The Bible-- Full of Errors And Inconsistencies?

by Recovery 114 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Finkelstein

  Genesis has contradictory statements on God creating light and separating day from night. First Genesis says that God created light then divided light from dark on the first day. Later, though, Genesis says that God created the sun on the fourth day — but for us, it is precisely the sun which creates our light and which separates our day from our night. So when did God really separate day from night?

  First Day of Creation

  Genesis 1:3-5: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

  Fourth Day of Creation

  Genesis 1:14-19: And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. ...And the evening and the morning were the fourth day

  This is arguably an inconsistency rather than an outright contradiction because the "light" being created in the first creation story might plausibly be light from source other than the sun. The problem here is that the "light" in question is also called "day," and of course the stars' light do not create day. Only the light of the sun is responsible for the day. If there was day and night, then the sun had to exist. Thus this should be regarded as more of a contradiction than a mere inconsistency.
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  Leolaia

  Finkelstein....The problem arises of course when one tries to squeeze the creation narrative into a modern understanding of the cosmos (concordism). The Hebrews believed the world was flat and the firmament (the sky) arched over it like a dome or a tent. The sun, moon, and stars were contained inside the firmament, thus the firmament had to be created first. And since the author wanted to use the Hebrew work-week (with a day of rest on the sabbath) as a model for the creation narrative (thereby depicting creation as divine work), then by definition the first thing created would have to be day and night. And the thing that defines day and night is the presence and absence of light. Since darkness defined the primeval state, the first creative act would have to be the creation of light. So there would be a time before the creation of the luminaries when there was a cycle of day and night without the sun. Note that on the fourth day, the sun was created to "rule" or "govern" the day; the day is its domain and that domain pre-existed it. Possibly this scheme was intended to explain the fact that even though the sun shines in the sky, the sky itself shines with its own light. The brightening and dimming of the sky is closely synchronized with the rising and setting of the sun. The light shines through the fimament, which comes from a different source above the firmament that the luminary contained inside it. The firmament is described as suspended waters. Possibly this was meant to explain why the sky is blue; it is blue like the waters that became the sea. At sunset, the color changes to a reddish hue. The Book of Watchers (third century BC) explains that this was due to a fire in the west that is unleashed when the sun comes in contact.
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  Finkelstein

  Interesting Leolaia, always appreciate the information you bring forward.
• 

  perfect1

  Whether or not it is the word of JHVH God, there is enough incriminaing information there about his personality for me to steer clear.

  There are other Gods and other holy books, you know.

  Maybe if I were wandering around in the middle eastern dust about 3000 years ago he might have had more appeal for me. But even then, you could take your pick.

  Molech, YhWh, Baal, El, Asheroth, just to name a few.
• 

  J. Hofer

  any religion without an aphrodite/venus equivalent can't be the real thing.
• 

  Finkelstein

  The bible should only be used as a historical reference to the struggle of mankind trying understand himself and the world of which

  he lives in. Throughout the Bible, from book to book, from chapter to chapter there are unsurmountable inconsistencies to be

  noted but that in itself shows that the words written came only from men's own inspired expressive thoughts and imaginations

  and there was no God intervening to what was being written.

  If God's holy spirit was intervening to the words written, it would be to justifiable say God is

  suffering from Alzheimer disease and is confused and forgetful.
• 

  John Kesler

  Finkelstein and Leolaia, you may be interested in this lecture from Dr. Mark S. Smith. I did not attend the lecture, but Dr. Smith was kind enough to forward me the class notes that are referred to. If you have the notes, you can follow along as he lectures. Here are some excerpts:

  Psalm 104

  1 Bless the Lord, O my soul!

  O Lord, my God, You are so great!

  In splendor and majesty You are clothed, Light on Day One (Gen 1:2)

  2 Wrapped in light like a robe.

  Spreading the heavens like a tent-curtain, Waters on Day Two (Gen 1:6-8)

  3 Putting beams in the waters for His upper chambers;

  <snip>

  Ancient Near Eastern Sources

  Sumerian text from Nippur

  picture of primordial reality in this manner:

  “An, (being) Bel, made heaven resplend[ent],

  earth was in darkness,

  the lower world was [invi]sible.”

  Creation Story from Babylon (Enuma Elish)

  light prior to creation is the god's own light. It appears in Enuma Elish's presentation of the

  god Marduk in tablet I, lines 101-104:

  101 The son UTU (the Sun), the son UTU (the Sun),

  102 The son, the sun, the sunlight of the gods!

  103 He wore (on his body) ( lbs £ ) the auras of ten gods,

  had (them) around his head too,

  104 Fifty fears are heaped upon him.

  In these lines, Marduk appears in theophanic light and is called “the sun” and “sunlight” as well as “aura.”

  If you, or anyone else for that matter, would like the complete notes, just email me at <[email protected]>.
• 

  Finkelstein

  John Kesler, the information you provided concerning the ancient Babylonian god Marduk, coincides with the fact that many

  ancient civilizations in different areas of the world worshiped the sun as a God/Deity.

  It has also been suggested that the appearance of the moon in the sky stimulated the thought that certain gods

  were to have a child, there are at least 7 or 8 instances of this happening from different ancient cultures.
• 

  johnnyprc

  Concerning the flood:

  Whether you believe in evolution or the bible (or both), there was a cataclysmic event that destroyed most life on this earth, and yet animals as we know them today sprung back in a VERY short timeframe.

  Many scientists look to an asteroid that hit in Mexico, but that is rough conjecture. It is known for a certainty the death of may creatures was sudden - as seen in mammoths being frozen as they ate.

  When it comes to the flood, surprisingly science and the bible both agree that life had to start over on this planet. At the time of the flood, humans lived in a very small part of the earth. God may very well needed to get rid of dinosaurs for man to expand.

  The ark was symbolic (but also very real) in that God will provide escape - though Him, yet humans need to act as well.
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  J. Hofer

  johnnyprc, what a load of crap! science the hell agrees that life had to start over at some point. god had to get rid of dinosaurs? what the heck are you talking about?