♪ ♪ tonight, a special holiday event. was the christmas star real? >> there was extraordinary activity in the skies. >> do noah's flood happen? >> the land that went under, stayed under. >> where is the garden of eden? >> figure out where all four rivers are, and then you've got the location. >> come along on an epic journey around the world and across time with christiane am man pour. the danger is real. >> our guide is carrying a gun. >> and so are the discoveries.

>> look at this, guys. is this cool or what? >> as we trace the spectacular saga of greed, envy, love, betrayal, and forgiveness back, back to the beginning with christiane am monopour. you get the sense of how one all powerful god spread across the regions. hu hello, i would like to invite you on a journey back in time where we explore the history and the mysteries of some of the oldest stories ever told. ♪ ♪ we start in a place that many of us are thinking about this time of year, bethlehem. where the bible tells us that a young woman named marcy stopped

for the night and sheppards, angels and kings were led by an especially bright star to worship and welcome her newborn child. >> he's the prince of peace. that's what we call him. that's what christmas is all about. >> and so every year, 2 million pilgrims are drawn here to the church of the nativity where there is a small cave that marks the humble begins of their savior. >> i'm excited to be here. >> do you believe this is where jesus was born? >> i do. >> i met alexander drew and his mother who traveled from north carolina to connect with their faith. >> i believe it's somewhere here, where it's right at that spot, i don't know. now when i go down there into the graddo i may feel that's the place. >> they purr -- pupurr fie this

place. down here in this church of nativity is this alter marked by a silver star and where christians and the tradition says all of this began, this is where they believe jesus was born. the faithfully gathered in this intimate space believing the birth of jesus here was the fulfillment vwith predictions that begin. 7 miles north is the city of nas rit. where the angel gabe yell first told the virgin mary that she would bare his savior. >> i think mary's response to the angel's words is nothing less than startling. instead of saying impossible. mary said, bring it on, let's roll.

what took you so long? >> she had good reason to welcome the news. mary like jesus was gee wish and for generations profits like isaiah told the gee wish people a messiah would come and lead them to destiny. >> many jews were looking for a king and the lord himself will give you a sign. >> the virgin would conceive and bear a son. >> from noah to moses to the profits, mary answered the call and she's become an icon to more than just christians. >> in fact, in the koran, she is the only woman who has a chapter dedicated to her. mary is the most unifying factor within all world religion. >> back at the cave beneath the church of the nativity in

bethlehem, alex arounder and his mother teresa finally get their turn to touch the silver star. >> its unbelievable to think this is where jesus was born. >> you know, actually being able to go down and touch the stone, you know, every christmas, this is what we hear about. before i wasn't really sure about my faith but now here seeing this, i love it. it's amazing. >> the chris htmas story is abo stars and light. in the gospels a star leads the three wisemen to the newborn child. >> at that time when new stars were seen, it was usually the birth of an important prominent person. ♪ ♪ >> but could there have really been such a star on the night jesus was born? >> scientists do indicate there was extraordinary activity in

the skies. >> but for many alcohscholars, looking for proof of bethlehem or any nativity misses the point. >> we don't know much about the historical birth of jesus, but we know the tales told are power chl and beautiful and moving to the present day. >> the story we celebrate this holiday season didn't start, it follows the stories of all our ancient ancestors. if you think about it, the bible is a story of a family, an epic tale. st they started by fighting and making peace and rules to live by and keep them or at least to learn from mistakes and like every family, they were convinced they were special,

even when everything was working against them. so to really understand this great family saga, i brought along my son derrious as we set on this epic journey. flying high. look at this. and low above the nile delta in egypt. >> try not to, at least. >> what do moe sustained do? >> received the ten commandments. >> we visited ark logical digs. >> isn't it so cool we're up here? >> so cool. >> and saw unexpected reminders of home. >> what is the difference between this and the washington monument? >> we are on a train to cairo. >> darrius is the reason i'm on this journey. my mother is a christian from england and my father is a

muslim from iran. i marry add gied a jewish ameri. i spent most of my professional life traveling from conflict to conflict where the bloodshed usually had something to do with religion. so we wanted to find out whether these biblical stories shared have the power not just to divide and harm, but to unite and heal. extraordinary just staring out of the window, and you see all these mosques, over laying churches and i think one of the extraordinary things is to realize and remember that christianity, ju dism and islam have so much in common. and these three faiths trace back to the biblical pate arks, back to the beginning. the real search for the garden of eden and what do we really know about adam and eve?

the amazing journey around the world and across time when "back to the beginning" with christiane amanpour returns. once upon a time, an insurance clerk stumbled upon a cottage. [knock] no one was at home, but on the kitchen table sat three insurance policies. the first had lots of coverage. the second, only a little. but the third was... just right! bear: hi! yeah, we love visitors. that's why we moved to a secluded house in the middle of the wilderness.

