OK, so I made up that quote, loosely based on something that someone said<\/a>, perhaps pretending to be Solomon at the time, and more likely the final editor of the book in question, and thus pretending to be someone pretending to be Solomon.<\/p>\n But that itself, I hope, illustrates the point, and the problem. For many people engaging in amateur investigations of matters related to the past, the search stops at some arbitrary point with what a text says, or a treasure-hunter says an artifact is. But for the professional historian or scholar, this is not enough. The artifact must be authenticated, and the earliest account(s)<\/a> must be sifted through and critically examined. Often this leaves us uncertain about important subjects, and able to only very cautiously answer key questions with qualifications such as \u201cBased on the available evidence, it seems most likely that\u2026\u201d But I guess that is why treasure-hunters and fundamentalists make the news more frequently than professional historians and scholars. Arrogant<\/a> and ill-founded confidence<\/a> inspires confidence in others, including congregations and journalists, in a way that it should not, while the caution of experts fails to inspire confidence, even though it should.<\/p>\n Even while the media<\/a> has begun to take notice<\/a> of serious doubts about the authenticity of the lead codices, a new story<\/a> is circulating<\/a> about the alleged discovery of the nails with which Jesus was crucified. I wonder if they are made of lead and have inscriptions upon them, and had earlier been used to hold Noah\u2019s Ark together.<\/p>\n Bob Cargill<\/a>, Jim Davila<\/a>, Mark Goodacre<\/a>, David Meadows<\/a>,\u00a0John Byron<\/a>,\u00a0Helek Tov<\/a>, Michael Heiser<\/a> and even<\/a> Jim West<\/a>\u00a0have commented on this topic.<\/p>\n Fortunately, MSNBC already seems to be entertaining doubts<\/a> about this one.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/msnbcmedia3.msn.com\/j\/MSNBC\/Components\/Photo\/_new\/pb-110412-jesus-da-01.grid-6x2.jpg\")
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