammich and jammin' out to Toby Keith. Them's be my demands, Harrumph!!

[@Sh4dowgale]

@mattthefatcat I like watching anime, yes. Do I believe any of it is real? No. Come up with a better comeback.

[@clamsoup]

We're almost done over building ancient sites, bombing the bajeezus out of them, rebuilding, and repeating. That we find anything is astonishing. But, starting in the region of Ararat......and following the Tigris and Euphrates....... Something was something for sure.

[@LEX.IBA333]

People are going to riot when they find out their precious book lied to them 😂

[@jonsnowight9510]

Wow. You're so edgy and cool. I bet all the kids at your middle school say so.

[@LEX.IBA333]

@jonsnowight9510 this comment is ironic...

[@ryanparker4996]

No, this is a video about the Bible, not the Quran

[@stancil83]

21:20 The heathen practices of the '60s were pretty goddamn tame.

[@chuiparags5565]

I hope you know there are archeological evidence of King David. And more importantly, the Bible is the truth. Not everything in the Bible has been proven but WHAT in the book has been disproven?

[@__T.O.G.]

The Exodus. No evidence it happened, from a people known for keeping so many records when people tried to destroy some of them many still survived. Not to mention apparently getting lost for decades in a very tiny space of land, and escaping Egypt into more geographic egypt at the time. Also 6,000-12000 year old earth. Also the flood. Also the fact that they believed the earth was flat, floating in water, and if I'm not mistaken sat on stilts/pillars.

[@jasone.1261]

Hey Simon, did you ever do a documentary on king Solomons temple?

[@bryanpayton1168]

The places might be actual places, but the fairytales are just that.

[@SafetySpooon]

Just a note: Lot et al were *specifically told not to look*, & Talmud tells us further that Lot's wife looked back *in regret*. And yes, I'm pretty sure it's all an allegory.

[@ToucanSonofSam333]

Funny how you're using a fictional book to find real places. Have the archeologists found isengard from lord of the rings yet

[@BadGamer-]

Well it'd be like someone using a current fictional book to locate cities .... like the Da Vinci code is ridiculous fiction (and bad imo) but it could still be used to locate Vatican City in a far flung future, no?

[@thehowlingjoker]

The Bible does have some historical merit.

[@ryanparker4996]

POV; youve never even read the book

[@MischaMischief]

What's interesting about Tel al-Hammam is that it is only about 10 miles north of the Dead Sea, the location where Jewish oral tradition says is where Lot's wife was turned to salt.

[@kremepye3613]

Christ is king

[@Sh4dowgale]

Christ isn't real.

[@desperadox7565]

Aragorn is king.

[@2l84t]

🤣

[@MDMB53]

Christ is dead.

[@desperadox7565]

@@MDMB53 Yea, for nearly 2000 years.😎

[@TheFallingFlamingo]

There's actually a good deal of speculation that the priest (different religion) king Melchizedek mentioned in the bible was actually the King of Sodom, but this was changed by scribes later to be the city of Shalem, as Sodom had become known as a place of debauchery and Melchizedek ended up being portrayed more favorably. (It's also speculated that originally, Sodom was portrayed more as a place that just didn't offer hospitality to Christians and later morphed into how we know it today over time, retellings, and retranslations. The modern interpretation is probably more medieval fan fiction, than historical fact.)

[@ellnor7]

melchizedek and sodom are both old testament christians didn't enter the scene till Much later and we have BC dated manuscripts of both of these passages, and as for melchizedek well he is an interesting character to begin with and i don't feel like writing an essay here so just suffice to say you may wish to check your source on that.

[@stephengray1344]

There's lots of speculation that Biblical stories have been altered from the original. However, the people who propose such changes almost never have any actual evidence for their speculations.

[@ellnor7]

@@stephengray1344 the Jewish scribes where meticulous when copying any scrolls to replace older ones, additionally its not like there was only one copy. with as many manuscripts as we have with both new and old testament (admittedly vastly more new testament than the Torah) , it is very evident when their is a deviation. as for the new testament we can trace the earliest manuscripts to around A.D. 80 and some scholars believe we have original copies of some of the epistles. even bart erman one of the most critical scholars and author, when asked how inaccurate these texts are (note that by reputation the questioner assumed his position) he responded that there are no known meaningful and viable variants. not only do they not bring up evidence, they cant. the bible is THE best preserved ancient document by miles, with the most manuscripts and very early compared to many of the next closest preserved (which would be homers illiad with the earliest manuscript being about 500 years after the original). sorry for the paragraph but as this discussion got longer i thought it necessary.

