Are the bible stories true, or made up, imagined etc.?

Question

DID THE TEN PLAGUES REALLY HAPPEN?
"There is virtually NO historical evidence to support the biblical story of the ten plagues and the Israelite`s escape from slavery in Egypt. Indeed, there is virtually no histrocial evidence that there were ever large numbers of Israelites in Egypt. The biblical description of 600,000 Israelite men women and children leaving Egypt and wandering in the desert under the leadership of Moses - as well as defying such non-devine considerations as how they might have survived in one of the most inhospitable regions on Earth -seems to have escaped the attentions of ancient record-makers altogether."
EQUINOX - THE TEN PLAGUES OF EGYPT.
**Now wait for claims that they had the help of a fictitious `god` and that will prove that religious people will invent anything to uphold the lies in the bible with no absolute and provable facts.
*Were they supposed to have been wandering for 40 years or more? No bible quotes, hard facts only, please!

SLAYER
"Claims to have proof of the exodus..."
Note, it only SAYS CLAIMS but does not provide it.

PETERNG
I shall be posting a list of the so-called `plagues later. It shows how one plague led to another.

TRK
Sorry, completely wrong!
It was not BLOOD at all, the Nile ebbs and flows like other rivers and the `red blood` was red alluvial deposits disturbed by the ebb and flow of the waters; it happens quite often in Japan and elsewhere. In their ignorance back then, it was, as usual, credited with `god` and what followed, dead fish which were unable to eat the ensuing frog-spawn, created the plague of frogs, which all went ashore in search of food, died there, rotted and caused the boils, blanes etc.
I could go on and explain the other seven `plagues` but they won`t be believed because religious folks do not believe the truth if it brings doubt on the authenticity of the bible. All ten `plagues` have been disproved by common-sense, logic and science.
`Nuff said!!!

Answer 1

You cannot ask for hard facts as evidence for things which are supposed to have happened, thousands and thousands of years ago, in some cases.

We still cannot identify Jack the Ripper and that was only a hundred or so years ago. The bible is a collection of myths and legends dating back to almost pre history.

Answer 2

The papyrus manuscript, now called the Ipuwer Papyrus, was discovered by someone named Anastasi in the area of Memphis, near the pyramids of Saqqara in Egypt.

The museum of Leiden in the Netherlands acquired the papyrus in 1828. It was translated and published in English for the first time in 1909 by Professor Alan H. Gardiner. Gardiner wrote that the manuscript was one that recorded a genuine historical catastrophe when the whole country of Egypt was in distress and violence. "It is no merely local disturbance that is here described, but a great and overwhelming national disaster."

Gardiner suggests that Ipuwer was an Egyptian sage who directed his writing to the king as a complaint that the national catastrophe was in part caused by the king’s failure to act and deal with the crisis.

A comparison of several key passages from the Biblical Book of Exodus with the ancient Egyptian papyrus reveals remarkable correspondences and parallels that point to a real historical catastrophe.

1. The Plague of Blood
In Ipuwer Papyrus 2:5-6, it says: Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere. Compare this with the Book of Exodus 7:21: There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

In Ipuwer Papyrus 2:10, it says: The River is Blood. Compare with Exodus 7:20: All the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

In Ipuwer Papyrus 2:10, it says: Men shrank from tasting...and thirst for water. Compare with Exodus 7:24: And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

2. The Plague of Hail
Ipuwer papyrus 9:23: The fire ran along the ground. There was hail, and fire mingled with the hail. Exodus 9:25: And the hail smote every herb on the field, and brake every tree in the field.

3. The Plague of Darkness
Ipuwer Papyrus 9:11: The land is not light. Exodus 10:22: And there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt.

4. The Plague of Egyptian Cattle
Ipuwer papyrus 5:5: All animals, their hearts weep. Cattle moan. Exodus 9:3: Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be grievous murrain (disease).

5. The Plague of the Firstborn of Egypt
Ipuwer Papyrus 2:13: He who places his brother in the ground is everywhere. Exodus 12:27: He (the angel of the Lord) smote the Egyptians. Ipuwer Papyrus 4:3: Forsooth, the children of princes are dashed against the walls. Exodus 12:29: At midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. Ipuwer Papyrus 6:12: Forsooth, the children of the princes are cast out in the streets, Exodus 12:30: There was not a house where there was not one dead.

6. Response of the Egyptians to the Loss of their First born
Ipuwer Papyrus 3:14: It is groaning that is throughout the land, mingled with lamentations. Exodus 12:30: There was a great cry in Egypt.

