Minutia or not?

So, I'm very concerned with the use of the word "minutia" to describe defending the faith, even on matters that seems small. Dr. John MacArthur defines expository preaching and simply "explaining the Bible." So, while the church at-large just wants to help people feel better, they are being drawn away by false conclusions to problems where archeology and the Bible don't agree at first glance. Take, for instance, the following article by Carl Kerby of Reasons for Hope. I'll post the link directly to it, and quote the article below. We need preachers who can explain the Bible and help Christians think in a time when we are asked to be bad exegetes.

Study disproves the Bible's suggestion that the Canaanites were wiped out. 

posted at https://www.rforh.com/resources/live-it/bible-proven-wrong

If you didn’t,  Bible believing Christian, you should be afraid, you should be very afraid.  And that’s because the Bible has been proven wrong, again! 

Christians, what in the world are we doing?  How is it that we’ve been so easily deceived and why would we continue to believe in a book that’s so easily proven false?  I know, I know.  It’s because we need a “crutch” to get us through life and all we have is “faith”!

One of the greatest blessings in my life is to have the opportunity to work with younger generation and to challenge them to think.  Parents, please allow me to STRONGLY encourage you and your children to consider taking Juan’s class on “Teaching How to Think and NOT What to Think!” and/or my class on “What About . . . Fossils?” from out upcoming online Academy of Hope starting in January 2018.  And the reason is when we start critically evaluating what the media is feeding us we don’t need to be afraid.  Let’s critically evaluate this article.

DNA Research Shows Canaanites Were Not Wiped Out By Israelites
International Business Times
Daniela Cobos
July 28, 2017 

Let’s read further:
“A study published Thursday found that the ancient Canaanites were not destroyed by the Israelites as the Bible says, but rather that they went on to become modern-day Lebanese.” 

There you go, the Bible is wrong.  The Canaanites weren’t destroyed as the Bible says.  The article even quotes Deuteronomy 20:16-18 to back up their position: 

"The ancient Canaanites lived in the cities Sodom and Gomorrah, which were reportedly destroyed by God, according to the Book of Genesis. The Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy said God told the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites."

“Do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them otherwise they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshipping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God to the Israelites.” 

They continue:
“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 study read. “However, no archaeological evidence has so far been found to support widespread destruction of Canaanite cities between the Bronze and Iron Ages. We show that present-day Lebanese derive most of their ancestry from a Canaanite-related population, which therefore implies substantial genetic continuity in the Levant since at least the Bronze Age.” 

It’s a double whammy, there’s no archaeological evidence to support their destruction AND there’s genetic evidence showing they weren’t destroyed!  What are we to do?
I have a novel idea, how about we read the Bible to see what it actually teaches.  Here’s what’s amazing, when you do that, this research actually reinforces that the Bible is true!
Yes, it’s true that the Israelites were commanded to destroy the Canaanites in the book of Deuteronomy.  But, if you continue to read the Scripture we find out that they didn’t do what they were told to do.  Take for instance: 

Joshua 23:7-12 – The Israelites are reminded to not marry or mix with the nations that worshiped other gods, which included the Canaanites. 

Judges 1:21-36 – Here we see that the Canaanites had not been driven out.  Verse 31 states very clearly that the city of Sidon was not taken. 

Judges 2:20-23 – Does it get any clearer than this? 

²⁰ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice,  ²¹ I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, ²² in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” ²³ So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua. 

These are just a few verses showing that the Canaanites were NOT totally destroyed.  So, the bottom line is that the Bible isn’t discredited by these findings, but instead it has been vindicated! 

Don’t just read the headlines!  As Christians we’ve got to dig deeper and teach a generation to do just that if we’re going to overcome the misinformation that is so prevalent in our world today.

Stay Bold!