Is the Bible Infallible?
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Is the bible perfect? Or is it rife with contra-
dictions?
I have been having a debate on another blog about the fallibility of the scripture. The other blogger asked me for a little proof that there are contradictions in the bible, so:
The Skeptics Annotated Bible has a whole list of contradictions.
Little Endian is a blog I have been looking at lately. The author has an excellent discussion of contradictions and improbabilities in the book of Matthew, and in the account of the building of Solomon's temple in his archives from October 2005.
I will direct you to a few that you can look up for yourself: Genesis 1 and 2.
These are two distinct accounts of the creation story, each contradicting the other. In Genesis 1, god creates plants, then animals, then man and woman together.
In Genesis 2, God creates man, then the plants, then the animals, as a help meet for Adam. Then he forms woman.
You can find more contradictions in the story of the flood. At one point, God tells Noah to take a pair of each animal. Later he tells Noah to take seven pairs of some animals and only two of others.
Old Testament contradictions, and the reasons behind them, are dealt with in some detail in the book Who Wrote the Bible
by Richard Friedman, which I am currently rereading and recommend highly.
posted by Will at 5:31 PM
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4 Comments:
People who do not assume the Bible is the literal truth have no trouble recognizing that the Bible is essentially the work of a committee, albeit an ad hoc one spanning milennia. Jews, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and most of the mainstream Protestant denominations have long since realized that a literal interpretation of the Scriptures is fraught with error, given the many inconsistencies. One must read the Bible in the context of the time in which it was written, then see if it has applications in the modern world.
Thus no one (sane) argues that we should reestablish slavery or the stoning of harlots in the public square.
The problem of course is the very vocal minority who take the Bible (especially the King James version) as the literal truth, as a matter of their faith. In their eyes, anyone who does not recognize the infallibility and utter truth of Scripture is an apostate. It's a completely different paradigm.
Thus, arguing with these folks is bound to be frustrating, to say the least. The early Quakers had similar issues with the Church of England when the Quakers insisted that the Scripture were but one version of the Truth; immediate personal revelation was another. It was radical idea, and Quakers suffered much for proposing it. Back then the Church was in the majority. Now Biblical literalists are in the minority, but perhaps just as dangerous to the public order.
I guess I just have this idea that reason will eventually bring everyone around.
Anyway, its kind of fun debating these guys. I'm looking forward to the debate on creationism.
Future Geek you are a fool and you have no idea about 'reason'.
J.
You are an anonymous commenter with nothing substantive to say. Smile!
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