🌞 The Purpose

BPOD (Bible Picture of the Day) is a "Photo Album" of the Bible.
The Purpose of BPOD is to:
  • Colorfully show Bible Items such as: Tablets, Scrolls, Seals, Statues, Structures, Inscriptions, Coins, Cities, Pottery, Artifacts, etc...
  • Accurately reveal, from Genesis to Revelation, Bible History thru articles about documents, artifacts, and places..
  • Daily describe the remarkable connection of the scripture to the observable evidences in the world...
  • Creatively honor the Lord Jesus!

    • The site layout:
    The main page contains a large image sequentially chosen based on the day of the year.
    At the right is a detail column with a 'reference' and 'verse' for this image.
    After this is a 'label' identifying the image. Then there is a detailed 'description' of the object.
    Finally, there is a 'significance' section describing the connection of the object to the Bible and History.

    At the left is a 'sequential' list of every object, and a 'rainbow Bar' for quick navigation.
  • Clicking on the "Rainbow Rectangle" on the left acts as a quick guide
  • Red at the Top locates Genesis
  • Purple on the Bottom locates Revelation
  • every other color selects everything in between


    • BPOD: ©2023 Martin George, All rights reserved.
    🧠 The Rationale

    I believe the Bible alone is the Word of God.
    A corollary to this is that we need to be in God’s Word daily.
    I believe this calling challenges most people because:

    #1 We often struggle with mature discipline.
    In my view, the best recourse to this is:
  • Praying to God for motivation and healthy boundaries for reading.
  • Teaming up with other Christians to discuss what His Spirit reveals to us.
  • Seeing the colorful and factual nature of the Book we are learning from.
  • Tools like a BRP (Bible Reading Plan) help the long term study for the Bible.

    • #2 We often struggle with rational faith.
    In my view, the best recourse to this is:
  • Recognizing hesitation reveals doubt.
  • Confessing, praying, and researching the doubts with others.
  • Using tools like BPOD (Bible Picture of the Day) to see the accuracy of the Bible.
    • 
	I should point out that I have seen people who simply will not
	consider the evidence, despite their claims to "science" or objectivity.
	I do not believe more data is relevant to that scenario.
	Even Psalms say those who choose not to believe in God hide the evidence.
	See: Psa 10:4,11; Psa 14:1,4; Psa 53:1,4; Rom 1:20.
    Content This website is a collection of images that I believe will show the historical accuracy of the Bible. Most articles contain an Archaeological image and some paragraph about the research or History of the object. About 5% to 10% of the descriptions contain additional detail. Another handful of images are Charts or even General information. I felt this addition contributed to the overall experience of understanding the overall Bible message.

    This website make an appeal to history as "science". In this context, we define science as "Observations that is Repeatable and Testable". Science with this definition can not address the past, especially prehistory, since this past is not a part of "Observations that are Repeatable and Testable". A common response to this is to use a different or generalized definitions of science that includes "Interpretations that are Repeatable and Testable". Most people fail to distinguish between science that is "observable" and science that requires "interpretation". This distinction is part of what may generally be called the "Demarcation Problem". Another term for this is the "Inherent Limitation of Observation", which applies (in different measure) to all sciences. It is not the purpose of this website to define or resolve that dilemma.
    Limitations For our purposes, we may choose to see History and Archaeology like a Photo Album of a vacation. There are enough photos to substantiate the claims for the trip. The photos help us visualize the details of the experiences. While some may claim to doubt what they can not see, the point of this collection is to allow for a generalized understanding of that which we cannot see.

    This analogy leads to another question: What constitutes a legitimate evidence? If you took a trip to China, and took a photo of a "Terracotta Warrior", that is evidence you were in Xian city of China. But evidence is not necessarily proof. The picture could easily represent a copy of a statue that was located elsewhere. Additionally, photos that you took today may have more significance with future discoveries, both confirming or negating the claim from the picture. One way to resolve this is to "weight" the evidence. An image of the statue in the statue hall is far more "weighty" than an image of a single statue. An image taken of you standing on top of the statue hall is directly testifying to your presences in Xian. Other questions are relevent to this discussion: is the photographer reliable? When was it taken? etc. Ideally, this site will be able to add "weights" to the images, but for now, it is the sheer bulk of data that is the best selling point to the historiagraphy of the Bible.
    Bible & Science While BPOD attempts to focus on Archaeology, a handful of articles deal with the subject of Science. These are mostly at the beginning of BPOD, and reflect a Biblical perspective of the Creation from Genesis. This can be a thorny issue for some people, but I feel I can make a reasonable contribution to this debate if I affirm my assumptions first. At the heart of the conflict, in my view, is poorly applied definitions. For our purposes we will recognize the Bible as Revelation, and Science as Observation.

