How Do Historians Determine Truth? why geography, archeology, artifacts, and documents matter

Why does it matter how historians determine what is true?

In the previous lesson we talked about the importance of truth and how truth is that which corresponds to reality.

We then talked about how history is a useful way to determine what corresponds to reality and how this is foundational to determining if a religion is true. But how do historians go about figuring out what corresponds to reality?

Obviously, we don’t have time machines; we can’t go back to the events themselves.

What historians do have as they evaluate the truth of scripture is tangible evidence.

Like a CSI, (a crime scene investigator) a good historian carefully examines the evidence before making conclusions. He or she should not have a pre-determined bias before examining evidence.

For example, when evaluating prophecy, you shouldn’t date events after the prophecy was given simply because you believe predictive prophecy isn’t possible. If you do that you aren’t objective; you have an anti-supernatural bias.

You should look at the evidence and THEN draw conclusions.

The categories for historical evidence that testify to the truth that is in the Bible are: Geography, archeology, artifacts, and document and in this lesson we’ll look briefly at each one.

The evidence isn’t difficult to understand, but the results are fascinating as they confirm the tangible reality of our faith. This is an excellent lesson to teach to help yourself or your people have more confidence in the Bible and as a motivation for reading and studying it.