Posted 12/24/2002 06:08:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Here's another perspective on the Temple Mount:

Just the other day, an Israeli archaeologist took me through a 3,800-year-old passageway where old Jerusalem's early inhabitants, the Jebusites, and later King David collected water for what became the old city of Jerusalem. Then he showed me a relatively new dig in the passageway, whose characteristics perplexed archaeologists until someone remembered a passage in the Book of Kings.

I was standing precisely where King David had Solomon anointed 3,000 years ago. I am by nature a skeptic, but cross-referencing the hard evidence of archaeology with Biblical passages makes a strong case. The archaeological site is called Ir David. It constitutes a massive endorsement of Biblical authenticity and is eminently deserving of book-length treatment.

There are other digs in the Old City that are not so encouraging. Whereas the Israelis respect sacred places, the Palestinian Authority does not. Their police have taken over the Temple Mount with the sufferance of the Israeli government that controls it. Against the will of Jews and Christians, who judge it sacred, and of archaeologists, who consider it worthy of careful study, these religious bigots are carting away tons of ancient earth to build a huge mosque for political purposes. They are defiling a sacred and archaeologically invaluable location on a 3,000-year-old site to establish a political claim to the site, and no one is stopping them. read more...