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tells us god created the heavens and the earth, then god's winds swept over the surface of the dark waters and god said let there be light. he separated the day from the night and then he created this. after that god saw it was good so then it goes the story of humanity, our story begins. god created a man and a woman, and gave them a perfect place to live, a garden called eden. >> well the garden is depicted as an archard. god gives them this wonderful orchard, tells them they can eat all the food they want. >> and they live in peace with the animals and with one another. it's an image of peace, completion, wholeness. >> when we imagine the garden of

eden, most of us think like a paradise like this, better than anything we could ever find on earth, but what does the piebl actually say about where it all began? >> the biblical description is actually very short. it just says there are four rivers. tigers and the other two are actually kind of unknown. that's the problem. if you can figure out where all four rivers are, you got the location. >> and it is the tantalizing mention of these two remaining rivers that is fueled the never-ending search for the garden of eden, for centuries people have looked everywhere from the deaths of the persian gulf to rural missouri and even the planet mars. >> i have a problem with the whole looking for garden of eden because how do you know when you found it? there is no sign post to it, because writing hasn't been invented yet. >> which brings us back to the bible story, and the two rivers

that we can locate today, the tigers and ufrates. where civilization first began, a perfect backdrop to the biblical beginning. >> you've got the place that early man and early women could live and kind of harmony and with the food readily accessible and all that. that's what we're really talking about is an earthly paradise. >> we're told adam and eve have everything they could ever need, but in order to keep all this, they had to obey one rule. >> god tells adam and eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. >> and god warns them that if they disobeyed, they would die. a snake comes along and says once you got access to the tree of wisdom, you can become like the gods, you can move up the ladder. >> in a very human moment we're told eve couldn't resist the

temptation to take more, so she took a bite and passed the apple to adam. it was the snack that changed history. >> the man and woman hide because they are afraid because they know they have done something wrong. >> when god says did you eat? it's adam that points the finger at eve, and not only at eve but at god because he says she gave me and you gave her to me. >> now an angry god casts his creation out of paradise and just like adam, throughout the millenn millennia, everybody blamed eve. >> adam said that fruit? i'm not going to eat it, but he took the fruit and ate it. >> does that trouble you the way it's portray snd. >> of course it's troubling, but it he minds me the bible, we say

it's a defying document, it's written from a man's point of view. >> ironically, in the muslim holy book, the cokoran, there i much to go around. >> they are co-equal human beings and that's something important to keep in mind. >> in the end, it didn't really matter whose fault it was. they both suffered the consequences of disobeying god. the first lesson of again that sis, is cold and hard. for humans sustaining life on this earth is not meant to be easy. >> we have to go out into the cold suffering world where we labor by the sweat of our brows and have to suffer and die. >> and we christians believe this is why jesus came, to solve that problem. to pay the penalty for sin. >> but maybe when eve made the

choice that christians call original sin, it was something more, maybe it was the first act of original thought. >> adam and eve. >> free will? >> absolutely free will. you can make a choice. that's the worst thing that faces a human beings. you can choose. >> on our journey we met believers that say it's straight from the mouth of god. >> do you think that it happened. >> and we met others, everyone those of faith who believe that these are stories and have been passed down through the generations. >> what brought you to israel? a record of the people's structural with the world and their place in it. so how are we meant to read the book of creation? >> this is a wonderful myth, a

myth is more than history. it's telling you the meaning of history, the meaning of events. >> god can communicate truth through different types of literature. it doesn't always have to be newspaper style account of what happened. >> for instance, was the world created in seven days, or did it take millions of years of evolution? both. >> you're saying that as a catholic priest? >> yes, absolutely. >> science gives us insight into the how, how the universal works, how particles behave, but it gives zero insight into why and why are we here? what's the meaning of it all? for some people, religion offers some degree of insight into those very important questions. >> important and difficult questions the bible forces us to think about like jealousy and

range and why some people come to harm and hate each other in the first children, the first siblings. cane is a sheppard and able is a farmer, both are for sacrifices to god, but god likes able better. >> this is about life as we know it, and life as we know it is not fair. we feel the pain of those god hasn't chosen. >> in a fit of jealousy, cane kills his brother able. >> this was sort of the first example that we ever saw of murder, and, you know, the gravity with which god holds the taking of another human life. >> and yet, with the passage of thousands of years, humankind is still at it. as surely as cane killed able, the slaughter of innocence continues in the very place the bible tells us this story was set, today's syria. racked by the most brutal of

wars. and in a sleepy down in connecticut, the horrifying massacre of children in their elementary school. >> how do we make sense of our torn world and our torn personalities and the conflict and despair we fall into when we saw suffering and misjustice. >> what the bible does well is help us ask really good questions. how could we do this better? if i were in this person's shoes, how would i have acted? if i'm judge and jury, what punishment would i assess? and god for bid, if i committed that crime, what would i want my peers to do to me? coming up, with all the extreme weather punishing our planet, hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, imagining noah's flood isn't hard to do. did it happen? we meet a man that's convinced it did, and he's building an ark of his own. [ male announcer ] this is george.

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♪ ♪ the story of noah and his ark is one of the bible's best known and best loved. so we came here to the netherlands, chris crossed by canals and sitting below sea level where people live under the constant threat of flooding. we heard a modern day noah had done something extraordinary. thanks for having us on your ark. >> thank you. >> i never thought i would say

that to anybody. >> he built himself his own biblical ark. so that was a rooster? >> it was a rooster. >> what animals have you got in your ark? >> plastic animals. >> not quite like noah? >> no, he had the real animals. >> in fact, it was a real flood that inspired him to build this ark. he nearly drowned in a storm surge in 199 2, and the next day a book caught his eye among the wreckage. >> it was a big book "the ark of noah" and looking at a big book and i said i'll build the ark of noah. my children run and tell my wife. >> what did your wife say? >> she was not happy. >> women are sensible. >> it took me 13 years to get permission. >> it took you 13 years to

convince her? >> yeah. >> you must have really believe in this. >> 100%. >> it took him over four years to build his ark and he even used the bible as a blueprint. >> putting on the elbow is the length, 50 eloquent low is the length. >> when you say elbow -- >> from here to the top of your fingers. >> your cubic -- >> because nobody knows how big noah was at that time. >> according to the bible, noah spent 120 years on his ark and it's every child's favorite story. when the flood finally did come, he was ready. >> they sent two of every animal, two of every one, from the giraffes to the small little ants and the bears. it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and finally, the whole entire earth was flooded. >> adam shaft is 17 when he meet

