My own crisis of faith began when I started to make a film investigating the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. I interviewed scholars and archaeologists who told me there was no evidence for the Exodus, it was just a myth. But then I heard of new archaeological discoveries being made at the ancient city of Rameses. A city and a people had been uncovered that appeared to match the biblical story. Rameses is mentioned in the Bible as the location where the biblical Joseph and his family, the early Israelites, settled.. I knew I had to go to the dig site and talk with Professor Manfred Bietak, one of the world’s most respected Egyptologists. You see I was raised in a single parent home. My mom would read the Bible to us kids every night before bed. I believed it was true and so did my mom. So when I traveled to a remote area in the Nile Delta to meet this world famous Egyptologist, it all came to a head. I asked him, “Is there any evidence for the early Israelites?” He said, “So far, not!” His words stunned me. Here I had gone to the other side of the world, to a place where most people would never travel and talked with the one man who would know after digging there for over 30 years, and he said there was no sign of a people matching the Israelites at the city of Rameses. I began to have doubts about the historical validity of the Bible.

Have you ever asked yourself did the events in the Bible really happened? A lot of people like you and me have, if they are honest, admit to suffering from doubts. They want to know, Is their faith real? Is it worth dying for? Can we stand up for our faith in the marketplace of ideas? And should they pass their faith on to their children and grandchildren? If the history of the Bible never happened, then what is our faith grounded in? As Paul said of the resurrection, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.” (1 Corinthians 15:17)

For over 12 years I continued to work on the investigation and made a film called, Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. During that time, my doubts and questions were answered and my belief was confirmed. What I found was an incredible pattern of evidence matching this foundational biblical account. The ARRIVAL of Joseph and his family in Egypt, their MULTIPLICATION and ENSLAVEMENT, the JUDGMENT of Egypt, the EXODUS of the people of Israel out of Egypt, and the CONQUEST of the Promised Land. There was evidence for every step!

One amazing part of the evidence that had a big impact on me was found at the very location my crisis of faith had started. A settlement of people was found under the ancient city of Rameses that matched the story of Joseph and his family arriving in Egypt. This evidence had previously not been linked to the Bible because it was from a level that was lower (or older) than what was expected for the Israelites. The settlement started as a few houses of foreigners from the north that were allowed by Egypt to live there – just as Pharaoh allowed Joseph’s family to come in and settle in Egypt. In the middle of this settlement was a Syrian-style house, which was the type of house used in the area of Haran where Joseph’s father Jacob, and his great grandfather Abraham came from. After a while, this house was flattened and on top of it was built a royal palace, however the occupant was not an Egyptian but a high official from the Canaan/Syria area who wore a multi-colored coat. Behind the palace was a cemetery with a pyramid tomb (something usually reserved for Egyptian royals) and 11 other major tombs. All of these discoveries matched the biblical account of Pharaoh rewarding Joseph for saving Egypt and Joseph and his 11 brothers dying and being buried in the land of Egypt. And this is just one of many pieces of evidence I’ve learned about that match the history recorded in the Bible.

The bottom line is that though I believed, I still had doubts. However, there is evidence that shows the Bible is true, if only we are willing to search and think.