Would confirmation of the "Biblical Exodus" add any support for God

Not me.I was discussing, not disagreeing.

Suppose that chariot wheels were found along or in the Red Sea, Egyptian borders of the Red Sea, Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba or on the Sinai Peninsula. What would that mean?The first question might be asked is "How likely would it be for chariot wheels to be there in the first place?"The areas involved were all under the direct military control of Egypt, Assyria, Rome, the Second Baylonian Empire and the Persians as well as some minor players like the Phoenicians, Macedonians, Greeks.Each of those powers used chariots so it would not be at all surprising to find chariot wheels in those areas.The question is, what would be needed to connect a chariot wheel that was found to a given event, for example our alleged Exodus?How could we tell whether a chariot wheel was the result of normal occupation forces in the area or some specific incident?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

I see two issues here.1) Positive evidence.
Proving that some minimal Exodus occurred (e.g. without the miracles, and using the lower numbers some have suggested) would do almost nothing to confirm the existence of God. It would be more comfortable for moderate and liberal Christians than the present situation but that is about all.2) A lack of contrary evidence
The absence of the Exodus is a problem for Jews and Christians. The Exodus is the foundation myth of Israel - or at least Judah. Without it the whose notion of the "Promised Land" and the Chosen People" are questionable - and with them, the notion of the Messiah. Proving the Exodus would solve this problem. But the problem is only fatal for those who require the Bible to be literally accurate - and to them it is only one problem of many they must deal with to try to protect their dogma from the truth.

First, we must figure out what we mean by 'Biblical Exodus'. If the 'Biblical Exodus' is the story exactly as told in the Bible (particularly Ex. 12:31—14:31), then it would be right and necessary to conclude that 'if the Biblical Exodus was real, then God (at least) existed', since God's existence is necessary for several of the parts of the story to be real, e.g.:

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Ex. 14:26, 30 (NRSV):

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Then the Lord said to Moses, ...
...
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; ...

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So, to be considered a 'confirmation of the "Biblical Exodus"', how much of the as-told story must be verified?Jon

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Check out Apollo's Temple!
Ignorance is temporary; you should be able to overcome it. - nwr

I see no way that things like a conversation could be verified.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Well, those are just examples. There are instances in which the story involves God in ways other than conversation:

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Ex. 14:21 (NRSV):

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Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided.

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Must God be confirmed as the cause of the east wind in order to say this part of the story has been confirmed? How in-depth must our confirmation be?Jon

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Check out Apollo's Temple!
Ignorance is temporary; you should be able to overcome it. - nwr

I'm not sure how anyone could confirm that an east wind blew all night, but even if that could be confirmed I cannot see how it would support anything more than the fact that an east wind blew all night.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Setting aside the issue of conversations, Jon still has an excellent point. How much of the Exodus are you asking about? For example, I would think that three million people, together with their livestock and etc., surviving for decades in a desert would be remarkable evidence that would require an explanation of some sort.

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. -- Thomas Jefferson

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We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat

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It has always struck me as odd that fundies devote so much time and effort into trying to find a naturalistic explanation for their mythical flood, while looking for magical explanations for things that actually happened. -- Dr. Adequate

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...creationists have a great way to detect fraud and it doesn't take 8 or 40 years or even a scientific degree to spot the fraud--'if it disagrees with the bible then it is wrong'.... -- archaeologist

And I agree that would be remarkable if it was shown to have happened.But would it support much more than the fact that three million people, together with their livestock and etc., survived for decades in a desert?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Well the first question it would raise in my mind is how. Under normal circumstances, that population would require tremendous amounts of water, which we normally don't expect a desert to provide, not to mention food. Now, if someone can come up with a mundane explanation for where that water came from that is no longer present, it would then eliminate the need for any kind of supernatural intervention.

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. -- Thomas Jefferson

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We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat

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It has always struck me as odd that fundies devote so much time and effort into trying to find a naturalistic explanation for their mythical flood, while looking for magical explanations for things that actually happened. -- Dr. Adequate

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...creationists have a great way to detect fraud and it doesn't take 8 or 40 years or even a scientific degree to spot the fraud--'if it disagrees with the bible then it is wrong'.... -- archaeologist

Well, if there was evidence that a large population lived for 40 years on the Sinai Peninsula, I would imagine part of the evidence would include the structures they created and used.Water, and water use leave evidence, even miracle water needs containers, distribution systems, access controls.Remember, you are talking about numbers that are at least double today's current population loading.So what evidence should be seen if a large population did exist on the Sinai Peninsula for four decades?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

That, of course, is a completely different topic.However, to briefly address it, at least some. That there is none speaks volumes about the historical accuracy of Exodus.

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. -- Thomas Jefferson

​

We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat

​

It has always struck me as odd that fundies devote so much time and effort into trying to find a naturalistic explanation for their mythical flood, while looking for magical explanations for things that actually happened. -- Dr. Adequate

​

...creationists have a great way to detect fraud and it doesn't take 8 or 40 years or even a scientific degree to spot the fraud--'if it disagrees with the bible then it is wrong'.... -- archaeologist

Not really.From the OP...

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A side discussion will inevitably develop around this question: "Using the scientific method, how do we figure out what the evidence is telling us?" For example, how do we know that a chariot wheel found at the bottom of the Red Sea came from the Exodus? Or, given that the Exodus really happened, how do we establish scientifically the accuracy of the details in the Biblical account, or more specifically for one example, how do we know God parted the waters, or even that the waters parted at all? Obtaining answers to these types of questions would be a key aspect of this thread.

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How would we know that people lived there?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Ok, fair enough.Then my answer stands. If millions of people and animals lived in the desert for decades, they'd leave behind massive amounts of evidence. In the absence of such evidence, we can only conclude that it did not happen, RAZD's amusing ideas notwithstanding.However, if there were evidence of such a massive population living there for so long and no evidence whatsoever showing how they might have fed and watered themselves, it would beg for an explanation. In such an event, I'd be willing to consider a supernatural explanation.But of course, as you have pointed out, given the fact that the various books of the bible were written by different people of many years, even if one part of it has evidentiary support, that doesn't mean one has to accept the rest of it.

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. -- Thomas Jefferson

​

We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat

​

It has always struck me as odd that fundies devote so much time and effort into trying to find a naturalistic explanation for their mythical flood, while looking for magical explanations for things that actually happened. -- Dr. Adequate

​

...creationists have a great way to detect fraud and it doesn't take 8 or 40 years or even a scientific degree to spot the fraud--'if it disagrees with the bible then it is wrong'.... -- archaeologist

Indeed. But the story has two parts.Part one: East wind blows all night.
Part two: God caused east wind in part one.To 'confirm Exodus', do we have to confirm each part? If so, how would we even confirm part two? It doesn't follow from confirmation of part one.Jon

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Check out Apollo's Temple!
Ignorance is temporary; you should be able to overcome it. - nwr