him and as fantastic as the noah story sound, tonight not far from his home in new york, people are trying to cope with the aftermath of hurricane sanity. whether it's a devastating storm hitting the present day united states, or 7,000 years ago when a wave washes away the home you've built, the children and community you love, the first question we all ask is why? >> life often seems inexplicable, and we need to make sense of it. we need something that will help you to aswag your grief and an wish and rage. these biblical stories are a way of finding meaning. >> when i was younger, this story was kind of a fairy tale for me. i think when you get older, you kind of see the sadness and kind of the sorrow in the story

because lots of people die in this flood. ♪ ♪ >> destroying the earth, the bible tells us is the only thing god ever regrets, so he sends a rainbow as a promise. >> this rainbow shows that god will never sent a flood again to hurt humanity, and all the animals that live on this earth. >> what happens next is left out of the colorful pages of storybooks. >> noah comes out of the ark and he plant as vineyard and gets drunk. i was remembering a story of a holocaust survivor who went home to his village, and found everyone had gone. he said i could understand exactly why noah got drunk. if you imagine what it would have been like after the flood, devastation, all these swollen, bloated bodying lying around. terrible. >> and it turns out that flood stories like this are not unique

to the bible. they can be found all over the ancient world. >> niethese stories didn't drop from heaven one day, a clump of words in one form. these stories developed in a certain place in time. >> leading some archaeologists to believe they are based on real events. >> people do not make these things up, so does this mean that we've got a flood back, way back in anticty? it may well. this flood is createed to explain something that happened. >> but in the biblical account, the story is layered with new meaning. the flood is sent for a punishment of people's sins. >> hurricane katrina, was a judgment. >> we had an earth quick. we had a hurricane. he said are you going to listen to me here? >> you know even today, some christians will say that the

tsunamis and the floods are retribution from god for sins that are being committed today. >> some christians say that. i don't know on what basis they would say it. >> on the noah basis. >> in the fallen word, sometimes god just allows things to happen. it didn't mean that he is judging people. >> but yohan isn't so sure. >> do you believe he'll do it again? >> not anymore, but small ones, yes. >> so small places might be wiped away. like new york? >> is not a small place. a big, big disaster at that time. >> does that frighten you? >> yeah, but i'm also -- the promise of god that it's in his hands. ♪ ♪ >> i feel like the moral of this story for me helping others will make the world a better place, and a better place for myself will be a better place for everyone, and for my children and for my children's children,

and that's the kind of world that i want to live in, and that's the kind of world that noah tells us about. ♪ ♪ coming up, just minutes from now, if you're the scientist who discovered the titanic, what do you do for an encore? how about proving noah's flood really happened and where? see the amazing story when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" returns. mine was earned orbiting the moon in 1971. afghanistan in 2009.

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our journey to investigate the story of noah and his ark, led us to the banks of the black sea in turkey where we heard clues were being uncovered by one of the world's leading archaeologists. >> let's get down on the deck, closer down. >> we were astonished to learn that he believes the biblical flood actually could have

happened and he says he can kind proof. >> nothing here. >> if you were to discover definitively something that could pin science on the noah story, how fantastic would that be? >> it would be pretty cool. i'm confident we can. we just have to look. >> and his track record for finding the impossible speaks for itself. in 1985 he and his crew tracked down the world's most famous ship wreck, the titanic. ♪ ♪ >> and the blockbuster movie about the night she went down was based on his discoveries. now using advance robotic technology, he's traveling even further back in time.

>> i'm putting a lot of money in the water, and obviously, can't wait to see what it's going to see. >> on a waterily archaeology dig. >> you were saying as a scientist, it's not a crazy thing to think that this happened, and you can find evidence for it? >> it's not a crazy thing to think the flood stories of the various cultures including ours, are based on true cataclasmic events. ♪ ♪ >> ball lard believes about 12,000 years ago, much of the earth was covered in ice that began to melt. the oceans began to swell, causing a series of devastating floods all over the world. >> we talk about the flooding of our living history, boy, they don't compare at all to the

floods of an chant time. the question was, was there a mother of all floods? >> ballered believes there was and is questioning the theory. >> why the black sea? because the black sea appears to have had a giant flood, not just a slow moving advancing rise of sea level, but a really big flood and people were living there. >> the theory goes, this was once an isolated fresh water lake but then when the mediterranean swelled. >> at some magic moment, it broke through and flooded this place violently. >> what did noah or the people who lived there during what you believe to be this huge flood, what did they see? >> they probably was a bad day and a lot of real estate, 150,000 square kilometers of land went under. >> and 400 feet below the

surface, ball ard believes he found proof of that catastrophic event. >> i love it. i love it. i love it. >> they unearthed an ancient shoreline. >> we actually dated it 5,000 b.c. >> and that's about the time the bible says s noah and the grea flood happened. wow. >> wow, so we nailed it. >> ball lard and the others that agree with the black sea theory, believe the survivors of the event pass the it down from generation to generation and inspired the biblical event. >> here is the problem, when the people read the story, they said well, did it cover the whole planet in water? no. but it covered their world. >> that explains the stories. >> remember, you have to take it from the perspective of the story teller. they didn't know there was a north america, a south america.

