The Bible, after all, gives us the brutal truth about sinful human beings.
#Bible word counter full
Yes, the Bible is full of prejudice, violence, attempted genocide, and injustice. It is full of violence, genocide, prejudice, and injustice, often commanded by God-and it’s been used by Christians to justify more violence and oppression
#Bible word counter professional
In my forty-plus years as a professional biblical scholar, I have yet to hear such a claim that really sticks once I do a little digging. We can turn to science and ask the questions how God did it.Īs I’ve demonstrated, supposed “tensions and contradictions” in the Bible are usually cases where someone misunderstands the genre and purpose of a certain passage, or is measuring the Bible by an inappropriate standard.
Neither one is telling us the actual sequence of creation, but describes creation in figurative language. Chronicles, on the other hand, was written to the post-exilic community and, among other matters, is interested in choosing events in the life of their kings that show their devotion to God.Īs for the two accounts of creation: While they both are interested in telling us who created everything, neither are interested in telling us how he did it. They and their kings broke God’s law and suffer the consequences. The author of Kings writes to those who survived the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians to explain why they are in exile. The two histories are using the history of Israel and Judah to answer questions relevant to their time. These aren’t just collections of data about a king named Abijah. The same is true concerning the account of Abijah in Kings and Chronicles. Namely, Jesus speaking on a mountain about the law would remind them how God gave Moses the law on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19-24): Luke, written primarily for Hellenistic Christians, would not pick up on that connection so readily. So Matthew places Jesus’ sermon on a mountain in order to bring out a connection all his original Jewish Christian readers would recognize immediately. The Gospels are not meant to be simply factual reports, but bring out the theological significance of real events for their intended contemporary audience.
Depending on the “fool” you are talking to, you have to determine which proverb is relevant to the situation. 2:4b-25)? Of course, these are just samples from countless others that people like to bring up.Ī little digging, however, will show that proverbs aren’t written to give us universally valid principles (“I would always answer a fool according to his folly”), but rather they are true only when applied at the right situation. Is Abijah a good king (2 Chronicles 13) or a bad one (1 Kings 15:1-8)? Were humans created last (Gen.
5:1), while Luke says Jesus spoke on a “level place” (Luke 6:17). Or maybe point out that Matthew places the “Sermon on the Mount,” on a mountain (Matt. All you have to do is cite Proverbs, where the author tells us not to “answer (26:4)-or is it, “answer a fool according to his folly” (26:5). It’s not very hard to convince someone that the Bible is full of contradictions-that is, if they don’t know the Bible very well. It is full of contradictions and discrepancies Having thought about these issues over the years that I have been a biblical scholar, I would like to offer the following responses to these objections. Christians can’t even agree on what it’s saying, so who cares if it’s true or not.The Bible was written by ancient and primitive people, and has no value to modern people anymore.The Bible’s descriptions of nature and natural history are hopelessly at odds with science.The Bible is full of violence, genocide, prejudice, and injustice, often commanded by God-and it’s been used by Christians to justify more violence and oppression.The Bible is full of contradictions and discrepancies.I can think of five common objections that I have heard over the years: These are extraordinary claims to make about a collection of ancient literature, and many people in today’s society have great difficulty understanding why Christians would put their beliefs and behavior under the authority of the Bible. The Church through the ages has acknowledged this status by referring to the Bible as its canon, which means that the Bible is the written standard for its faith and practice. The Bible claims to be-and the Church has recognized it as-the Word of God. The Bible holds an essential place in Christian faith.
0 kommentar(er)
