‘The Bible Was WRONG!’: Media Massively Bungle Bible Story and Are Forced to Issue Corrections – CBN News

In recent days, countless media outlets have carried bold headlines alleging that a new study calls into question key details presented in the Bible.But theresa big problemwith that narrative:It simply isnt true.

It all started with a newly released study published in theAmerican Journal of Human Genetics that claimed to find some intriguing information aboutthe Canaanites, an Old Testament people group that inhabited Palestine before the Hebrews conquered them and claimed the biblical promised land.

READ: Trumps Most Powerful Cabinet Members Are Making History With Weekly Bible Study

Titled, Continuity and Admixture in the Last Five Millennia of Levantine History from Ancient Canaanite and Present-Day Lebanese Genome Sequences, thereportpurports to show that present-day Lebanese derive most of their ancestry from a Canaanite-related population. On the surface, thats pretty interesting stuff.

But heres why the studys claim of finding Canaanite ancestors really made such a splash:Deuteronomy 20:17 discusses Gods call to utterly destroy the Canaanites, leading some reporters to make some inaccurate claims aboutwhat really happened.

The versereads, Completely destroy them the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites as the LORD your God has commanded you. And Joshua 10 does proclaim that there were no survivors during the conquests, but there are anumber of theoriesinvolving the language used that could help explain that proclamation.

Either way, many in the media simply stopped there, purporting that any modern day evidence of Canaanite DNA must mean that the Bible is incorrect.

Rather than media outlets digging deeper into the truth about whats in the biblical texts, writerDavid Klinghoffer accused culturally illiterate science reporters of using the study to slap [the] Bible around. Klinghoffer, writing for Evolution News,compiled a listof the media headlines that emerged in the wake of the studys release:

Theres a major problem with all of these gotcha Bible headlines, though: Some of them are pretty inaccurate.

AsKlinghoffer noted, the Bible makes it clear in the Book of Judges that the Canaanites lived on beyond the invasion. In fact, the first chapter (verses 28-33)says it all:

When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor.Nor did Asher drive out those living in Akko or Sidon or Ahlab or Akzib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob.The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out.Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them.

After realizing that there were some major errors in their reporting, some journalists issued retractions. The Telegraph was among those that published an honest assessment of the previously incorrect information in the outlets initial report.

The original version of this story erroneously said the Bible claimed the Canaanites were wiped, a correctionreads at the end of the story. However, elsewhere in the Bible, it says the elimination was not successful.

Its possible that some of the confusion could have emerged from the DNA study itself, as there are some lines of text in the report about the so-called destruction of the Canaanites.

Uncertainties also surround the fate of the Canaanites: the Bible reports the destruction of the Canaanite cities and the annihilation of its people; if true, the Canaanites could not have directly contributed genetically to present-day populations, the textreads. However, no archaeological evidence has so far been found to support widespread destruction of Canaanite cities between the Bronze and Iron Ages: cities on the Levant coast such as Sidon and Tyre show continuity of occupation until the present day.

So, there you have it. Unfortunately, its yet another example of journalists misunderstanding biblical details and making claims that simply dont add up to the facts.

Some might call it fake news, though others would simply attribute it to laziness. Either way: the record has now been cleared.

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'The Bible Was WRONG!': Media Massively Bungle Bible Story and Are Forced to Issue Corrections - CBN News