so as far as they were concerned, it was the whole world. >> scientists disagree with the details of the flood but ball lard is confident that he's on the right track. >> i feel lucky, don't you, dwight? >> and they have been finding things. >> something here, what's this? is that? >> that's it, baby. come on in. >> like ancient pottery. >> big one, big one. >> and even more. >> so what -- >> you're looking at what you shouldn't be looking at that. that shouldn't be there. that is a perfectly preserved ancient ship wreck and it's wood. looks like a lumberyard. >> this ship wreck dating back to 5,000 b.c. was in surprisingly good condition, preserved because the black sea has almost no oxygen and that slows down the process of decay. they found an ancient mariner. >> if you look closely, you'll

see the femur bone. >> you find human remains from 5,000 years ago? >> correct, and we've just begun. what's waiting for us? >> he thinks he will find remains from an chant sievelation. >> i think most people other than the true, true believers would think it's a fool to retrace noah -- >> foolish to think you'll find a ship, but can you find people who were living, can you find their villages? they are under water now, and the answer is yes. coming up, so many advent e adventure adventurers, true believers, even a former bay watch star believe this is where noah's ark came to rest. journey there with us when back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" returns. dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that.

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the bible tells us that when the great flood finally began to reseed, the ark holding noah and the earth's only other survivors came to rest on the mountains. and today, a mountain by that very name can be seen towering 16,000 feet by the bad lands of eastern turkey. >> by the history of the bible, it's really the first place that can be located with any degree of certainty. >> and we're sure it's there? >> all we can say is that's the tallest mountain of the middle east and if there was a flood and a noah and if the water started to go down, this would

have been the first piece of land to emerge. >> pinpointing it on a map has for centuries inspired true believers and treasure hunters from all over the world to climb the mountain's jagged peak. among them unlikely pilgrims like a former play mate and bay watch star. >> i'm here on mount arrarat. that's one of the areas we're interested in we think two pieces of the ark are. >> it know it sounds ludicrous and i know most people out there don't think that noah's ark really ever happened, and they don't believe in that stuff. here are the rocks fell, right? >> yeah. >> that's not how it is for me. for me, i'm looking for something that is there. i wasn't there on vacation. i was there to fulfill my dream. it was very frightening climbing up there.

>> wow. >> exhaustion and a couple of close calls took their toll. she risked life and limbs scaling these heights driven on by her renewed catholic faith. >> we were all raised in the church. you know, i fell away for awhile, and i did some things that today i would never do, but i returned to the church, and i'm living my life more like i used to. >> and she's recording this experience to spread the message of a story that so deeply affected her. >> the entire human civilization was wiped out except the eight people on the ark and we came down from them. i believe it happened and landed on the mountain and that it's still there. >> the last cave has the writing. >> she also made videos to send to her children at home.

>> i miss you guys and i love you. going to be going to the davis site. i can't tell you exactly where we are because we're kind of keeping that a secret. >> ed davis was an american world war ii soldier who had also braved this rugged terrain. her strategy is to retrace his steps to the top. >> i found, i think, one of ed davis' caves that he stayed in. he's one of the witnesses of the ark. >> davis claimed to have seen the ark while on a mission to deliver supplies to a russian front. the artist alfred lee later made this drawing based on davis's description. shifting rocks under foot were a constant danger and just days into the asent, she nearly fell to her death from 10,000 feet. >> i stepped on a rock that wasn't secure, and the rock gave

way, and all of them started moving with me on top. i was headed towards the edge of a cliff. my feet were dangling. i would have been a goner. a fellow climber pulled her to safety and despite her injuries, she pressed on. >> my injuries much better, you can see. here is the view from inside my tent. yesterday we claimimbed up ther. it was a really tough climb. >> it happens here the tour kirk car mes and gorillas are always fighting and tensions between them forced her off the mountain. >> the dangers got to be too great. i know i look really awful. i'm really happy and excited to be going home. >> with arattas mystery, she left empty-handed, badly injured

but not detoured. >> i'm so badly drawn to there and i feel like i didn't finish what i set out there to do because i had to kit it short. i said i would do it before i die. yeah, i'm going to go back. >> over the years, have there have been many claims of success but archaeologists think the discoveries have more to do with faith or fraud than fact. >> you have to think scientifically, there is probably not going to be anything else. the ark will be made of wood. the story is from the early part of agagenesis where we're not s it actually happened. >> if nothing has ever been front bruce wants to know, what keeps drawing people back year after year? so he decided to climb the mountain himself and brought along a film crew to capture what, if anything, was hidden beneath the snows of mount arratt and on his journey he

spoke to a man whose family lived on the mountain for generations and has no doubt the ark was there. >> he claimed to have fallen in this hole on the top of the glaciers and found this piece and i asked him to show it to me. >> you found this and believe the ark came to rest on this mountain. >> yes. >> will you take me there? >> no. >> i said my mother is dying, which is a lie, and if you show it to me, my mother can live in peace. he wouldn't show it to me. >> why wouldn't he show it to you? >> because he didn't have it. >> he said you can tell your mother there is one person that seen the ark and the story is real. even if he has a piece of ark and if there is a sign on it that says noah built me, there is not going to be evidence. we're not going to find a lost beetle's song we can remaster and put on the internet.

>> so he believes we'll continue to search for the ark and be able to see, touch and feel. >> there is this desire to reconnect with the story and that continues today. to think if you can prove that one screw existed, you can prove the whole machine existed. next, we dig through the sands of egypt and trek across the ancient deserts to unravel a seething family saga of jealousy, faith and betrayal when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" returns. t . to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit. we're here to keep our promises. to help you realize a better tomorrow. from the families of aig, happy holidays.