[@stephengray1344]

@@ellnor7 Where do you get the idea that we have a New Testament manuscript as early as 80 AD? To the best of my knowledge the earliest manuscript we have is P55, a fragment of John's gospel from the mid 2nd century. And who are the scholars who think we have an original copy of some of the epistles? (And which epistles do they claim this for)? I've been reading stuff on this for a couple of decades now and I've never come across anybody who claims our evidence for the New Testament is that good. There is more textual uncertainty over the Old Testament than the new. Our earliest complete Hebrew text comes from around 1000AD (the only original language manuscripts before then being the Dead Sea Scrolls). But this isn't really relevant to the kind of claims that were originally made. Which are about the text we have being edited and redacted into its current form, rather than about later textual variants.

[@ellnor7]

@@stephengray1344 i believe its p52, i could be wrong though on the exact fragment, was in the past couple of years dated to be much earlier than previously thought according to a biblical archeology newsletter i read (i know not the most vetted source) referencing DR. Daniel B. Wallace's work, as for the epistle we have fragments of Galatians and 1 Thessalonians, manuscripts might be misleading but i didn't think referring to them as autographs as the article referred to it would be any less confusing one of those fragments is no more that a line or two of text. as for the torah my information is much more legitimately sourced, though i would have to dig out an old college book bibliography, there are four main variations you have the dead sea scrolls hidden by the Essenes sect of Judaism in the 4th to first century BC the earliest Masoretic text is from 7th century BC and was upkept by the Levitical tribe (mainly the Pharisees sect) there is the LXX or Septuagint which we have fragments (also translated into Greek by the early Christians) from around the 1st century BC and a few 10th century text of the Pentateuch. but those are the variations not variants meaning we have many fragments and scrolls of each (aside from the dead sea scrolls) but the all match one of those versions which do have some differences that are valid and matter. as to the pertinence the early date doesn't mater so much as that we have Hebrew text from BC meaning Christians didn't alter them and we have many fragments that we can compare to see that over time the text has not changed.

[@AtholIronworks]

Your videos are so good but the constant snarky digs at religion are cringe. You lay out an intelligent synapsis of a complicated subject just to undercut yourself for an eye roll.

[@ToucanSonofSam333]

Keep crying your tears nourish Simon

[@sybill123ful]

he’s also a genocide denier. so there’s that too

[@AtholIronworks]

@@ToucanSonofSam333 if you think my mild criticism is crying I don't know what to tell you🤣🤣

[@0xF15h]

It all started with a soft whisper. But you can what follows from in much more epic terms than what "the big bang." has to offer. I like listening to bass music, I feel like God directed me to make, since I couldn't recreate myself if I tried, and then I think of Him, you hear that bass drop at the dawn of creation right after he speaks into existence. It's so awesome!

[@busker153]

You are going to find out that The Bible is in no way ridiculous. I hope you find out BEFORE judgment day.

[@kims.schinkel8212]

I haven't any use for the sort of atheist who's too arrogant to acknowledge a higher power who had the capacity to create the entire universe, then throw down the gauntlet and challenge us to understand as much as possible in our finite lifetimes. I never thought it was so tough to accept science and faith, as a number of scientists have been people of faith.

[@donhillsmanii5906]

@@kims.schinkel8212everything you said made no sense, you religious people are just ridiculous…how about showing evidence for your mythical being? You CANNOT, because there is none but in your MIND

[@donhillsmanii5906]

It’s funny seeing people complaining about others disbelieving their little religious beliefs on a channel about SCIENCE & HISTORY. Instead of giving us proof, you give us THREATS & FEAR OF PUNISHMENT, not LOVE & UNDERSTANDING, this is why Religious people suck all the fun out of the world

[@kims.schinkel8212]

@@donhillsmanii5906, I'd say that your feeble attempt at a rebuttal should serve quite nicely.

[@ShawnMichaelBeck]

@@donhillsmanii5906have you ever heard of the word called faith. You should try some

[@jenniferbreaux7385]

Who cares if it's the biblical city or not. Its still an incredibly cool archeological discovery. Get a room full of experts and ask them if water is wet and you'll get a room full of different answers.

[@ellnor7]

i just want to point out that in the bio-science community that is a real debate, well more to the point does wet actually exist.

[@GarfieldRex]

Recap: maybe, we don't know.

[@MINKIN2]

To think of the chances of a meteorite even hitting land today, when we have built sprawling cities with dense populations across every corner of the globe and for it to have devastating effects is so infinitesimally so small... Now imagine how unlucky were they to be hit even in biblical times.