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Title: Sodom: Has Biblical City Of Sin Been Found?
Source:
Sky News
URL Source: http://news.sky.com/story/1569273/s ... iblical-city-of-sin-been-found
Published: Oct 17, 2015
Author: Staff
Post Date: 2015-10-17 15:16:37 by redleghunter
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Keywords: None
Views: 5558
Comments: 36
The location of the original city of sin, Sodom - destroyed by fire and brimstone according to the Bible - may have been discovered in Jordan. Archaeologists excavating the Tall el Hammam site say it was a major Bronze Age city-state and matches "every Sodom criterion". Steven Collins and his team have been at the "monstrous" site since 2005 and have discovered palace structures, towers and formidable defences. Sodom and the neighbouring city of Gomorrah were destroyed by God, according to the Book of Genesis, because their inhabitants were riddled by sin and depravity. The final judgement was delivered after angels, disguised as men, were unable to find just 10 righteous people in the cities. Mr Collins told Popular Archaeology: "I concluded that if one wanted to find Sodom, then one should look for the largest city on the eastern Kikkar that existed during the Middle Bronze Age, the time of Abraham and Lot. "When we explored the area, the choice of Tall el Hammam as the site of Sodom was virtually a no-brainer since it was at least five to 10 times larger than all the other Bronze Age sites in the entire region." The site, in the southern Jordan Valley, eight miles northeast of the Dead Sea, is marked out by a large mound that dominates the landscape and appears to have consisted of a lower city, and an upper city - where the rich and elite lived. Researchers have found evidence of defensive walls 10m high and 5m thick, with a network of gates, towers and plazas. Altogether, it is believed the lower defence structures rose about 30m from the surrounding terrain. They also say ramparts, built in the Middle Bronze Age, protected the privileged residents of the upper city from attack. "It was a huge undertaking, requiring millions of bricks and, obviously, large numbers of labourers," Mr Collins told Popular Archaeology. "It was an impressive and formidable defensive system protecting the residences of the wealthier citizens of the city, including the king's palace and related temples and administrative buildings." The remains of a "Red Palace" in the upper city have been discovered, as well as a large complex further down. However, life in the city appears to have come to a sudden halt near the end of the Middle Bronze Age and was all but abandoned for 700 years, say archaeologists. It is hoped the ongoing excavations by the research team will help shed light on the mystery. Poster Comment: Imagine that...finding Sodom about the same time as homosexual "marriage" becomes legal in many nations. 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 36.
#8. To: redleghunter (#0)
Well, Sodom wasn't famous for sodomy marriage. Just good old-fashioned public sodomy. The modernists claim the "sin of Sodom" was...inhospitality.
I think it's amazing that every month we are seeing one or two major archaeological finds, which confirm the veracity of the Bible.
Gary,to be fair,it only verifies there was a big city there.
Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven. Human Remains Found at Sodom! In a culture that generally believes that science and faith in the Bible are incompatible, once again scientific evidence has been discovered that supports the Bible’s testimony of a real historical event. The April 2013 book entitled Discovering the City of Sodom by Dr. Steven Collins and Dr. Latayne Scott published by Howard/Simon and Schuster details how Dr. Collins came to believe Tall el-Hammam in Jordan was the location of ancient Sodom. Dr. Collins made this determination based on Genesis 13:10 which placed Sodom and Gomorrah in the “plain of the Jordan (River),” an area that it describes as “well watered.” In an otherwise arid land, this same area that remains well watered even today could only be the somewhat circular plain at the southern end of the Jordan River before it enters the Dead Sea. Dr. Collins, an archaeologist at Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has excavated in this area for seven years. However, his breakthrough discovery came in 2011 when he found human skeletal remains and an unusual potsherd at the siteof Tall el-Hammam. While the unusual potsherd hardly compares in sheer visual drama tothe obvious glories of Stonehenge or the pyramids, it is turning out to be an artifact of monumental importance. The discovery and analysis of this potsherd provides physical evidence for what caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven. Dr. Collins found the 4,000 year old potsherd that would fit in the palm of your hand in an undisturbed layer of hardened black ash. One side is typical of ancient pottery, but the opposite side is coated with a thin layer of a beautiful translucent greenish glass called trinitite. The trinitite tells us that one side of this clay potsherd was briefly subjected to an extremely high temperature, which caused the silicon of its clay to melt and be converted to glass. Trinitite gets its name from the first atomic bomb test in1945 near Alamogordo, NewMexico whosecode name was Trinity. Trinitite was formed when the sandy clay soil at the test site was drawn up and melted by the explosion, then rained down and solidified into glass. We now know that a comet or large comet fragment exploding in the atmosphere can produce the same