Timothy Mahoney says, “Is the Bible true? If not, what should I put my faith in?” Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy comes to movie theaters nationwide March 14, 16, and 19. This new documentary examines controversy regarding true authorship of the Bible.
Award-winning filmmaker Timothy Mahoney, known for Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus, is bringing evidence to light in the ongoing debate about the true authorship of the first five books of the Bible in his latest documentary: Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy. Presented by Fathom Events and Thinking Man Films, in Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy, Mahoney invites viewers on a global trek to uncover the truth behind the oldest and most significant book in history—the Bible. The thought-provoking documentary features fascinating interviews with some of the world’s leading experts in Egyptology, ancient Hebrew, religion and archaeology, and asks hard questions in search of evidence to determine once and for all whether Moses could really have authored the Torah.
Mahoney asks, “If Moses did not author the Torah, as Scripture says, then some of the Bible is true, and some is not. How can we know what to trust?
See the film for three nights only.
Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy highlights one of the most groundbreaking
discoveries of the modern age and presents well-organized “patterns” to answer what could be the most important question for people of faith. With stunning cinematography and life-like
recreations, Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy will captivate audiences of all ages.
Searching for the answer to the question, “Is the Bible the inspired word of God? Or is it something else?”, award-winning investigative filmmaker Timothy Mahoney and his Patterns of Evidence team return with a brand-new examination into these questions in The Moses Controversy.
Mahoney was reared to believe the stories of the Bible were true. But some scholars believe the Bible’s claim that Moses wrote the Exodus journey as an eyewitness account is an exaggerated tale. These scholars emphatically declare Moses didn’t even have a writing system like Hebrew to record it; instead, the writing of Exodus came more than one thousand years after the fact.
Timothy P. Mahoney (Director and Producer). Photo Courtesy Thinking Man Films
Because the Bible claims that Moses was the author of one of the greatest stories in the entire Bible—the Israelites’ exodus out of Egypt and their journey to Mt. Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God—Mahoney realizes that the question of Moses’ ability to write its first books impacts the credibility of the entire Bible. Mahoney’s intense research provides amazing answers, insights, and explanations to these issues and related questions.
Timothy Mahoney is the director of Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy. Tim is the founder of Thinking Man Films and previously produced the award-winning documentary Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus, a 12-year investigation he undertook after going through a crisis of faith while investigating the historical credibility of the Exodus and Conquest. Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus, was released nationwide and was internationally distributed on Netflix and other networks.
Tim’s career in media began in 1980 with the development of a recording studio and music record label. In 1989 Tim started his own advertising agency, which produced over a thousand commercials and videos, including two national TV specials. In 2014 Tim founded Thinking Man Films & Media, an international documentary and publishing company with a focus on exploring some the biggest questions of the past and what they mean for our world today.
Dr. Diane Howard for Sonoma Christian Home has a profound and fascinating exclusive interview with Tim Mahoney.
Animation depicts Moses speaking from the base of Mt. Sinai in “Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy.” Photo Courtesy Thinking Man Films
SCH: As a researcher myself, I understand the importance of patterns in research in seeking Truth and for building a case for what you discover about Truth. What patterns did you find in your research about the life of Moses?
TM: I did not decide to make this film until 1 ½ years ago. I decided to make it after seeing a pattern of unbelief and questions about the authorship of the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) by Moses. I began to see that I needed to address this, laying the Moses Controversy on the table. I began to think about a pattern of questions: 1. What if I looked for writing before and beyond the Dead Sea Scrolls of around 200 BC? 2. What if I looked 1200 years earlier at Moses’ writing? 3. What if I looked at Semitic writing at the time of Moses? 4. What if I looked at writing in Egypt at the time of Moses? 5. Could I find an alphabetic system of writing at this time? 6. Because most scholars say that Hebrew did not exist until hundreds of years after Moses, did the Hebrews use a simple alphabetic system that Moses could use and that the Israelites could read and write? 7. Was there an alphabetic form of writing at the right time and place related to Moses? 8. Was there a Semitic form of writing in the time of Moses? 9. If so, was it an earlier form of Hebrew?
In this film, we investigate a connection to the oldest alphabet and Hebrew, that it looks like Hebrew, it reads like Hebrew, and it existed in history at the time the Israelites were in Egypt- in the form of script scholars call Proto-Sinaitic.
SCH: What has been your process in looking for patterns in researching for your films?
TM: For the first film, Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus, for example, we needed to look at more than one piece of the story. We needed the right pattern. We needed to look for answers to our questions at the right time and in the right sequence: first arrival of a small group of Israelites, their enslavement, their multiplication, the judgement, the exodus, and the conquest.