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i'm christiane amanpour and we're on a journey back to the beginning. we set off to try an unravel the history and mysteries that lie behind the stories of the bible from the genesis to jesus. we're overlooking jer louis limb but we're going to cities and deserts across the ancient world, so come along with us. after the great flood, the bible says that god made a promise to never again destroy the earth. no what's family prospered and the descendants spread across the world, but no what's drunkenness and the bad behavior of his sons had greatly displeased god. still unsatisfied with his

creation, he set out again to find the one man that he could trust above all others. >> he tries adam and eve, that failed. he tries no what, and that fails. he's searching for a human partner. 20 generations after adam and eve he first meets abraham. >> when we first meet abraham in the book of genesis, we're told that he had set led with his father and wife sarah in a town called horan, a place where people were to worship many different gods and then out of the blue, this lonely sheppard received a call from the god of the hebrew bible, summoning him for him to leave his home for a new life at once. >> god says to abraham, go to this land i will show you and i will make of you a great nation. it would be helpful if abraham said which land? and by the way, does it have

oil? >> but abraham did not question god's promise, and this one man's unflinching devotion to only one god reverberates throughout the bible. it is the foundation of three great monotheistics faiths. >> obeying god's call, abraham quickly left behind the trappings of city life and set off with his family on a journey toward the promise land. >> it's a decision to leave everything that's familiar to you. let's getting go of everything and embracing the unknown. it's life-changing. >> here in southern turkey near horn ron, we met an american couple raised christian, they are writing a guide book that will allow people of all faiths to follow the same path that

abraham took. [speaking foreign language]. >> i think there is something powerful going to a place from the bible from the stories you've heard as a child. i think that makes the whole story feel more real. >> abraham took this journey 4,000 years ago, and now we're just dusting off his footsteps and inviting people to expe experience that today. >> they are part of an initiative called abraham's path. the mission is to break down barriers and foster communication, in this one of the most divided regions of the world. with his attempts to lay claim to the man that first worshipped one god and his legacy have been the source of constant conflict and bloodshed among the three faiths. >> mono though yes m wants to say our religion is the only one, therefore yours is wrong and if it's carried far enough, it's you have no right to live.

>> but for those following in the path of the biblical path ark, there is hope the lessons can bring these same groups closer together. >> how are you? >> how are you? >> very good, you? >> people are very enthusiastic about the story of abraham. people would stop us and say have you heard of abraham? i think there is something special to say yes, this is part of my story, too. >> can you tell us about the story of abraham? >> abraham he's born -- >> but the truth is, there is no ark logical evidence of abraham or where he traveled. there is a century's old tradition in turkey that says abraham's birthplace is here in this cave but not the only place to make a claim. could it instead have been here in syria, or here in southern iraq at a place some call the house of abraham? but the architect behind it was

saddam hussein, so that timing is just a little off. was he born in mesapatamia? >> travels to the promise land, goes down to egypt and comes back. so the story is trying to connect him, i think, to the entire ark of the region. ♪ ♪ >> it's a story shared by half the world. his path through ten countries. our next stop in now israel and the west bank. my guide is an israeli archaeologist. >> if somebody is seeking for getting back to roots, coming back to be in touch with god,

the desert is always the place. >> it's always shocking to me that these immense stories that more than, you though, two, three billion people believe in, christian, jew, muslim. you're an archaeologist, doesn't that trouble you? >> much more country remains but the meaning is so strong, i think that i can cope with the fact that archaeologist is put here. >> on the path, we met a young sheppard and as it so happens. what's his name? abraham? >> abraham. >> the name of the biblical patriot, remains popular with all three faiths today. >> we have so much in common believing in the same father and being from the same family and sharing a lot of the values.

>> the story of how this extended family came to be, begins with heart break, although abraham and his life sarah have tried for years, they were unable to conceive a child. >> sarah married to abraham ten years was baron. she offered hagar, her made to abraham for sure ga see. >> she said she wanted both of them out for good. >> you see hagar's extreme distress in the bible. then god appears to her, and he says fear not, from this child i will always make a great people and these are the arab people. >> arab's to this day trace their lineage back to there. they make a pilgrim to the place

he believes he made his home, mecca in saudi arabia. they believe together they built isl islam's first house of worship. the bible doesn't mention mecca. instead, it tells us abraham finally found a permanent home in cannon. they settled into their old age, perhaps at least enjoying some measure of fratrain quillty. visitors appeared and saved their lives again. >> abraham looks up, he sees three men. he greets them, welcomes them. sarah hurries to make them a mal meal. hospitality is essential. >> in no mad cultures, travelers in these landscapes could never have survived without the kindness of strangers. >> when you're out wondering

into a new village and you meet someone and they offer you a cup of coffee or tea, those are the moments that define abraham for me. [speaking foreign language]. >> thank you. >> what do we have here? i'm christiane, nice to meet you. >> i was brought to one stop where a manuel comes all faiths to share a meal with him. it's much like what sarah and abraham might have suffered strangers that come to their home. >> at that meal, they announce that sarah now almost 90 will have a child. she laughs with inextra duality. >> what sarah and abraham didn't know the bible tells us is the visitors were angels bringing a message from god and it came to pass, sarah gave birth to the child she had wanted for so

long, a son named isaac. his descendants became the jewish people. next, a family feud that stretches back a mill lynn ya as our journey around the world continues when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" returns. ♪

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the landscape of the bible is as brutal as breath taking. here it's easy to imagine the suffering for a family to survive in abraham's time and why it's here god would demand a sacrifice so stark and forgiving he would never again ask for anything like it. i'm standing under the rock where muslims believe the profit mohamed asended to heaven and jews and christian believe this

is where he brought his son isaac for sacrifice. it's marked by the gold dome of the rock that dominates the old city on jerusalem. ♪ ♪ >> and it sits on one of the most contested sites in the world. even the name on this site is complicated, jews call it the temp mount while muslims call it noble sanctuary. on one side is the western world, the holiest site the jews come to pray. the in one square mile, the hose riviered places and the place the bible tells us god had finally demanded too much. abraham waited into old age for the children god promised. he had been told to send his

first sonni away. >> abraham for better or worse is used to hearing god's voice and in one day as we're told in genesis 22, god decides to test abraham and he says take your son, your only son whom you love and offer him as a sacrifice at the place that i will show you. >> god was telling abraham to kill his own son. ♪ ♪ >> you would think that that story is so bar bar rick it would die out. jews read it, christians read it in the holiest week of the year, easter, muslims read it in their holiest week of the year.