effects as an atomic explosion, including the very high temperatures necessary for the formation of desert glass such as trinitite. This trinitite coated potsherd corroborates that the brimstone and fire Genesis 19:24 says rained out of heaven came from a comet fragment that exploded in the atmosphere over Sodom and Gomorrah. Like an atomic explosion, this comet explosion over Sodom and Gomorrah would have caused a fiery column of smoke, dust, ash and debris to rise up (possibly looking like a mushroom cloud). Genesis 19:28 tells how Abraham “looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and lo the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.” The same black ash that contained the “Trinitite Potsherd” also revealed the partial skeletal remains of three individuals who were found huddled together in this black ash. Their bones were abnormally extended and twisted. The leg of one was charred off at mid-femur. While the intense heat generated by the fireball of a cometary explosion would literally vaporize everyone it directly hit, these people somehow were partially shielded. The macabre scene speaks of the sudden death and extreme trauma that engulfed these three people who were among those alive at the time the Bible says Abraham negotiated to save the city. I am particularly excited by Dr. Collins’ discoveries because my book The Comets of God published in 2010 (www.thecometsofgod.com) analyzes the Old Testament catastrophes and their connection to cometary activity and impacts. I detailed how the scriptures make it clear that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by cometary activity. On page 416 I wrote, “The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, where fire and brimstone (burning sulfur) rained from heaven (Genesis 19:24 and Luke 17:29), is an accurate description of airburst explosions.” I explained how “Airburst explosions were not recognized until after the 1908 Tunguska Event in Siberia had been intensely studied by scientists. The Tunguska event is now believed to be the result of an airburst explosion high in the atmosphere of a small asteroid or cometary fragment approximately 100 meters in diameter.” Since comets are rich in sulfur, cometary material can release brimstone or burning sulfur as it comes in on fire. Today a number of astronomers believe that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah involved comet activity, but until now there was no evidence for this event. In my book (page 149) I wrote that: “The most definitive evidence for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah would come from physical evidence associated with cosmic impact. Core samples from buried sediments dating to the time these cities were destroyed by fire should contain high concentrations of cosmic dust with very high concentrations of iridium, nickel, and other elements rose at impact. There could also be grains of shocked quartz, whose structure stems from the high pressures of impact or tiny spherules of fused glass like material that stems from the high temperature of impact…. The bottom line is this: if the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was caused by cosmic bombardment as the Bible indicates, there should be evidence waiting to be found.” Little did I know that at the time I wrote this in my book Dr. Collins had already located Sodom and had begun to find significant evidence for cosmic impact. Since the initial discovery, four more trinitite coated potsherds have been excavated at the Tall. In addition, a number of small lumps of desert glass have been found at different locations within five miles of the Tall. While the brief heat flash or thermal pulse from the cosmic airburst was hot enough to melt and convert the outer surface of these clay potsherds into glass; this thermal pulse was also able to convert some of the silica of the sand on the ground into what geologists call “desert glass” which is not unlike trinitite. Geologists have come to learn that the creation of desert glass is typical of cosmic airbursts over sandy areas. It has not yet been confirmed how large of an area was affected by the cometary blast above Sodom. As far as I know, Dr. Collins has yet to do a mass spectrometry analysis of the ash itself to see if it has a definitive “cosmic fingerprint” of specific elements brought in by the cometary material. This “cosmic DNA” test could provide the most compelling evidence of all. The ash might even contain nanodiamonds, microscopic diamonds that cosmic impacts can sometimes produce. It would be nice if a pollen study was done in the area to provide scientific evidence to confirm that the plain of the Jordan was then indeed “well watered.” A null hypothesis could also be employed to further establish that the Sodom of the Bible has finally been found. For example, pollen studies at the other proposed locations for Sodom should show that they were not in a “well watered” area. Likewise core drilling and analysis of the soils at the other proposed locations for Sodom should show that they do not contain evidence of fire and brimstone as a result of a cosmic airburst. Interestingly the thick hardened black ash Dr. Collins found at the site sheds a different light on what happened to Lot’s wife. Genesis 19:26 should now be translated to read, “But his (Lot’s) wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of hardened ash (not salt). The Hebrew word usually translated as “salt” is the word “malach” (#4417 in Strong’s Concordance) which means “powder” as in something “pulverized” like salt, ash or
Yeah,that doesn't work for me and you know it,so why try?