    More specifically, I take the position that the Bible is the Word of God. I feel this belief is supported by the Historical Accuracy & Prophetical Reliability of the Bible. I am taking the stand that the Bible is the Inerrant, Infallible Word of God; and that it is the source of God's eternal Truth.

    I distinguish this from Science, which historically has many definitions. For our purposes Science will be defined as "Observation that is Repeatable and Testable". Another way of putting this is that Science is a Cultural and Social "Consensus of Observations".

    One major source of religious conflict is confusing the process with the application. I feel an intelligent conversation requires distinquishing between "Science that is Directly Observable", versus "Science that requires Basic Assumptions". In general, these distinctions play out in the interpretations of the past, which are not directly "Observable, Repeatable and Testable", but require the interpretations of data (i.e. the fossil record). This conflict is seen most pointedly seen in the statement of origins. Genesis clearly states God created the Heavens and the Earth, all life, and all varieties of life in 6 days. Science clearly claims the Cosmos was created over 13 billion years, life emerged spontaneously, and varieties of life evolved from a common ancestor.

    I have discussed these positions at length elsewhere, and this is not the venue to reaffirm those points. I recognize that Religiously and Scientifically there are a million variations for these interpretations. One of the most common attempts at a middle ground is simply to assume when the Bible makes a statement that is NOT accepted Scientifically, then the passage is allegorical. This is usually assumed for about 15 chapters, ususally Gen 1-11, and Job 38-41. Note that these 15 chapters cover about 1% out of 1189 chapters of the Bible as a whole. For simplicity's sake, I limit the BPOD articles to address what God has actually said, with acknowledgement of scientific data that has the least amount of assumptions.

    I do not expect to convince anyone with alternate views. My main goal is to show WHAT the Bible says. I believe we should humbly submit to Gods Word, and that Science is a gift that helps us to see His World. I believe Eternal Revelation can never be ultimately validated by Changeable Interpretations of Consensual Observation. I also believe Changeable Interpretations of Observation may not be able to be validated by Scripture until all things are known.
    Formats Lastly, because of the personal time I have put into this research, you may notice some unconventional renderings of data. For example, I often repeatedly describe kings by date, location, dynasty, number, name, and alternates. I have come to do this to help prevent the confusion that easily occurs when comparing similar names or locations, such as the many cities of "Aphek" or of the many kings named "Darius". Another "peculiar" convention of mine is the insistence on rendering dates and locations in a specific format. For example:
    -0004 BC +0033 AD Mesopotamia, Israel / Jesus teaches and heals before dying and rising alive.

    While these conventionalities are occasionally unneeded, I feel that overall they help link often unfamiliar data between timeframes, locations, spellings, and scope. If this is cumbersome to you, please be patient and just "bleep" over that info. I feel that those who, in the long run, wish to connect the dots between a large scope of information will find these conventions quite helpful!
    Conventions Another important perspective I feel bears mentioning. It appears to me that most people do not have a framework for approaching history. Yet, As one man put it, "He who will study the Bible will become a student of History". For those of us desiring to communicate truth (in detail), it is necessary to have some basic starting points. In my own search for truth, I was delighted to study more than Biblical History... That investment has resulted in the approach I call "Millenial Posts" on "HAMICE".

    • "Millenial Posts" was a strategy employed by historians of the 1700's where history was grouped by millenia (one thousand year blocks of time). This is arbitrary, of course, but all science use arbitrary characteristics for classification. It is important to note millenial posts do not define history, but offer a starting point and tool to organize.

    • "HAMICE" refers to primary Cultures, specifically: Hebrews (sometimes Canaan), Africans (often Egypt), Mesopotamia (sometimes called the Levant, or Ancient Near East), India, China, and Europe. When it is necessary to go beyound this, I usually add what i call the "A5": America North, America Central, Americal South, Australia, Antartica.

    These conventions allow a starting point for context. Those who are weak in History can quickly get a scope for the range of time by considering Millenial Posts. Those who are weak in Geography can quickly get a scope for the range of locations by considering HAMICE. Those who are strong in these subjects will benefit with a rational, consistent, and easily identifiable scope to facilitate communicating to others. Remember... everyone is on a Learning Journey, and the Bible is for Everyone!
    ✍ Articles Include...

    All Articles include: Item, Reference, Verse, Label, Description, Significance; where:
  • Item: The item includes a reference number, and a generic item name

  • Verse: This is the Bible Verse, and it is clickable to get the Chapter.
    The Speaker icon takes you to the Chapter reading.
    The Verses do not match up to a BRP (Bible Reading Plan). They are in the order of Scripture.

  • Label: The label is a meaningfully descriptive title.
    • The topics include: Tablets, Scrolls, Seals, Statues, Structures, Inscriptions, Coins, Cities, Pottery, Artifacts, etc...

