Dear Reader,
“Today I found myself trying to match a timeline from National Geographic with my study of Genesis and Exodus” …and I began to wonder: How does one reconcile the tension between faith and archaeology?
On one hand, we have the great civilizations of the world—Egypt, Babylon, and others—leaving behind monuments, writings, and artifacts that can be studied, dated, and examined. On the other hand, we have the scriptures, beginning with Genesis, telling us of creation, of Adam and Noah, and of God’s relationship with man.
The challenging question is How do these fit together?
Archaeology gives us what remains.
Kingdoms that rose and fell
Kings who ruled and built
Cities that once thrived
Egypt, for example, tells of powerful man who organized armies and empires.
These are physical items we can touch, measure, and analyze.
Now I consider what supports and strengthens me today.
My Scriptural studying speaks in a different way.
It tells me:
Who I am
Why I struggle
How God reaches out to me
From Abraham to Moses, the message is not about monuments—it is about a relationship.
It is about a God who calls, guides, corrects, and redeems.
It is in this space I Live. The space of what can be dug up and what allows me to thrive today.
I do not believe this is chaos; I believe it is being real in a fallen world.
On the side of Faith, I have solid thinkers and philosophers.
“Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.” — Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” — Book of Mormon (Alma 32:21)
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” — C. S. Lewis
“The heart has its reasons which reason knows not.” — Blaise Pascal
Further support for recovery.
“We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous
“Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous
The Simple Truth
Archaeology can uncover a city……but it cannot uncover a changed heart.
It can reveal a civilization……but it cannot reveal a soul finding peace.
In my own life, I have come to see that not everything that is true can be proven in stone.
Some truths must be lived.
In recovery, I could not measure hope with a tool, yet I felt it. I could not excavate faith from the ground, yet it lifted me.
“Egypt left behind monuments of stone.
God leaves behind changed lives.”
Perhaps the purpose was never for everything to align perfectly on a timeline.
Perhaps the purpose is that, in the middle of my questions, I can come to know Him.
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