Don't worry, I have lots of evidence this was Sodom.
Don't worry, I have lots of evidence this was Sodom. I don't doubt the city existed. I just doubt the legend is true.
A legend is "a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated." The archaeological find in the Jordan valley is authentication given the evidence Gary provided. The Bible passages given from Genesis give the details of everyday life in the city of Sodom; confirmed now by archaeology. The Bible passages given from Genesis give the details of how the city was destroyed down to the explosive details of heat and blast; the archaeology now confirms this. This is no longer legend but an accurate historical account recorded in the Bible and authenticated by science. So what's left for a skeptic Pete? You and I cannot deny the veracity of the account given in the Bible because it has been authenticated by science. The only recourse for the honest skeptic is to claim that Sodom was destroyed by a natural random occurrence just as the Bible gives as an account and science has authenticated. And when we add all of the past archaeological finds which confirm the Bible and the ones which will happen in the future, what we get is that the Bible accounts are accurate. Then one is left with trying to believe all these things happened randomly by chance or by Divine Hand.
Yes,but there isn't any proof at all that an avenging God destroyed the city. The Bible passages given from Genesis give the details of everyday life in the city of Sodom; confirmed now by archaeology. So what? The Bible passages given from Genesis give the details of how the city was destroyed down to the explosive details of heat and blast; the archaeology now confirms this. BullBush! Pure speculation on your part,and based entirely on your religious beliefs. This is no longer legend but an accurate historical account recorded in the Bible and authenticated by science. Science is saying "God destroyed the city because the citizens were immoral and having sex/"??? Seriously? You are going tot try to stake out that claim?
Pete you have blinders on. Read my entire post. I laid out how a skeptic can still be a skeptic. They have to believe everything happens randomly by chance. And yes the scientific evidence confirms the Biblical account of a massive explosion with high heat overpressure. This is evidenced by the trinitite.
I'm not arguing about that. I read it in Gary's post. Now,show me where scientists are claiming God was responsible for it.
No one claimed scientists stated such. You miss the point. The science confirms the physical details of the Biblical account. Putting to rest the story of Sodom's destruction was legend. The archaeology confirms the Biblical account. One can choose to ignore this or chalk it up as a huge coincidence.
No one claimed scientists stated such. Did you not claim there is now scientific proof that God destroyed the city? Or at least imply that to be the case? Sure looked like it to me. One can choose to ignore this or chalk it up as a huge coincidence. No coincidence. Like all good con men,they took an indisputable tragedy and said their God did it to punish non-believers in order to scare people into donating money and numbers to the cult. Everything good or positive that has ever happened,is a result of a kind and loving God that created all that for our pleasure,comfort,and safety. Everything bad that ever happened was the work of de debbil because hebe jealous of God,or the act of a vengeful God straightening out the people who pissed him off because they deserved to be punished. See how this works? Nothing new about it.
There are no replies to Comment # 36. End Trace Mode for Comment # 36.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestImagine that...finding Sodom about the same time as homosexual "marriage" becomes legal in many nations.
#10. To: TooConservative, ALL (#8)
#16. To: GarySpFC (#10)
I think it's amazing that every month we are seeing one or two major archaeological finds, which confirm the veracity of the Bible.
#18. To: sneakypete, ALL (#16)
#19. To: GarySpFC (#18)
Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.
#20. To: sneakypete, ALL (#19)
Yeah,that doesn't work for me and you know it,so why try?
#26. To: GarySpFC (#20)
Yeah,that doesn't work for me and you know it,so why try?
#28. To: sneakypete, GarySpFc (#26)
I don't doubt the city existed. I just doubt the legend is true.
#32. To: redleghunter (#28)
The archaeological find in the Jordan valley is authentication given the evidence Gary provided.
#33. To: sneakypete (#32)
#34. To: redleghunter (#33)
And yes the scientific evidence confirms the Biblical account of a massive explosion with high heat overpressure. This is evidenced by the trinitite.
#35. To: sneakypete, GarySpFc (#34)
Now,show me where scientists are claiming God was responsible for it.
#36. To: redleghunter (#35)
(Edited)
Now,show me where scientists are claiming God was responsible for it.
Replies to Comment # 36.
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