  • Description & Sources:
    You can click [ SHOW LESS ] or [ SHOW MORE ] to control the amount of detail.
    Some links have additional information by hovering over them.
    Some links have additional information by hovering over them.
    Other colors are used to help organize information; for example green usually refers to quoted information.

    General Sources, a Partial List:

    Additional Sources, a Partial List:

  • Significance: The significance is a conclusion about the image or article.
    • In general it summarized how the verse is supported by the image and text.
    🏺 Evidences Summary (Shortcut!)

    An Evidences Summary is below:
    We can acknowledge from the bulk of historical evidences that the Bible is a historical book.
    In fact, there are so many evidences, it is difficult to filter out a select set of important representatives.
    That is what this section is for!
    Big3: We can start by examining 3:

    Big5: If opportunity permits, we can look at 5:

    Big10: To continue, we can look at 10:

    Big20_Groups: This is a list of 20 groups (NOT items!) of evidences:
    ➡️ Button Navigation

    Button Navigation is below:
    buttons description
    <<  Reverses the Images 10% of total.
     <  Reverses the Image one frame.
     >  Advances the Image one frame.
    >>  Advances the Images 10% of total.
    BEG takes you to Genesis.
    END takes you to Revelation.
    PRO adjusts the Image proportionally, for a correct perspective.
    SUM presents a clickable summary of all the images.
    Note that Duplicate images blink Purple in the Summary View.
    Note that Selected images blink Yellow in the Summary View.

    At the right of the navigation bar there is an "Search" box for entering search text.
    A Search is NOT case sensitive, and (for now) only searches within the descriptions.
    A Search MAY be started by pressing Enter; or you may "click" on the Search button.
    If there is more than one result, you are shown the list of related scripture.
    Of course, other functions are suspended during a search.
    Note that some scriptures have more than one article; these are alternate analysis or views of the item.
    👯 Handling Duplication

    A note about Duplication...

    There are some "mirror" books in the Bible that cover similar events.
    The main examples include:
  • details shared between 2_Samuel & 1_Chronicles
  • details shared between 1&2 Kings & 2_Chronicles
  • details shared between the History with the Prophets
  • details shared within the 4 Gospels
  • details shared within Acts and the Epistles
    Because of this overlap, some duplication of events is inevitable.
  • Currently, the Duplicate images blink Purple in the summary view.

    In general, the earlier books usually have the main detail (and charts),
    while the later references include an alternate image or item of limited focus.

    And now some Statistics

    This section includes data to visualize the distribution of images for this project.
    The images only represent data for information that is visually applicable.
    In reality archaeological images are not spread uniformly, (as they are dependent on available discovery).
    Note: Counts are off for a few until the chapters for last duplicates issue are resolved.

    This chart shows you the number of images per book chapters:
    • ⏳ Improvements...

    Eventually, I would like to include these improvements:

  • Coverage: Continued refinement for new discoveries, better pictures, clearer evidences.

  • Weight: Evidence_Weight is a high level evaluation of the relative value.
    • Weight could be ranked as "low", "medium", or "high".
    Low weighted items would be included for interest, context, and clarity,
    and are info not specifically evidential.
  • Citation: more complete documentation to sources for information.
    • • References from ancient writers: like Manetho, Herodotus, Tacitus, Josephus, are usually used.
    I already do this in most cases, but there are some that are not fully referenced.

    • I write my own descriptions now but would like to add references for claims, conclusions, or resource sites.
    For example, more formal connections or links to sources like: BM, ETCSL, CTEXT, Livius, Jstor, ISTA, etc.
    Again, I already do this in many cases, but there are some that are not fully referenced.

    • Images were originally taken randomly from the web as I studied a subject.
    Citations from BiblePlaces, BM, Wiki, etc. would be a useful enhancement.

    • Verse references: a refinement to the use of verses for searches based on verse.
    Also a consistent representation of verses used in duplicate enties.
  • Navigation: links that process scripture and images for the summaries.
    • Navigation relocated to invite summarization.
    Navigation to duplicate references may be helpful.
    🔴 Contact

    Home Site
    Website: mamgeorge.altervista.org
    Email: mamgeorge@yahoo.com
    Martin George, 1315 Carbone Drive, Columbus Ohio, 43224

    Support
    This website and its research represents an act of love and devotion.
    It has required hundreds of hours of personal time.
    It is not supported by any other ministeries.

    It is my sincere hope that this effort builds the faith and minds of brothers and sisters everywhere.
    I believe, although it has cost me time and energy,
    that this collection of evidences is a service that should always be free.
    It can only be updated and improved when there are resources of time outside my conventional work.

    If you have found that this presentation and research is helpful to you or others,
    and you would like to ensure its perpetuation and development,
    please consider supporting the development of this site.