>> to this day, the story is commemorated by muslims all over the world on a holiday called ad allata. the hussain family are muslim americans living in new jersey. one son is about the same age abraham's son would have been and he's trying to imagine how he would have felt. >> he was probably extremely scared what would happen and worry for his dad, trouble getting over the fact he had to kill his own son, but i'm sure he understand coming from a higher power. >> for jews and christians, too, the story on what happened next is the same. abraham's faith was absolute. he didn't argue with god. he tied up his son and laid him on the rock and drew his knife. >> as the story goes, abraham literally lifts the knife before god says abraham, abraham, you

don't have to do this. >> so the son was spared and a lamb appeared to take his place. >> one of the abiding lessons we're meant to learn from genesis is obedience to god, that if you are obedience, than in the end you are rewarded. >> muslims belief ishmal, not isaac, was the son abraham was called upon to sacrifice but the essence of the story is the same across the three religions. >> is it heart breaking to think that this patriyark was this close to committing murder, killing his son? >> i don't know if it's heart breaking or not, but it's eye opening and important because abraham introduces the idea. you can kill in the name of god, and i think it's important for everybody to understand that this idea is embedded in these

biblical stories. this is not all, you know, living in peace. >> and it's not an endorsement in killing of the name of god. >> it's a test. god is testing him. he doesn't really intend for him to kill his son. >> at a time when offering human sacrifice was common, this story was a call to end that barbaric practice. here and so many places around the world, so many thousands of years later, the sacrifice of sons and daughters in the name of god and faith goes on and tragically on. ♪ ♪ >> god may have been demanding total submission, but he also

decided in the end that a human life has more value than blind obedience. >> in the end, of course, ishmal lives, isaac lives. >> taking this journey with my own son darrius, brought these stories to life in the most profound way. i was a reminder of how personal the stories of our ancient religious text can feel and why they remain so powerful, even to this day. coming up, from the holy land to america's heart land, so why are we headed to branson, missouri? and what can we uncover about the story of joseph? that when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" returns. check on a claim...you know, all with the ah,

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>> our journey through the old testament has taken us from the deserts of the bible lands to the lush farm country of the bible bell, just outside branson, missouri, we took a turn on sheppard of the hills expressway. so now we're approach thing massive building, the sight and sound theater. a replica of something that might have been in the ancient, ancient east during biblical times. this is what they tell us is christian broadway. and nine times a week, every week thousands of people come from across the country to watch their favorite bible stories

come alive. ♪ ♪ >> when we visited, abraham's great grandson joseph was sent to stage. what most people probably immediately would think is joe sita sif and the coat. >> this is the same guy, the same coat and this is a true biblical account. >> so less coat, more jesus? >> it's about form giveness and forgiveness is at the heart of salvation itself. >> at sight and sound, they say the mission is selling this message, not just tickets, although, when we visited, joseph had grossed almost $14 million that season alone. >> we don't do it for the pocketbook. we do it because we believe in the message of jesus christ. >> is it evangelizing. >> absolutely.

>> from the stage hands to leading actors is christian. before every performance, they pray together. >> what we do, is we seek the lord in prayer. what's the story you think is relevant to today? but also, the stories in the bieblg are enriched with the twists and turns and the drama we're looking for, particularly the epic stories of the testament. >> you can take a seat of rocks, are russianed at sight and sound. >> these are the most comfortable rocks. >> i got a behind the scenes tour from joseph himself. >> playing joseph, your name is joseph, right? joey, right? >> joseph. ♪ ♪ >> joey believes that like joseph from the bible, god has a plan for him, too. >> my mom had a child and he passed, and my mom woke up in the middle of the night and said that god had told her that she would restore the son that she

lost and that she should name him joseph, and now i'm in my first sight and sound show playing joseph. it's definitely one devine appointment after another that i believe that god set up. [ laughter ] >> bless it be the god of abraham, isaac and me. >> joey didn't play joseph every night. sight and sound has multiple casts for their multiple productions, but they all perform with equal passion and faith. the biblical joe sitis one of jacob's 12 sons, and he is clearly his father's favorite. >> good night my precious joseph. >> and this makes joseph's brothers hate him. >> you're not trying to take my place as the first born, are you? >> you're no greater than we are. >> and it gets worse when joseph has dreams that he thinks are messages from god and brags about it. >> i was raised up and then all

of your sheeps fell down to me. >> oops. >> all these inner family dynamics that work and created this boiling point -- >> like many modern families. >> like in so many modern families, the brothers give into their jealousies and fears. >> god has delivered josephine to our hands, we can hill him now. >> but in a distantly biblical way. >> you lied and used god to do it. >> while they have joseph in that pit screaming help, help, help, they are eating lunch. pass the goat cheese. they could care -- they are happy as can be. that's why i love the bible. it works in all. it's not a book that glosses. it just tells it as it is. >> today, we come in peace and with a great bargain for you. >> the chance to get some money, makes the brothers think twice so instead of killing joseph,