SCH: Why does it matter that Moses wrote the Torah?
TM: Many others in the Bible refer to Moses including the following: Jesus, John, Luke, Philip, Peter, Stephen, Paul, James, and the writer of Hebrews. Jesus said in John 5:46 47 “…If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” If we dismiss Moses as the author of the first books of the Bible, then we damage the credibility of the rest of the Bible.
SCH: Where and when did the alphabet first emerge and develop?
TM: Some scholars are suggesting that it was likely Joseph or his family who first developed it. Then it was written on walls of Egyptian mines in the Sinai Peninsula by slaves. When Moses gave the Ten Commandments, given by God, he had commandments people could read. In Deuteronomy 6:6- 9, Moses told the people “…Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.…” Scholars in our film are making the case that evidence supports that this alphabetical writing system was a form of early Hebrew.
SCH: What were some of the most surprising insights you experienced in your research?
TM: It sends chills when I think of what we observed and discovered. I believe a case can be made that the alphabet was given by God as a divine gift so that people could understand who God is and so that His Word could be written down, maintained, communicated carefully, and communicated simply so that even children could read it and understand it. And the history of the world demonstrates that this is exactly what happened – no other book in the world has utilized the alphabet into more languages and been printed in to more copies then the Bible.
SCH: What was a challenge you faced in your research?
TM: Accepted and faulty dating systems were and are a big problem.
SCH: What is the significance of what you have discovered?
TM: The primary significance is the verification of the Bible, especially for our children.
Striking animation shows Moses addressing the Hebrew people at Mt. Sinai, in “Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy.” Photo Courtesy Thinking Man Films
SCH: What are some of your upcoming projects?
TM: We are currently working on two more films: The Red Sea Miracle and the Journey to Mount Sinai.
SCH: Why did you need to make The Moses Controversy?
TM: The biggest overarching question is whether Moses actually had the ability to write the events of the Exodus as a true eye-witness account, as is referenced in Scripture, or did the Exodus of Israel predate alphabetic writing. Most mainstream scholars believe Moses’ authorship to be an impossibility due to the commonly-cited historical date of about 900 B.C. for the first Hebrew alphabet in which the Torah is written. This would place the first Hebrew script hundreds of years after Moses and the Exodus. Mahoney examines the earliest forms of text including hieroglyphics, and more recently-discovered cave inscriptions found in the Sinai region which some believe links the Hebrews to an early alphabetic system and offers a new narrative about the origins of the first alphabet.
“Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy” reimagines the ancient Egyptian capital of Avaris. Photo Courtesy Thinking Man Films
“In my own search for the evidence, I had to ask myself if I believe the Bible because it’s true, or because it’s just what I believed because of my upbringing,” says Mahoney. “Since the rest of the Bible is based on the writings of Moses, the credibility of the exodus and the rest of the Bible is directly connected to the question of Moses’ authorship.”
Mahoney discovers a hidden truth when he uncovers overwhelming evidence that the world’s first alphabet was given by God to the early Israelites, which Moses later used to author the first books of the Bible. He believes that Moses used this first alphabet to write the inspired words of God so the world could know God and have a relationship with Him.
The first alphabetic writing has been one of the most revolutionary inventions in the last 4,000 years, and the foundation for all of the alphabets in the modern world, because it is so simple that even a child can understand it. It has provided an easy way for common people to learn God’s word, teach it to their children, and share their knowledge of God with others: “You shall teach them diligently to your children… You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9.
The Bible is called “The WORD OF GOD” and in the New Testament the first verses of the Gospel of John make this statement. “In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God. He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1-2
Thinking Man Films and its publishing division, Thinking Man Media, is an international media company that creates investigative documentaries, books and curriculum. The company is led by Timothy Mahoney, filmmaker of the highly acclaimed, award-winning documentary Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. Winner of 13 awards, the original film has been endorsed by many Christian leaders and scholars including Anne Graham Lotz, Dr. Norman Geisler and Dr. Walt Kaiser.
Traveling throughout the Middle East to see where the patterns lead, Mahoney uncovers profound new scientific evidence you have to see to believe! This Fathom Film Event includes a discussion with moderator, Todd Starnes, along with filmmaker, Tim Mahoney, Os Guiness, Michael Medved, and A.R. Bernard.
For more information, please visit: Patterns of Evidence; Twitter- @pattofevidence; Facebook- patternsofevidence; and Instagram- @patternsofevidence; Hashtags: #PatternsOfEvidence, #MosesControversy.
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