If the Bible were the Word of God, we would expect it to be factually accurate.
No archaeological discovery has ever proven wrong a Biblical reference. On the contrary, the accuracy of the Bible has been substantiated by archaeological discoveries.
Dr. Henry M. Morris concluded his in-depth study of the archeological evidence concerning the Bible with these words. “It must be extremely significant that, in view of the great mass of corroborative evidence regarding the Biblical history of these periods, there exists today not one unquestionable find of archaeology that proves the Bible to be in error at any point” (Henry M. Morris, The Bible and Modern Science, [Chicago:Moody Press, 1956]).
Many people come to know Christ because of they realize that archeology actually confirms the accuracy of the Bible. They found that their preconceived idea that the Bible has been corrupted is not consistent with the fact that all the archeological finds have actually confirmed the correctness of the Bible.
Even stories in the Bible that people regard as “fairy tales” have been confirmed by archeologists. I have selected interesting stories that are not found in the Quran.
Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land
Critics of the Bible have claimed for decades that the Bible’s statements in Joshua about the conquest of the Promised Land in the centuries before the monarchy of King David were pure fiction. In light of this new archeological evidence critics will be forced to relinquish their rejection of the Bible’s record of Israel’s conquest as stated by Joshua. In the book of Joshua (6:5), God told Joshua, “When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.” Even this miracle is confirmed by archaeology. Professor John Garstang found and recorded his amazing finding, “there remains no doubt: the walls fell outwards so completely that the attackers would be able to clamber up and over the ruins into the city.” The evidence from all other archaeological digs around ancient cities in the Middle East reveal that the walls of cities always fall inwards as invading armies push their way into the city.
(To read more, refer to John Garstang and J.B.E. Garstang, The Story of Jericho, London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1940 page 172.)
Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the most memorable stories in the Bible. According to the Bible, the inhabitants of these two cities were so wicked (Gen 18:20, 19:1-13) that God supernaturally destroyed them. For many years, historians regard this as a fairy tale.
(Gen 19:24-29 NIV) Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. {25} Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. {26} But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. {27} Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. {28} He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. {29} So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
We know from the Bible that Sodom and Gomorrah were located in the Valley of Siddim (Gen 14:3), a known name for the Dead Sea. In 1973 Walter Rast and Thomas Schaub began to excavate a site known as Bab edh-Dhra, which it located in this area (on the eastern shore of Transjordan across from the Lisan peninsular). They found remains of a heavily fortified and large community. Another thing caught the attention of excavators: the evidence of extensive destruction by fire. The town site was covered by a layer of ash many feet in thickness. Many dead bodies were found inside buildings. The archeologists also found that the fire did not start from inside the building (as would be the case of an earthquake) but in every case started on the roof of the building, then the roof burned through, collapsed into the interior and then the fire spread inside the building. Archeologists have no explanation for this but the Bible does. The Bible talks about God’s destruction of these cities because of their sin and speaks of God raining fire and brimstone down on these cities from heaven. The archeologists also found unusual salt formations and the smell of sulphur, which also reminds us of the references in Genesis 19:24-26 to a “pillar of salt” and brimstone (sulphur).
(For a published report of these excavations, see W.E. Rast and R.T. Schaub, “Survey of the Southeastern Plain of the Dead Sea,” Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 19:5-54, 175-85.)
There are many historical facts in the Bible that have been proven true by archeology. Would a corrupted Scripture be so accurate?