they sell him for the slave traders that take him to egypt and this is where sight and sound pulls out all the stops to transport their audience to a bible based storybook version of an ancient egypt with everything you might imagine there to be, deserts, pyramids and of course, camels, even though no one is sure when camels came to egypt. >> we got two camels right here. >> wow. >> they are -- >> wow. let's see the camel. >> yeah. >> give him the camel. can i give him a kiss? he won't bite my face off? [ laughter ] >> these are serious teeth in there. >> yeah, they can clamp down. >> let me see. let me see your teeth. the performance vividly captures the sweeping and dramatic twists of fate of joseph's story in the bible. >> what? >> he goes from being an egyptian slave and prisoner to

the ferrow's second in command that's because he correctly interprets the far row's dream and saves egypt from a famine and leaves for dead. >> brothers, i forgive you. >> the truce and principles of the story are so power and feel basic to humanity. >> do you believe this really happened? >> absolutely, i do. faith is believing in something that you cannot see. >> but as we're about to discover, there may be some parts of joseph story that you can see. coming up, just minutes away, in the land of the pyramids and far rows, clues of what joseph dreamed may have indeed really happened. travel to egypt when "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour" returns.

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egypt, land of the farrows, home to one of the world's greatest civilizations, a kingdom that dominated for 3,000 years, the same as the bible. the egyptian landscape is littered with the remains of the ancient past and in dusting off the rouens, archaeologists found clues about the empire's captivating culture and the truth behind the stories of the bible. >> the question really is how much historical information is really in the bible? the story in the story is what we are trying to get at. >> can i get your entrance? >> my son darrius and i journal flee knee to see what, if anything is grounded in fact.

>> [speaking foreign language]. >> we decided to start our search with a bird's eye view. oh my gosh, oh my gosh, i can't believe it. ancie ancie ancient roue ins packtily hit you in the face but what is astonishing is the impact of water. >> here you can see absolutely clearly what water does. the whole of egyptian civilization, the story of the bible, everything revolves around water. >> and not just any water, the great waterway that is the river nile, crops, livestock, transportation, riches, the mighty egypt empire would never have been possible without it. on east and west bank, green for as far as the eye can see until you hit the desert. there is life and then frankly, death. >> the bible has an enormous

concern for natural resources but when we get into history, history is chaotic, we find famine, plague. how do we understand life when the ground won't yield or our children are flooded out of their homes? the bible allows us to raise those questions. >> in the story, joseph answers one of those questions. he interpreted the far row's dream, that a great famine would sweep the land. >> indeed, joseph in egypt is able to predict a cycle of famine and prepare during the cycle of planty. >> to provide is abundant now as in biblical times. today, 95% of egypt's population of 18 million people lives along the banks. this is what you can see from space at night, lights show life clinging at the desert river, plenty of reason for the israel

lights to venture from the vast surrounding deserts they live. >> by 2,000, b.c., the people from southern participants of modern israel would be crossing with their herds and residing in the eastern delta, which is the area called goegs in the bible. >> they came for the water, and they came for the trade, but they also came against their will. we saw etchings and high row glif if i cans and a flourishing slave trade that may have brought joseph here to egypt after his jealous brother saw him. >> you see the far row sitting here. notice these people are under his feet. >> now we're at the temp, magnificent rouens that date back from before the time of a

great ferrell called ramseys. would any of these be israel lights? >> some of them would be from southern israel today. >> so if there is evidence of isrolights here, what about evidence of his rise from lowly slaved to the far row's right-hand man. >> arises to the to tigs of prime minister sounds fantastic, but it's not at all. joseph fits remarkably well into what we know in egypt around 1500 b.c. >> there is evidence at that time of the egyptian empire starting to weaken when the ferrow couldn't control the corner and they were able to gain some power. >> that story despite the miraculous elements, probably is grounded in actual events. >> what about the special gift

of joseph that enraged his brother so much and impressed the far row. just as they are today, dreams were incredibly important to ancient egyptians and we know that because of the fix and the dream stellar. it accounts a dream that he had a divine right to rule. it indicates something else that's important, as well. >> the writer or whatever it was that compelled the joseph story knew an egypt of the seventh through the fourth century of b.c. >> even clues about joseph's famous many colored coat can be seen in these carvings. >> you see people's from canon coming as traders and their egyptians obviously were fascinated by them because their clothing, which reminds us of the code of many colors were

painted with the most care. >> these rouens help build a clearer picture of joseph's time, even if they don't prove that joseph ever lived. they also set the stage for a dramatic struggle against the mighty egyptian empire, the bible's greatest story of the fight for freedom. coming up, what do we know about moses? birthplace? childhood in the far row's palace? who really built the pyramids when back to the beginning with christiane amanpour returns. of 10 miles... stae the length of 146 football fields... "back to the beginning with christiane amanpour returns. " returns. a single candle. your eyes are amazing. look after them with centrum silver. multivitamins with lutein and vitamins a, c, and e to support healthy eyes and packed with key nutrients to support your heart and brain, too. centrum silver. for the most amazing parts of you.

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>> and now, we sail down the nile, what new information did we find about the pyramids and does it have anything to do with moses? back to the beginning with christiane amanpour continues. we start the next leg of our journey with captain amid at the helm and a warm wind at our back. as this boat sails up the river nile, the modern world seems to melt away and i'm struck by the power and the history of egypt's

majestic waterway. we're here because this is the backdrop for the bible's timeless story of freedom and redemption. this is where the moses story begins. his mother had put him inside a basket and placed him on the nile to save him and protect him from the terror of the far row at the time having children murdered.row at the time having children murdered. moses is revealed by christians, muslims and jews the world all over. >> she is really, really fast. his story has touched so many lives like captain amid's. he's a devote muslim. what do you think moses looked like? does his face look like? beard? >> no, no. >> without a beard. >> would a baert? >> it's there but not big. >> not big? what's the most important thing for you about moses?