In light of the ample evidence accumulated from ancient Jewish and Greek historians, together with the Ipuwer Papyrus that parallels several of the 10 Biblical plagues, it is clear that there is compelling non-Biblical evidence to confirm the scriptural account about the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Further proof of the Exodus is the fact; the Jews have annually celebrated three great festivals in commemoration of their Exodus (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) for 3500 years. Therefore, logically, the public observance of the Exodus Passover festival can only be explained if the Jewish people actually participated in these historical events as recorded in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.


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Answer 3

Well, it is so difficult to really know, because some said the Bible based on the Srimad Bhagavatam, many histories there, like about Jesus is just too similar with the pastimes of the Lord Krishna and Am and Eve were demigods that had fallen from paradise because of an offence there. Also that the name of Jesus and everything else was prophetically written on the Bavista Purana; other said that Jesus is buried in Kasimira and even show they address on the web, other said he was just a creation of human mind and the Bible made up based on the above scriptures and others histories.

Answer 4

I am no scholar, but I believe in God after I met Him, and only because of that. However, I have read a lot about the evidence of the new testament claims about Jesus and have decided it is true. The Old Testament therefore becomes true for me based on the fact that Jesus is alive and is God and is therefore trustworthy. The historical evidence for the OT is not my speciality but I did find a website, a bit dry for my liking, that claims to have proof of the exodus. Please feel free to connect to it and peruse, maybe you will understand it better than I can, maybe you can even come up with counter-evidence, however, the proof appears to be there.

Answer 5

Charriots found in the red sea????????????? (prev answer)
Funny, after ten minutes of searching the only sites I can find this on are those wierd Christian ones.. not on the BBC or any other site does this feature.
Further more the sites claim to have photos but... hmnnn text only... strange.

Just proves that most of the hard line Christians do not have the 1st clue about the history of Christianity.

To answer the question. You will probably find some truth in most of the bibles storys, however the will be groomed by the viewpoints of the people of the time and or altered slightly for dramatic purposes.

Answer 6

I believe the bible is true in the time it was written for the people it was written to, and has many application to us today. To me there is too much perfection within it for it to be a human creation. The holes and unanswered questions are there to produce mystery and encourage faith. Between 13 ad 33 Jesus was probably doing what every boy of Israel was doing. Growing up, learning the Pentateuch, Psalms, and other Old Testament writings.

Answer 7

I'd modify your "virtually no" to none. The christian reply is often that the Egyptians covered it up as no one likes to be embarrassed by slaves leaving. This would mean that the Egyptians, with near "god like" powers, erased 200 to 400 years of writing and records.

Edit:
The dating of Jericho burning is in the early 15th century, Hebrew culture was not seen until the around the 13th century.

The most compelling piece of real evidence is that there were a nomadic people begging for water on Egypt's borders and were called a name that sound similar to Hebrew (sorry, the spelling escapes me at the present). A possible piece of evidence is that there are a few "Proto-Sementic" inscriptions, dated to the 18th to 16th centuries, that show the Egyptians had slaves from the Canaan region.
That's it for evidence.

Answer 8

The story in Exodus sends a message to our present world and I would not be surprised, we're to glean info from it. Two million people left Egypt for the promise land because the 600,000 men had a typical family where there's three others (2 kids &wife). God brought on all the plagues to illustrates man's unwillingness to listen to Him or His prophets in spite of warnings followed by disasters; they still stubornly did not listen (just like today, they refuse to listen) To lose a first born child is horrible and Pharoah was warned that plague was next to strike all of Egypt but he refused to cooperate. Now the major illustration: Blood was applied to the doorposts and top of door (a cross- top and sides) of each Israeli household to keep death of the firstborn from happening in their home; when God saw the Blood He would PASSOVER that household and not kill the firstborn. The blood sacrifice applies today: we who have faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, will be passed over when it comes to the judgement of God, because He sees the blood.

Answer 9

Israelite’s never escape from slavery in Egypt; they were hired mercenaries at the time.
The pharaoh didn’t want them around in fear that their population would increase and try to take over Egypt (every true historian knows this).
But you can’t put that in a Bible, it makes you look bad.
Moses was a general (that’s the closest definition we have today), some of his tactics are used today in warfare.
I’m sure the plagues have happened in a way, just not same meaning.
The only thing that really did happen the day Moses was told to get out was the looting they did.
If anything this was the real plague they were talking about.
They probably descried their looting, raping and pillaging as locust eating the crops, understand?

Answer 10

Some of what you read has been passed down verbally through generations and written down later. Therefore it is inevitable that it will not be a precise scientific account. I personaly am not too concerned about the literal truth of these accounts. I don't think that is necessary to believe in everything literally in order to have faith