[speaking foreign language]. >> we served humanity. god sent him to free the people from the farrow. [speaking foreign language]. >> well, if i'm a slave and i got a brutal master and somebody's telling me about a guy who set his people free, i like that guy. i really do. >> the bible tells us the israel lights were enslaved because the farrow was worried they had become too mightily in the land of equipment. >> at a certain point, the jews became so e numerous, they said there will be too many jews. the farrow ordered the women whose job it was to bring the babies into the world, to immediately kill any boys they delivered but two refused. >> it's the first written instance of civil disobedience.

>> so it's important what the mid wives did. >> it allows moses to be born but also an instructive moment. as martin luther king from jail, there are just and unjust laws when we encounter an unjust lie, we're to disobey. >> she hides her infant son as long as she can but then has to make a desperate decision. as you look at the modern nile, it's hard to imagine this heart-breaking seen from a story set more than 3,000 years ago. but just across the river, we find a more >> the educational value of this place is significant. >> lori lawson is an american biblical scholar who lives and works in egypt. we met her at a village that's a

team park of sorts, a place where tourists can go to see the moses story come to life. >> the moses story happened somewhere that looked very much like this. >> yes. >> most of us picture ancient egypt with monuments and grandeur. lori says most people live simple lives as farmers and fishermen. >> what's he doing? >> he is fishing, he is trying to scare the fish. >> are they real? >> probably plastic. >> despite the low budget special effects, lori lawson tells me it is fairly accurate in its depiction of the world moses was born into. >> the text tells us that his mother made a basket, put him in it, and pushed him off undoubtedly in just the right place so someone would find him. >> well, guess what. >> and here it is as if we planned it.

>> very nice. >> in a twist of fate typical of the biblical narrative, moses winds up at the home of the very man that ordered his death. >> he is rescued by none other than pharaoh's daughter. she adopts him, raises him in the palace. >> the text does tell us he was educated in all of the ways of the egyptians, so he was educated as a warrior, reading and writing, as a scribe, everything. >> as moses grows up in the palace among the egyptian elite, we are told his people, the israelites, labor rigorously with bricks and mortar. and of all the building projects from the time of the pharaohs, one stands alone. >> we are driving through a bleak part of cairo, really ungrand if you like. we are about to happen across one of the greatest feats of human engineering contemplated. what everybody thinks they know

about the pyramids is that the israelites built them. we're going to find out whether that's true. >> i am going to show you a very interesting discovery. >> he is a famous egyptian ar key obviously gist. he says a massive amount of man power would be needed to build these pyramids. >> whose is that? >> this is kufu. >> took 10,000. >> 10,000 worked here. >> next to the ruins of the village where the workmen live, there's an ancient cemetery. tombs of pyramid builders are a significant discovery that answered many questions about who they were. were the builder of the pyramids israelites? >> no. >> everybody thinks they were. >> this is the idea that you think about it. >> while he is setting me straight, my son darius is checking out one of the tombs.

>> that's his son who wants a bird. and he gets a bird. now the story is over. >> maybe we should leave the hieroglyphics to the experts. before he takes me to the tomb, a friendly warning. >> this tomb, it has a curse indescription. >> i don't want to go in. >> i will take you. if you will switch what i am talking in this program, the curse of the pharaohs will list only you. >> inside the tomb, he shows me evidence that the pyramids were not built by the israelites. >> if you look at the name of this guy, it is an egyptian name. and all the names found in every tomb here completely egyptians. >> and he says the way the workers were buried also provides evidence that they were not slaves. he believes they were simply poor laborers who paid their

taxes by toiling for the pharaoh. >> a tomb of a poor man who has nothing. he built a mud brick tomb and beside him, to have the beer in the afterlife. they had mick lobe and heineken at that time. >> the idea the pyramids were built by israelite slaves is a popular misconception. dr. hawas says there's evidence that the israelites did work on other building projects in ancient egypt. >> and they were participating in the construction of -- >> how many years later? >> like 900 years from now. >> the bible tells us that even though moses is learning to be an egyptian, he can see that his people are suffering and he never forgets where he came from. >> he sees a moment in which an egyptian test master abuses an israelite slave. >> moses has some anger

management issues. he beats an egyptian to death and he sort of looks around and hides the guy in the sand. he thinks he has gotten away with it. >> but the pharaoh hears about what happened and tries to have moses killed. >> now he's a wanted murderer. he flees far from his family, far from egypt. >> moses heads into the unforgiving sinai desert where he has a date with destiny. little does he know, he is about to get the call up of a lifetime.

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thank you for joining us. there are many more stories to tell and adventures. we follow the israelites' path through the wilderness, staying one step ahead of a notorious bandit. we visit the real armageddon and climb mount sinai where the bible says moses received the ten commandments. join us again. we continue our journey back, back to the beginning. until then, i am christiane amanpour, good night from jerusalem.

tonight on back to the beginning. did the exodus really happen? >> moses is there. his back is against the red sea. >> what happened to the ark of the covenant? >> can we see the ark of the covenant? >> can we see that? >> and will the end of days start right here? >> soon the world as we know it will come to an end. >> come along as we continue our epic journey around the world and across time. >> oh, my gosh. >> as a war correspondent who has seen everything that tears us apart -- >> christiane amanpour in israel -- >> -- searches for what unites us. >> christianity, judaism, and islam have so much in common. >> with christiane amanpour, dangers